Opponent Slams Spitzer For Saying Weiner Shouldn't Be Mayor

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Former governor and current city comptroller candidate Eliot Spitzer said Monday that Anthony Weiner should not be running for mayor in the wake of his latest sexting scandal.

Spitzer's remarks prompted a rebuke from his opponent in the comptroller's race, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer.

Speaking to Chris Matthews on the MSNBC program "Hardball," Spitzer was asked if he thought Weiner was fit to be mayor of New York. When Matthews asked Spitzer if Weiner "should not be mayor of New York," Spitzer said, "That is correct."

Spitzer himself ended up resigning from the governor's office in 2008 amid a prostitution scandal. A spokeswoman for Stringer said given that, Spitzer had no business criticizing Weiner.

"It's clear that Eliot Spitzer thinks there are two standards – one for him, and one for everybody else," Stringer campaign spokeswoman Audrey Gelman said in a statement. "His comments are the height of hypocrisy."

Spitzer served as New York Attorney General for two terms before being elected governor in 2006. He resigned in March 2008, after a scandal erupted when news broke that he had been a client at the Emperors Club VIP escort agency.

But earlier this month, he announced his candidacy for city comptroller and like Weiner, asked for forgiveness from voters.

Among Democrats likely to vote in the primary, Spitzer as of last week led Stringer 48-36 percent. Last month, Spitzer led 44-36.

But the news has not been so good for Weiner.

He had been leading many polls in the mayoral race before the latest sexting scandal, in which he was found to have exchanged explicit correspondence and photos with a woman after he resigned from Congress and vowed to stop the online behavior that led him to do so.

A new poll of likely Democratic voters taken by Quinnipiac University shows the disgraced former congressman trailing City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and former city comptroller Bill Thompson.

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