Somewhere past 57th St., a short middle-aged man saw Gov. Eliot Spitzer stride by, so he stepped off the sidewalk just off the curb along the Columbus Day parade route up Fifth Ave.
"Licenses for illegal aliens?!" he bellowed. "You're gonna be a one-term governor!"
Without a word, a shaved-head plainclothes officer from Spitzer's security detail who'd been walking the route moved over -- and forcefully shoved the guy back toward the curb.
None of the statewide or citywide pols are up for election this year, but the annual Columbus Day fete as always had its little political edges. One week after the speculation about Spitzer purportedly "snubbing" AG Andrew Cuomo in Garden City after his speech to the state Democrats, the two chatted rather extensively in the street before the parade began...
Dan Janison
... and then marched jovially together, along with Mayor Michael Bloomberg (who Spitzer gave a verbal shove last week over his dissent on the driver's license policy). The Cuomo-Spitzer chat in part involved presidential politics -- some mention of Fred Thompson's entry was overheard -- but the three offered the traditional salutes to the many contributions of Italian-Americans.
"Bloomberg for President!" yelled a guy in a green cap just before 59th St. "He runs the best companies in New York!"
Comments (3)
In response to the man in the crowd who yelled " Bloomberg " for president, I would like to remind those of that feeling that Mr. Bloomberg was just the victim of fraud to the tune of $ 400,000.00.
Bloomberg and James Dolan run as a tag team for president, or....er, maybe not. Don't think they would get the female vote.
And, as far as Spitzer's surrogate steamroller, the cop who shoved the voter expressing his right of free speech, I hope the guy you shoved sues your butt....and Spitzer's too. You had no right to touch the guy. Go kick a puppy or stomp on ladybugs.
So what was the cop (probably a state trooper) supposed to do , allow an angry citizen to approach the governor? If that was a US senator a President the secret service would have arrested him.