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Jacobs jumps to Spitzer side

Leader of Nassau's legislature rescinds support of Suozzi for governor, prompting cries she is disloyal

BY MICHAEL ROTHFELD | Newsday Staff Writer

July 7, 2006

New York state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer is seen after a fundraiser at the Glen Oaks Country Club in Old Westbury. (Newsday / Karen Wiles Stabile / February 15, 2006)

Presiding Officer Judy Jacobs, leader of the Nassau legislature, revoked her endorsement of County Executive Thomas Suozzi for governor yesterday and threw her support to Attorney General Eliot Spitzer.

The development, another blow to Suozzi's long-shot campaign for the Democratic nomination, means Spitzer now has the backing of five of 10 members of the Democratic majority in the Nassau legislature.

"I've listened to Tom, I've listened to Eliot and I've made a decision on my own, with my own thought process, that Eliot Spitzer is what this state needs," Jacobs said, standing in front of her Woodbury home next to Spitzer in one of his several appearances on Long Island yesterday.

Jacobs, a strong Suozzi ally often criticized for deferring to him in the legislature, in recent weeks has urged him to drop out of the governor's race and return to the county. She said last Friday his bid was "ridiculous."

Suozzi's allies cast the defection as political treachery. Jay Jacobs, chairman of the Nassau Democratic Party and of Suozzi's campaign, engaged in a long court battle to retain her leadership post after an insurrection earlier this year. He said Judy Jacobs, to whom he is not related, had not warned him of her decision.

"You might think a friend would pick up the phone to talk beforehand," Jay Jacobs said. "Politics unfortunately never fails to disappoint me and at times stun me in the capacity that people have for grand betrayal. I am apparently using the wrong dictionary when I look up the word loyalty."

Judy Jacobs called Jay Jacobs a "very, very good friend," but said she felt endorsing Spitzer would be better for Nassau. "I have stood up for Tom on every initiative that he's had that I believe in ... I've taken a few shots in the back for him, and I still would do that for him."

Spitzer wooed Judy Jacobs for weeks; the two even had lunch in Manhattan. He kissed her on the cheek yesterday, admired photos of her grandchildren and called her "a citizen activist first, not a politician."

"It is enormously meaningful to me to have Judy's endorsement, not because this is a game of taking from somebody else," Spitzer said.

Suozzi said he was not upset. "Eliot has all the endorsements," he said. "He has all the lobbyist money and he has all the insiders lined up. All I have is a record of accomplishment in Nassau County and a vision for the future."

One irony is that Jacobs can't vote in the Sept. 12 primary, because she switched her registration from Democratic to unaffiliated as a legal maneuver during the leadership battle.

She and Suozzi have an up-and-down relationship. In 2001, she backed Assemb. Thomas DiNapoli (D-Great Neck), the Democratic favorite for county executive, who lost to Suozzi. She has also often defended Suozzi against Republican attacks.