Running man

Risk & Insurance, Jan, 2005 by Steve Yahn

Adds Sharon Kalin, a powerful New York arbitrageur: "I think he did the right things on Wall Street. He had an impact. He went to the heart of what had to be fixed. But we were preoccupied with recovering from all the harm done during the Gestapo reign of Richard Grasso (ousted New York Stock Exchange), and there was only so much Spitzer could do."

As for Spitzer's prospects in the governorship contest, Kalin, known for her knack in spotting good arbitrage bets, has reservations. "When he speaks in public, he's a little uptight looking," she says. "He doesn't seem to have the touchy, feely warmth it takes to be a successful politician."

When Spitzer's critics have their talons fully extended, they are ever-ready to suggest that the attorney general has a strong streak of know-it-all arrogance--that, honed by his hard-charging, subpoena-waving prosecutorial style, it's his way or the highway.

More than one executive has muttered, in private of course, that Spitzer has spent the better part of 2004 year preparing for his political career by lambasting the insurance industry and bringing to light what was already well known.

Koch disagrees. "I don't think that's the case," he says. "I've known Eliot for many years, and I've always found him to be willing to work with colleagues, and to share the limelight."

Spitzer's profile as a crusading "people's lawyer" began to take shape at the earliest stage of his government career. It was 1982, the summer before Spitzer graduated from Harvard Law School.

He was working as an intern in the New York attorney general's antitrust division, led by fiery, outspoken Lloyd Constantine, and at that time Constantine's small band was practically alone in fighting for the very. existence of American antitrust law.

"The Reagan Administration had deliberately abandoned antitrust laws," Constantine says. "They said it was a relic of the nineteenth century." With young Eliot Spitzer as an ardent team member, the New York attorney general's antitrust division tenaciously took on the reds, forging what became the nucleus of a nationwide alliance of state attorneys general.

It also became apparent that there was a deep professional bond between the two combative colleagues. "We both saw the law as an instrument for social change," says Constantine.

Spitzer concurs. In a speech last summer he said, "What I learned was how to use the law to set an agenda, to focus on structural flaws and industries, to understand that market failures required governmental enforcement to permit the marketplace to work, and that it was important that government would step in occasionally when individuals could not do so for themselves."

A 'BIG PICTURE' GUY

Early on, Constantine became convinced that Spitzer was destined to serve in the public sector.

"He was a 'Big Picture' guy," observes Constantine. "He had a different demeanor. He was smart, tough, aggressive, and his integrity was unquestionable. I knew he wouldn't be happy in private practice, and he wasn't, even later as a founding partner of Constantine & Partners."