Improving My View of Ralph Nader
For much of my adult life, Ralph Nader was my least favorite living Princeton alum*. But Eliot Spitzer may be challenging for the title. Sure, I never really liked Spitzer when he was at Princeton, but I never really liked any of the student government types, as evidenced by the fact that I led a mass-mooning of one governing council meeting (yes, I know, you are shocked that this sophisticated commentator could have been so immature). Besides, Spitzer was the butt of one of Princeton's great jokes and works of performance art, when he was defeated by the Antarctic Liberation Front.
But since his tenure as AG and now governor of New York, the guy has turned from an irritating joke to a real threat to freedom. His abuse of the AG job for personal aggrandizement is legend, and, after having been given a free pass by the press in that job, he is finally being cornered for various ethical violations.
So it is with great satisfaction that I read today that Spitzer was forced to back off his plan to tax out of state Internet sales, abandoning his unique view that an affiliate program created a corporate presence in-state.
Update: A Spitzer roundup of sorts at Reason.
Greg:
Spitzer's unique view about affiliate programs was certainly
interesting to me, since that's how I earn my living.
Good to read that it's been stopped.
November 16, 2007, 4:40 pm