GOP Chief: Dems Could Have Meanest Ticket Ever

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State GOP Chairman Stephen Minarik said Thursday that when it comes to those pesky New York Democrats running for statewide office this year, "It could be the all-time meanest ticket in history." "Look at Eliot Spitzer and his reputation. Cuomo. Hevesi. It could be the all-time mean ticket," Minarik declared during an interview on Albany's WROW-AM radio station.

Spitzer is, of course, the state attorney general and the only announced Democratic candidate for governor. He has become famous for his investigations of major Wall Street firms, mutual funds and the insurance industry. In recent months, Republicans have been pressing the notion he is not a very nice guy. In mid-December, John Whitehead, a former top Wall Street executive and current head of the state's Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, wrote in the Wall Street Journal that Spitzer had threatened him in a telephone conversation, saying, "I will be coming after you. You will pay the price."

Spitzer has denied threatening the 83-year-old Whitehead, although the attorney general has said he sometimes does "shake the cage a little bit" and on occasion wishes "I could take some of my words back." Minarik says simply that Spitzer is a "bully." Meanwhile, polls show Andrew Cuomo leading a pack of a half-dozen candidates seeking the Democratic nomination to replace Spitzer as attorney general. The former federal housing secretary and elder son of former Gov. Mario Cuomo has long had a reputation as a hardball political operative who sometimes leaves the charm at home. He lost a bitter battle for the Democratic nomination for governor in 2002.

But Hevesi? Alan Hevesi, a former New York City comptroller, is seeking a second, four-year term as state comptroller. A former state assemblyman from Queens, where he was also a college professor, Hevesi has long been known as a rather brainy, somewhat charismatically challenged candidate. He does not seem to growl much. The Hevesi camp seemed surprised by the Minarik assault. Longtime Hevesi political adviser Hank Morris suggested the best response was simply to offer no comment so a reporter could write that the Hevesi camp "just turned the other cheek." Asked later about his inclusion of Hevesi on his "meanest" list, Minarik recanted. "Did I say Hevesi? I meant Hillary," the Republican leader said.

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