Spitzer defends Paterson, disses Gillibrand

ALBANY - Former Gov. Eliot Spitzer said yesterday that he doesn't regret picking David A. Paterson as a running mate and that Bernard Madoff's Wall Street fraud could have been uncovered quickly. He also dismissed Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand as a careerist and said his family is stronger than before he resigned amid a prostitution scandal.

"It's stupidity that brings people down," Spitzer said in a Webcast interview on bigthink.com, a business-oriented Web site.

"None of us are without fault," he said. "Mine are very evident to the world."

Spitzer said Paterson, who rose to governor when Spitzer resigned, is making the right fiscal decisions for the state amid difficult times that have sapped the popularity of many governors.

But Spitzer said Gillibrand, whom Paterson appointed a year ago, is more interested in advancing her career than committing to important principles and policies, including gun control. She faces election this year.

The man once called the "Sheriff of Wall Street" said Madoff, whose multibillion-dollar fraud went undetected for 16 years, could have been nabbed in short time - if only someone had a hint of it.

Spitzer said he never heard Madoff's name until news of his scheme made him one of Wall Street's most notorious rogues.

Spitzer also said Wall Street's collapse shows that former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, widely respected in office, "didn't understand the market." Of current Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, Spitzer said he is "just wrong."

Afterward, he said in an interview with The Associated Press that he has no plans for public office.