NEW YORK - Governor-elect Eliot Spitzer started his first day after a record-setting win doing what he talked about for 11 months of the campaign - working with disparate groups to change New York.
Spitzer and outgoing Republican Gov. George Pataki met Wednesday in a Manhattan diner for coffee and started to map out what both hope will be a smooth transition.
“Eliot, congratulations,” Pataki said in greeting his Democratic successor.
At the diner, and on the sidewalks, New Yorkers stopped to congratulate Spitzer and asked to pose with him for photos.
Pataki and Spitzer met alone over coffee for 20 minutes at a table in the middle of the diner.
Spitzer also met later in the day with state AFL-CIO president Denis Hughes and Kenneth Adams, president of the Business Council of New York.
“It is the sort of bridge-building and reaching out that is necessary to bring resolution to issues rather than perpetuating the bickering of the past,” Spitzer told The Associated Press in his first interview after his victory.
“Today is the beginning of a discussion with the AFL-CIO and the Business Council,” Spitzer said.
The Business Council has long supported Spitzer in his two terms as attorney general and Hughes is one of the many labor leaders who endorsed Spitzer.
After the meeting at his office, Spitzer said he called “his two friends” together to begin a dialogue on economic issues facing New Yorkers.
Spitzer said he wanted to begin the process of analyzing and finding common ground on issues like workers' compensation.
Adams and Hughes agreed that workers' compensation is one of the top issues they would like to see resolved. “If you look at the economic challenges across the state, workers' comp is one of the top three, if not the No. 1 issue,” Hughes said.
Adams agreed, saying he would like to be able to sit down with Spitzer and work out some tough problems his members face.
Spitzer began his day dropping his daughters off at the bus for school and then joked that he didn't know whether to go to work as attorney general or to his transition office. “When I woke up, I said where do I go?”
Spitzer said he believed the difference in the race for governor was his record as attorney general over the last eight years - a time when he forced reforms on Wall Street and fought for investors and consumers.
“The record of the last eight years, I think, is what people looked at,” Spitzer said. “It gives people confidence that when I say I will set out on an agenda of reform and reinvigorating the economy, I mean it.”
“We obviously have loads of work ahead of us,” he said.
At a press conference, Pataki congratulated Spitzer on his “great victory” and promised “that our team will do everything we can to make the transition as orderly and smooth as possible.”
“I have absolute confidence the state of New York will be in very good hands for the next four years,” Pataki said.
With 99 percent of districts reporting as of Wednesday afternoon, Spitzer had won 69 percent of the vote while Republican-Conservative John Faso garnered 29 percent.
That unofficial total beat former Gov. Mario Cuomo's record of 64.6 percent in 1986 as well as the best showings of Hugh L. Carey, Thomas E. Dewey, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Pataki and Nelson Rockefeller.
In Albany, State Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, who will become New York's most powerful Republican next year, said he left a message congratulating Spitzer.
He also said he looks forward to having a “honeymoon” with the new governor, who ran on the slogan: “Day One: Everything Changes.”
“I welcome an opportunity to talk on Day One, Day Two, Day Three with the new governor about an agenda,” Bruno told reporters at a state Capitol news conference.
But Bruno made clear at the same time that Senate Republicans are focused on their own agenda, which includes education, jobs, tax cuts and public safety. While saying that Spitzer “has kind of an aggressive way about him,” he suggested that they share some goals.
“Eliot, congratulations,” Pataki said in greeting his Democratic successor.
At the diner, and on the sidewalks, New Yorkers stopped to congratulate Spitzer and asked to pose with him for photos.
Pataki and Spitzer met alone over coffee for 20 minutes at a table in the middle of the diner.
Spitzer also met later in the day with state AFL-CIO president Denis Hughes and Kenneth Adams, president of the Business Council of New York.
“It is the sort of bridge-building and reaching out that is necessary to bring resolution to issues rather than perpetuating the bickering of the past,” Spitzer told The Associated Press in his first interview after his victory.
“Today is the beginning of a discussion with the AFL-CIO and the Business Council,” Spitzer said.
The Business Council has long supported Spitzer in his two terms as attorney general and Hughes is one of the many labor leaders who endorsed Spitzer.
After the meeting at his office, Spitzer said he called “his two friends” together to begin a dialogue on economic issues facing New Yorkers.
Spitzer said he wanted to begin the process of analyzing and finding common ground on issues like workers' compensation.
Adams and Hughes agreed that workers' compensation is one of the top issues they would like to see resolved. “If you look at the economic challenges across the state, workers' comp is one of the top three, if not the No. 1 issue,” Hughes said.
Adams agreed, saying he would like to be able to sit down with Spitzer and work out some tough problems his members face.
Spitzer began his day dropping his daughters off at the bus for school and then joked that he didn't know whether to go to work as attorney general or to his transition office. “When I woke up, I said where do I go?”
Spitzer said he believed the difference in the race for governor was his record as attorney general over the last eight years - a time when he forced reforms on Wall Street and fought for investors and consumers.
“The record of the last eight years, I think, is what people looked at,” Spitzer said. “It gives people confidence that when I say I will set out on an agenda of reform and reinvigorating the economy, I mean it.”
“We obviously have loads of work ahead of us,” he said.
At a press conference, Pataki congratulated Spitzer on his “great victory” and promised “that our team will do everything we can to make the transition as orderly and smooth as possible.”
“I have absolute confidence the state of New York will be in very good hands for the next four years,” Pataki said.
With 99 percent of districts reporting as of Wednesday afternoon, Spitzer had won 69 percent of the vote while Republican-Conservative John Faso garnered 29 percent.
That unofficial total beat former Gov. Mario Cuomo's record of 64.6 percent in 1986 as well as the best showings of Hugh L. Carey, Thomas E. Dewey, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Pataki and Nelson Rockefeller.
In Albany, State Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, who will become New York's most powerful Republican next year, said he left a message congratulating Spitzer.
He also said he looks forward to having a “honeymoon” with the new governor, who ran on the slogan: “Day One: Everything Changes.”
“I welcome an opportunity to talk on Day One, Day Two, Day Three with the new governor about an agenda,” Bruno told reporters at a state Capitol news conference.
But Bruno made clear at the same time that Senate Republicans are focused on their own agenda, which includes education, jobs, tax cuts and public safety. While saying that Spitzer “has kind of an aggressive way about him,” he suggested that they share some goals.
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