Eliot Spitzer, the former governor of New York who stepped down from office in a scandal involving prostitution, secured the necessary number of signatures to make his comptroller run official, in a last-minute scurry that wrapped about 11 p.m. Thursday evening.
“Against the odds and all predictions — and in light of some who tried to thwart the effort — I am pleased to announce that we have collected more than 27,000 signatures in four days,” he said, in a statement reported by Politico.
But he’s already taking a new public relations hit. The New York Post reported Mr. Spitzer failed to vote in the 2012 presidential election — despite writing a piece for publication called, “Why I Am Voting for Barack Obama.”
A spokeswoman for Mr. Spitzer said he couldn’t vote at the polls because he was in San Francisco to co-anchor Current TV’s roundtable election broadcasts, The Post reported. But he didn’t vote absentee either, the newspaper reported.
“There was not time for him to vote or get an absentee ballot,” said spokeswoman Lisa Linden, in The Post.
In his column that was posted on the website for Slate magazine, Mr. Spitzer lectured of the importance of engaging in the political process and advocated for Mr. Obama over Mitt Romney.
He wrote: “We’ve heard all the promises, excuses, smart lines and grotesque misrepresentations. Now it’s time to choose.”
The Post also reported Mr. Spitzer didn’t vote in 2003 or 2007 either — but he did make it to the polls in 1994, 2002 and 2006, the times when he was on the ballot for various offices.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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