Politics on the Hudson

Reaction among the Lower Hudson Valley’s political leaders to the controversy surrounding Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s is remarkably uniform — Basically, they’re all shocked.

“Basically we are all in a state of shock and waiting for further news,” said Assemblywoman Amy Paulin, D-Scarsdale.

“People are walking around shaking their heads,” said Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, D-Greenburgh,  in a telephone interview from Albany.

One of the stronger reactions came from former Rockland District Attorney Michael Bongiorno, a Republican who lost his re-election bid last fall. Spitzer’s efforts to sway ultra-Orthodoz Jewish communities toward Bongiorno’s Democratic opponent is seen as a major factor in the defeat.

“If he hasn’t resigned yet, he certainly should,” Bongiorno said. “He’s a phony, a fraud, and a hyprocrite.”