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Eliot Spitzer receiving the Tanenbaum Award for the Advancement of Interreligious Understanding from board member Adam Solomon.
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New York Governor Eliot Spitzer
Rabbi Marc H. Tanenbaum Memorial Lecturer, 2004

Eliot Spitzer was became governor of New York in 2006.  Prior to that, he was  the state’s 63rd Attorney General on January 1, 1999.  He has advanced initiatives to make New York a national leader in investor protection, environmental stewardship, labor rights, personal privacy, public safety and criminal law enforcement.

Spitzer’s investigations of conflicts of interest on Wall Street have been the catalyst for dramatic reform in the nation’s financial services industry.

His lawsuits against Midwest and Mid‑Atlantic power plants will help reduce air pollution responsible for acid rain and smog in the Northeast.

His efforts to curtail abuses in the green grocery industry have been hailed as landmark labor rights cases.

His investigations of internet companies and direct marketers have resulted in new privacy protections for consumers throughout the nation.

His "code of conduct" was the foundation for a settlement that reformed the way the nation’s largest gun manufacturer designs and distributes handguns.

His prosecutions of sophisticated white collar crimes have resulted in some of the nation’s largest fraud recoveries.

Through these and other initiatives, Spitzer ibuilt the reputation of the Attorney General as "the People’s Lawyer."

Spitzer bringsconsiderable experience his work. He was a clerk to United State District Court Judge Robert W. Sweet and, later, an associate at Paul Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton, and Garrison.

He served as an Assistant District Attorney in Manhattan from 1986‑1992, rising to become Chief of the Labor Racketeering Unit, where he successfully prosecuted organized crime and political corruption cases. He also worked at the New York law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher and Flom, and was a partner at Constantine & Partners.

Spitzer has contributed great time and energy to community service, serving on the boards of various not‑for‑profit organizations.

Spitzer is a 1981 graduate of Princeton University and a 1984 graduate of Harvard Law School, where he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review. Spitzer and his wife, Silda, also a Harvard Law School graduate, live in Manhattan with their three daughters, and also maintain a home in Columbia County.

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