ALBANY — The new head of the state district attorneys association has called the candidacies of fellow Democrats Anthony Weiner and Eliot Spitzer “a joke.”
“Weiner is incapable of telling the truth; Spitzer broke the law and was never held accountable for it — and now both of them are asking for the public to trust them again,” Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice told the Daily News.
Weiner, who is running for mayor, lied several times about a sexting scandal that caused him to quit Congress in 2011.
Spitzer, who is running for city controller, resigned as governor in 2008 amid a prostitution scandal. He was not prosecuted.
“I think that Spitzer and Weiner are a joke,” said Rice, whose office has aggressively gone after johns. She was the only Democratic candidate for state attorney general during a 2010 debate who said she would have prosecuted Spitzer.
In addition to her role as DA and president of the state district attorneys association, Rice also is a co-chairman of Gov. Cuomo’s anti-corruption commission.
“In light of the work we’re doing on the commission, this goes to the heart of why people have such negative feelings about public servants,” she said of Weiner and Spitzer. “I’m not a resident of New York City, but I wouldn’t vote for either one.”
By law, Rice cannot make an endorsement in either race because she is a sitting district attorney.
As a prosecutor, Rice said, she strongly believes in giving second chances — but she doesn’t think Weiner and Spitzer have properly rehabilitated themselves to earn them.
“And when we’re talking about the public trust, that matters,” she said.
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The executive director of Gov. Cuomo’s anti-corruption commission is making a hefty $175,000 a year, state records show.
Regina Calcaterra’s salary is just $4,000 less than the governor’s and higher than all but one of his top aides. It’s also significantly more than the $151,500 paid to state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and state Controller Thomas DiNapoli.
A Cuomo official said Calcaterra took a slight pay cut from the $177,000 a year she was making as chief deputy Suffolk County executive before Cuomo chose her last year to head a commission that looked into the state’s utilities after Hurricane Sandy.
One Albany insider questioned how likely the commission is to probe the governor if need be “when your big salary is dependent on him.” Calcaterra responded: “I, and all the commission staff, work for the people of the state of New York.”
