Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Now the Governor’s Mansion Awaits Spitzer’s Touch
New York Times SAM ROBERTS
"Theodore Roosevelt once broke in, smashing a window when he returned to find the house locked and the help asleep. Alfred E. Smith kept a menagerie in the backyard, including a 350-pound black bear, which wandered off and made itself at home next door, to the delight of the orphans who lived there. Four monkeys also once bolted, only to return on their own the next morning after what must have been a disappointing night on the town in Albany.
Mario M. Cuomo lived there full time and almost never left. George E. Pataki hardly ever stayed — evidence, to his critics, that he had distanced himself from the day-to-day affairs of Albany, often commuting between Manhattan and his home in Garrison, in the Hudson Valley.
Now Albany is anticipating Eliot Spitzer’s arrival at the governor’s mansion. As attorney general, he stayed about two nights a week at an Albany hotel during legislative sessions. He just bought a house in nearby Columbia County, and two of his teenage daughters will finish high school in New York City and live with their mother in the Spitzers’ Manhattan apartment, which will remain Mr. Spitzer’s primary residence.
Nevertheless, pledging to be a hands-on governor after being sworn in Dec. 31, Mr. Spitzer says he will spend as much time in Albany “as necessary to do the job” and will live in the gloomy-looking 40-odd-room Charles Addams-esque mansion. A patchwork of Victorian turrets, cupolas, bays and gingerbread, it will celebrate its 150th birthday next year. "
For the rest of this very interesting read..... click here ........... andy
"Theodore Roosevelt once broke in, smashing a window when he returned to find the house locked and the help asleep. Alfred E. Smith kept a menagerie in the backyard, including a 350-pound black bear, which wandered off and made itself at home next door, to the delight of the orphans who lived there. Four monkeys also once bolted, only to return on their own the next morning after what must have been a disappointing night on the town in Albany.
Mario M. Cuomo lived there full time and almost never left. George E. Pataki hardly ever stayed — evidence, to his critics, that he had distanced himself from the day-to-day affairs of Albany, often commuting between Manhattan and his home in Garrison, in the Hudson Valley.
Now Albany is anticipating Eliot Spitzer’s arrival at the governor’s mansion. As attorney general, he stayed about two nights a week at an Albany hotel during legislative sessions. He just bought a house in nearby Columbia County, and two of his teenage daughters will finish high school in New York City and live with their mother in the Spitzers’ Manhattan apartment, which will remain Mr. Spitzer’s primary residence.
Nevertheless, pledging to be a hands-on governor after being sworn in Dec. 31, Mr. Spitzer says he will spend as much time in Albany “as necessary to do the job” and will live in the gloomy-looking 40-odd-room Charles Addams-esque mansion. A patchwork of Victorian turrets, cupolas, bays and gingerbread, it will celebrate its 150th birthday next year. "
For the rest of this very interesting read..... click here ........... andy
