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Dems urge Suozzi to let fat cat go

BY MICHAEL ROTHFELD AND RICK BRAND | STAFF WRITERS

9:42 PM EST, December 15, 2005

Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi. (Newsday / Alan Raia)

Democratic leaders from across the state are urging Thomas Suozzi to renounce the billionaire "Republican activist" who has pledged to raise money for the Nassau county executive's possible 2006 gubernatorial primary against Attorney General Eliot Spitzer.

Suffolk Democratic Chairman Richard Schaffer and his Schenectady County counterpart, Robert Brehm, circulated an e-mail to Democrats throughout the state Wednesday. They criticized Suozzi's relationship with Kenneth Langone, the Home Depot co-founder, and called him a "corporate fat cat."

"Ken Langone is a man who has showered radical Republicans across the country with campaign donations," Schaffer and Brehm wrote, asking the Democrats to sign on to a letter they plan to send Suozzi asking him to disassociate himself from Langone. They expect at least 25 to do so.

"As we all know, politics is a tough game and sometimes makes for strange bedfellows. But do we really think that Tom Suozzi -- a lifelong Democrat -- should be working with this man to bring down the AG?"

Suozzi's campaign manager, Kim Devlin, said the letters were "typical insider clubhouse politics."

"No one can question Tom Suozzi's Democratic credentials," she said.

While the Democratic leaders did not ask Suozzi to back off challenging Spitzer, the party favorite for governor, their message indicates that Langone, 70, of Sands Point, is likely to become a major campaign issue.

Spitzer is suing Langone, a former board member of the New York Stock Exchange, for fraud in connection with a $187.5-million pay package given to the NYSE's former chief executive, Richard Grasso. In New York magazine this week, Langone was quoted as saying he wanted to start a "holy war" against Spitzer by funding a Suozzi candidacy.

Langone has raised money for former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and many other Republicans. Yesterday, a Langone adviser pointed out that he also had donated to Democrats including Sen. Charles Schumer, but declined to comment further.

Langone supported Suozzi heavily in his re-election campaign this year -- his $35,000 contribution was the largest the county executive reported in July.

"I am grateful for Mr. Langone's support," Suozzi said in a statement yesterday. "He is a good person and he has never asked me for anything except for good government."

Spitzer has refrained from commenting on a Suozzi candidacy, but yesterday Nassau Democratic Chairman Jay Jacobs tried to draw the attorney general in, accusing Brehm and Schaffer of "character assassination" against Langone and saying it would be unusual if they hadn't consulted the attorney general on it.

"If they didn't, he should certainly condemn it," Jacobs said. "It's bad form."

Ryan Toohey, a Spitzer spokesman, said his campaign had not been consulted by the county leaders. "I don't condemn the letter," he added.