Day 1, Everything Changes

Almost lost in the story of the Democrats' coast-to-coast victory this past November was the election by an overwhelming margin of New York's newest governor, Eliot Spitzer. At midnight on January 1, while most of us were busy with...other pursuits, Governor Spitzer took the oath of office and ended twelve years of Republican domination in Albany (at the earliest constitutionally permissible moment). Before we turn our collective attention to the installation of Speaker Pelosi and the 110th Congress's first 100 hours,let's not overlook the meaningful change Spitzer is already bringing to our adopted state.

At 8:45 a.m. yesterday before the first speech was made or the first bottle of Champagne uncorked, Governor Spitzer issued 5 executive orders aimed at driving corruption out of Albany. While most politicos give the electorate flowery rhetoric on Inauguration Day (admittedly, Eliot was no exception) Spitzer brought us real and meaningful action, imposing tight ethical restrictions that among other things, bar state employees (himself included) from receiving any gifts, making use of taxpayer-funded private transport, or returning later to lobby their old co-workers.

Props to Governor Spitzer for giving us, among other things, a campaign slogan that actually meant something—on Day 1, Everything Changed.