Spitzer says wife, family aren't the focus
(CNN) – She famously stood by Eliot Spitzer in the aftermath of his 2008 prostitution scandal, but Silda Wall Spitzer hasn't been hitting the trail in her husband's bid for a political comeback.
Speaking at a campaign stop Thursday, the candidate for the Democratic city comptroller nomination suggested that wouldn't change in the lead up to September's primary.
"I think it's fair to say that I'm running for office, no other member of my family is running for office, and I think the public's going to judge me, not who else is with me or not with me," Spitzer told a gaggle of reporters, including representatives from CNN affiliate NY1 and the New York Post.
"You know, she's got a career, there are other things that I think the public appreciates I'm out here fighting every day for," Spitzer continued.
When asked Friday whether Silda Wall Spitzer would join her husband on the campaign trail, his spokeswoman Lisa Linden told CNN, "Silda is supportive of Eliot's campaign."
Linden wouldn't specify whether Silda Wall Spitzer - a Harvard Law School graduate who previously worked as a corporate attorney - would campaign for her husband.
Earlier this month, Spitzer told CNN's Jake Tapper he did expect his family to stump for him in the month leading up to the September 10 primary vote.
"My family is supportive," he said the July 18 edition of "The Lead." "I expect, yes, she will be - the family will be out there; she signed a petition, gathered petitions. My daughters - and not the one who's overseas right now - gathered petitions for me. And I'm proud of that, but I also have said our private lives are our private lives."
Silda Wall Spitzer's absence from her husband's campaign stands in sharp contrast to Huma Abedin, the wife of New York City mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner, who was active in his campaign even before this week's revelations of his online sexual impropriety.
As the Weiner scandal unfolded Tuesday, Abedin took the remarkable step of speaking to the press for the first time about the allegations, saying she had forgiven her husband and was supporting his candidacy.
CNN's Alina Cho and Kevin Liptak contributed to this report.
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Weiner-Spitzel 2016. San Diego Mayor Bob Filner can run their campaign, and Jesse Jackson Jr. can be their spokesmouth, if CNN doesn't hire them first
if you ask me, the red and the blue is no different, they're all hypocrites. animal farm
Nick said it, "New York, please show your intelligence for once and kick guys like Spitzer Weiner to the curb. Send a message for a change."
I wouldn't vote for Spitzer, Weiner OR their spouses! Who needs them? There are other candidates running who have less name recognition and (as yet) no big scandals.
Yay, now all those non-New Yorkers will tell the New Yorkers who to vote for. Yeah! Don't let them have their own opinion! Tell them what to do! Yeah!
He couldn't make it on television so he figured people wouldn't watch him there but they would be dumb enough to vote for him? He's probably right. We'll see.
Dutch wrote:
You can't put Spittzer and Weiner in the same category. At least not after this week. Weiner should have taken a longer hiatus like Spitzer. Now poor Uma has to try and defend her perverted husband.
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Exactly. I've been saying that all along. Weiner has not spent enough time rehabilitating his image. He drops off the radar for 18 -24 months, and suddenly he's pops up running for Mayor. Nahp.
Silda is one of the nicest people in the world and seeing the hurt in her face in that old picture once again makes me want to throttle Eliot until he never is capable of hurting her again. He should have had the grace to keep his life private forever and not to remind everyone how arrogant and unfeeling of others he is.