June 24, 2004

AEI's Federalism Project has reprinted Ramesh Ponnuru's recent critique of the New York attorney general's activities, which took the form of a cover story for National Review ("Meet Eliot Spitzer -- The most destructive politician in America," Jun. 14). Discussed in the piece are Spitzer's activities on tobacco, "predatory lending", brokerages, mutual funds, interstate pollution, and guns (I'm quoted). Ponnuru is not uniformly critical on every issue, but he's appropriately harsh on Spitzer's enthusiasm for regulation by litigation in areas where the side he backs could not win in the political process, and on the incoherence of Spitzer's pronouncements on federalism.

More: on Spitzer's suit against Glaxo SmithKline, see updated Jun. 25 entry. On controversy over his fund-raising, see Charles Gasparino, "Friends of Eliot (Sort of)", Newsweek, Jun. 21.