This has seemed to be in the offing for some time, and this morning Judy Jacobs, the Nassau County legislature's presiding officer, is switching her endorsement for governor from Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi to Eliot Spitzer.
The endorsement will be at Jacobs' home in Woodbury, and Spitzer will be there. Bagels will be served. This means that Spitzer now has endorsements from half of the 10-member Democratic caucus in the legislature.
Jacobs leads the Democratic majority in the legislature, and was a Democrat for decades before switching her registration to unaffiliated during a leadership fight earlier this year.
For weeks, she had been "nudging" Suozzi, as she put it, to get out of the fight for the Democratic nomination, because he trails Spitzer badly in the polls and has been largely out of his Mineola offices for six months, and because Spitzer seems likely to be the next governor. On Friday, Jacobs called Suozzi's campaign "ridiculous." But Suozzi does not seem inclined to drop out.
"I've been thinking about it for a while," Jacobs said this morning. "I was hoping beyond hope that Tom would just give up the race. But I have to think at this point more globally of Nassau in my role as presiding officer."
"This is not easy for me," she said. "I'm a very loyal person and there's nothing about Tom I could say that is bad. It's just that Eliot's that good."
Update: Judy endorsed Eliot on her lawn. She did serve bagels. He got lost (went to Colgate Street or Court instead of Lane), but eventually found his way, drank some coffee and admired grandkid photos on the fridge. (Judy has six and a seventh in three weeks.)
Judy: “I’ve listened to Tom, I’ve listened to Eliot and I’ve made a deicsion on my own, with my own thought process, that Eliot Spitzer is what this state needs. Obviously, I feel very strongly that Nassau County needs a very strong partner in New York State and I believe Eliot Spitzer will be that partner.”
Eliot: “It is enormously meaningful to me to have Judy’s endorsement, not because this is a game of taking from somebody else. But because it speaks to what I think this campaign is all about, which is core values that will move us forward: reform, lowering property taxes, reviving our economy. Judy stands for all of that.”
Michael Rothfeld
Comments (11)
Judy Jacobs is a bandwagon jumper and a guless politician!!!!!!!
The word is GUTLESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Poor Suozzi fan. Seeing as how you are a fan of Suozzi, I am surprised that you don't know the definition of gutless. The word is leadership!
when you back someone and then jump on the bandwagon spitzer fan, in politics you are considered GUTLESS. she be in her kitchen baking cookies if it werent for tom suozzi. she shows no leadership qualities at all by jumping ship, she just shows you cant trust her
Wake up Nassau!! You are paying Tom Suozzi to be your County Executive!! But he has been to busy campaigning instead of running the County!
wake up anonymous, we pay elliot spitzers salary too!
Yes, suozzifan, Spitzer's is being paid his salary,but he is earning it,unlike TRS. He's sucking the taxpayers dry. Spitzer is doing his job. TRS could care less about what happens in Nassau. He should pay back his salary to the taxpayers.
Judy is doing her job. Nassau County comes first. Keep in mind that her "endorsement" was threatened out of her by Suozzi and Jay Jacobs in the first place. Running as a reformer - governing like a two-bit hack. She knows Eliot, knows Tom and knows the difference. A good, belated choice on her part. Go Judy!
All you guys crack me up!! Oh yeah she knows elliot, LOL!! I hope her lunch he bought her was good!! give me a break loser!!!!!
Five out of the Ten, or HALF,(for you people still drinking the Suozzi Kool-Aid) of the Nassau County Legislature is now publiclly supporting Spitzer over Suozzi. It says a lot about County party discipline and how tired they are of Suoozi's meglomania that HALF are not supporting their County Executive. ..but the potential for a fat State job from Spitzer thru DiNapoli, doesn't hurt either!
Hey nassau nell, aint it the truth???? The first 4 were legit, Judy Jacobs is a sellout in my book! She gives a new meaning to the phrase, "front runner" and "bandwagon". For all those using the term"leadership", please, wake up and stop insulting people.