Eliot Spitzer arrives at the city Board of Elections downtown headquarters Thursday. (Christopher Sadowski)
Disgraced ex-Gov. Eliot Spitzer said tonight he gathered 27,000 voter signatures as part of his comeback bid to run for city comptroller.
The 27,000 names collected is seven times more than the 3,750 valid signatures needed to get on the ballot. But it’s unclear how many of the petitions are legitimate.
But a beaming Spitzer, who personally delivered four boxes of petitions to the Board of Elections downtown headquarters at 10:30 p.m., said there’s no doubt that he’s met the threshold to be a candidate — in just three-and-half days before the filing deadline. He announced his 11th-hour bid on Sunday..
“Against the odds and all predictions — and in light of some who tried to thwart the effort — I am pleased to announce that we have collected more than 27,000 signatures in four days. I want to thank those who assisted with this effort and the New Yorkers who signed these petitions. I pledge to stand with you against the special interests and on the crucial issues,” Spitzer said.
Political insiders expect allies of Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, who is also running for comptroller, to challenge Spitzer’s petitions and try to knock him off the ballot.
But Spitzer, who resigned as governor after getting caught in a hooker scandal in 2008, said Stringer is playing with fire.
“I would think that anybody who would challenge 27,000 signatures would be sending a statement that they don’t really believe in democracy, they don’t believe in primaries, they don’t believe in the fundamental notion of competition to seek the votes of the citizens of this state,” Spitzer said.
“We don’t believe bosses dictate who gets on the ballot We don’t believe that people from above get to keep people on or off, get candidates off by cutting deals.”
Stringer, who collected 100,000 signatures for his campaign and is backed by the city’s major unions, said on NY 1 last night that “throwing people off the ballot . . . is not what I’m about.”