August 23, 2004

New York attorney general Eliot Spitzer, whose ambitions so often furnish grist for this space, last week "said his office has created an interactive Web site to help New Yorkers comparison shop for prescription drugs". (Reuters/CancerPage, Aug. 17). Which prompts Jack Henneman to wonder (Aug. 17): where exactly does the Empire State's chief law enforcement officer get the authority to start up a new program you'd think would fit more plausibly into some service-oriented branch of the New York government? "If this is within the mandate of his office, what isn't?" The site itself doesn't appear to shed much light on the source of authority, but maybe there are some broadly worded consumer protection powers that Spitzer's office is relying on. Reader ideas are welcome: email editor - at - thisdomainname - dot - com. More: the Center for Individual Freedom is giving Spitzer grief more broadly.