$pitzer Family Picks Up the Tab for Green

Gov. Eliot Spitzer and each of his parents kicked in about $16,000 a piece to pay off Mark Green's outstanding campaign debts, which he incurred while unsuccessfully running for Spitzer's old job as Attorney General in 2006. The $50,000 in payments exceed the Governor's self-imposed limit of contributions of $10,000, but he's making an exception because this is to pay off a past campaign debt, so is not really a campaign contribution. Plus, he and Green are old pals, with the latter acting as a vocal supporter of the Governor during his first year in office, when vocal supporters were in short supply.

Mr. Green said that he and the governor “have been friends for years, and this is what friends do for each other.” He said there was nothing untoward about accepting donations from Mr. Spitzer on the one hand and speaking out in support of him on the other.

“We’re friends and admirers, therefore we help each other out politically,” he added. “Now that he’s the governor and I’m not, it’s very thoughtful and I appreciate that he would help me retire a debt.”

Actually, the Green and Spitzer families are frequently helping each other out. Mark Green's older brother is real estate developer Stephen L. Green, who donated $135,000 to Spitzer's gubernatorial campaign. Why didn't Green just go to his older brother to pay off his $50K debt? Apparently there are legal limits to help even family can do for each other, and that limit was met. That's what got Republican operative Roger Stone so riled up when Gov. Spitzer's father Bernie loaned his son over $4 million during his Attorney General campaign (a possible election law violation).

Photo taken at a benefit for the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding