OK, New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer must resign for his involvement with a hooker, and he may already have marched off into the sunset by the time I hit the next return key on this keyboard. Update: OK, he has resigned.
But, what I can’t stand is the piling on, as Wall Street reportedly reacts to the Mayflower Hotel bombshell with glee.
Although Spitzer had a spotty record as the governor in Albany, he accomplished much for the public good in his days as New York State Attorney General.
Hard-charging Eliot cleaned up the murky waters and rampant conflicts of interests when brokerages with investment banking ties to companies were also dispensing “independent” research about these same client companies. As a reporter, I remember calling up stock analysts for their take on market developments and wondering whether all those glowing reports about wondrous new business models were legitimate or public relations for the investment banking side of the business.
That conflict and dynamic totally changed and there was a helluva lot more transparency once those reforms kicked in.
Henry Blodget and Dick Grasso obviously were not big fans of Spitzer and may be having the last laugh.
Mutual funds that were up to their eyeballs in late trading are having a good chuckle now.
And, I’m sure that a lot of the people who are savoring Spitzer’s humiliation have led perfect, role-model lives themselves. Haven’t we all?
When all is said and done, Spitzer, despite his well-documented excesses, will go down as a guy who was a plus to the corporate responsibility agenda on ethics – yes, ethics – and governance issues.
Too bad he was so reckless to think he was, well, untouchable.
ok
Yes...