Might this be awkward for Gov. Spitzer?
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- February
- 27
According to the website for the Ireland Chamber of Commerce in the United Sates, the presenting sponsor of this year’s St. Patrick’s Day Governor’s Breakfast is the insurance giant A.I.G (or the American International Group.)
Gov. Eliot Spitzer is listed on the website as the breakfast’s guest of honor. The event takes place at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel.
Yet it was Spitzer, as attorney general, who launched a major investigation into A.I.G. for improper accounting. And on Monday, five former insurance executives were found guilty in federal court of manipulating A.I.G.’s financial statements.
â€Å“The convictions demonstrate the underlying accuracy of the allegations we made years ago about fraudulent accounting and the conspiracy to mislead the market,” Spitzer said about the guilty verdicts, according to an account in the New York Times. “This conspiracy is not limited to those who were convicted today.”
It should make for an interesting St. Patrick’s Day breakfast.
UPDATE: Spitzer spokesman Errol Cockfield offered this statement:
“Each year the governor and other elected officials are invited to attend the annual St. Patrick’s Day breakfast hosted by the Ireland Chamber in the United States. The governor is always pleased to be among the membership of such a large and respected organization as New Yorkers celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. The governor’s office does not plan the annual St. Patrick’s Day breakfast and has no control over the Chamber’s choice of sponsors.”
This entry was posted
on Wednesday, February 27th, 2008 at 4:34 pm by Glenn Blain.
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The inanity here is not that AIG is sponsoring this event; it is that Spitzer is the Ireland Chamber’s “Guest of honor.” Why in hell is he anyone’s guest of honor, especially on St, Paddy’s day, other than the fact that he is in power? I’d rather see an Irish fireman or cop honored, someone who has actually saved a life or two or done something silly like that.