Our Readers Respond...


Dear Editor,


I need help. I’m a US citizen, an immigrant and a former CEO. Currently I work for Morgan Stanley. One year ago I filed for divorce and petitioned for the custody of my 5-year old son. Since then my life has turned into a nightmare. I was able to see my son no more than 10 times and spent no more than 35 hours with him for the entire year. I was prohibited from using my own savings to fund my defense. Instead, I was ordered to pay significant amounts to my wife’s “pro bono” attorney, for different programs, forensic evaluations, etc.

My wife claimed in sworn affidavits (taught to her by My Sister’s Place and her “pro bono” lawyers) that I
raped her at least twice, that I tried to assassinate her at least 3 times, etc. Some of her perjuries have been proved false. She claims that I transferred $180,000 offshore in order to evade taxation and that I hid a one-milion-dollar financial portfolio, and $477,000 in AMD stock, etc. When I first read her affidavits I couldn’t believe them! I thought it was only a matter of time before I would take custody of my son, since his mother had
turned crazy!

Unfortunately I learned very soon that monstrous perjury is merely one of the tools in divorce litigation. I filed a complaint with the Westchester DA’s Office and, after wasting my time for more than 6 months they refused to investigate. I believe that the only reason the Westchester DA refuses to prosecute perjury is that it would eventually curtail the “divorce industry”.

In sharp contrast, I was arrested and jailed for Christmas shopping (my wife spotted me on two occasions
2 and 3 weeks before Christmas of 2005 in the White Plains Galleria Mall and City Center). For more than one year I’ve been refused jury trial on this ridiculous charge. Instead I’m directed to attend a Leftist-Marxist idiocy called “Domestic Violence Program for Men” at taxpayer’s and my own great expense.

Peter Petrov

In Our Opinion...


If We can say nothing else about Governor Eliot Spitzer that will surely distinguish him from George Pataki, it is that he does not need to grow wealthy in office. That fact alone should give great comfort to those who have despaired over the past twelve years witnessing the most blatant rape of the State Treasury by a governor and his cronies, in memory. It wasn’t as though Pataki didn’t signal his intentions early on, repeatedly declaring
that Al Pirro, and Robert Boyle, a convicted felon, and a disgraced former public official, respectively, were his “best friends and fundraisers.”

Over the three terms her husband occupied the Governor’s Office, Libby Pataki managed to eke out more than $4 million in bogus, no-show wages, holding down at least two consulting positions at a time, with corporations
such as Estée Lauder, and not-for-profit charitable organizations, the like of which Matilda Cuomo had lent her time, and endorsement to, gratis. The number of Pataki appointees named to six-figure chairmanships, amongst the more than seven hundred state authorities, who ended up indicted, and convicted of various forms of stealing, are too numerous to list in this space. One such appointee, whose story, typical of many, was Jack Gaffney, former Republican Supervisor of the Town of Cortlandt, a Pataki buddy, and father-in-law of his long-time political strategist and campaign director, Kieran Mahoney. Appointed Chairman of the Bridge Authority, Gaffney was indicted by the Ulster County District Attorney for stealing more than $188,000 in taxpayer funds, but got away with pleading to a misdemeanor for supposedly over-billing the State for $16,000 in travel expenses, when then-Attorney General Eliot Spitzer inexplicably took over the case.


There are many who have come to believe that it is best to nominate, and elect, only the very wealthy to high public office, as they are less likely to be corrupted, or distracted from their public duties, in the pursuit of personal gain. They cite New Jersey Governor John Corzine, and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, as current examples. Still others argue that they merely bought their way into public office, and that having huge amounts of money to fund one’s own campaign ought not be a barrier to otherwise more qualified candidates.
Eliot Spitzer’s wealth, although significant, pales by comparison to two former New York Governors’ within the past fifty years. W. Averell Harriman served one term from ’54 to ’58, and Nelson Rockefeller who defeated
Harriman in 1959, went on to re-election three more times, before appointment as Vice President by President Gerald Ford in late 1973.

We believe that one should not need to come from great wealth to be elected to high office, either statewide, or nationally. The time is clearly at hand, particularly here in New York State, when legislation needs to be passed that will require all holders of public office to file annual public statements of personal financial worth. Such legislation would not only create transparency, but it would also discourage those who might seek public office for less than honorable reasons.