SUTTON: Spitzer event in N.Y. raises comeback questions

OPINION/ANALYSIS:

NEW YORK

It looked as if Eliot Spitzer had hung up his spurs and six gun when he resigned as governor of New York state a little more than 15 months ago after an embarrassing prostitution scandal. But the man once called the “Sheriff of Wall Street” seems to be back in the saddle again.

On Wednesday night, the former governor starred at an event called “An Intimate Evening with Eliot Spitzer,” hosted by the New York chapter of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization.

Business owners filled the hall of the Czech Republic Consulate in Manhattan to listen to Mr. Spitzer talk economy, local politics and credibility in a volley-and-serve of questions and answers moderated by Fox Business News anchor Liz Claman.

Passions ran high as Mr. Spitzer, fiery and confident, shot down inevitable queries about his “fall from grace.”

The Democratic governor resigned in March 2008 after it was reported that he was a client of a prostitution ring that was under investigation by the FBI.

When he was New York’s top lawman, Mr. Spitzer’s own dogged investigations into cases involving tainted Wall Street research and fraud raised his profile and helped him win the governor’s seat.

“I’ve answered these questions before,” he said about the prostitution scandal.

Asked about the “serious credibility issue” that followed the scandal and why people should listen to him now, Mr. Spitzer calmly told the audience, “No one has to.”

But people seem to want to.

Mr. Spitzer said he consistently turns down a flood of requests to speak publicly.

“He certainly sounded intimately connected to current state and federal issues, with strong insightful opinions,” said Hayim Alan Grant, president of Corporate Suites Business Centers and a member of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization.

“I would not be surprised if he tried a comeback within several years.”

People close to the former attorney general, however, are batting down assertions that Mr. Spitzer is making a comeback play.

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