Governor Eliot Spitzer doesn’t care about New York, or what New Yorkers think! Even though he has a mandate to govern for four years, it doesn’t give him the right to challenge the decisions of the many government bodies that enforce our laws—and change the law whenever they make a decision that he disagrees with.If Mr. Spitzer doesn’t change his stripes—particularly in the area of law enforcement—he’s going to put us right back where we were in the early 1990s when criminals walked the streets of New York without a care in the world. But, we then elected two strong lawmakers, Rudi Giuliani and George Pataki, who cracked down on crime—even if it overrode the constitutional rights of New Yorkers and cost the state millions in court costs, lawyers’ fees and settlements.
But Mr. Spitzer is only concerned about the bottom line. Why else would he release convicted murderer Charles E. Friedgood? Could it be because this 89-year-old former heart surgeon, who killed his invalid wife with overdose of the painkiller Demeroin in 1975, has cancer? Or is it because Dr. Friedgood has cost the state more than $300,000 in medical bills?
I’m not sure, but I know that this man is still a danger to society who will kill again. If he wasn’t a danger, the State Parole Board would have released him many years ago. In 2003, The New York Times reported that he: “represents a propensity for extreme violence.” Two years later, the board again denied him parole saying releasing Dr. Friedgood “would so deprecate the seriousness of this crime as to undermine respect for the law.”
And earlier this year, the Board again concluded that we still needed protection from Dr. Friedgood because: “there is a reasonable probability that you would not live and remain at liberty again without violating the law and your release would be incompatible with the welfare of society.”
This man should die in prison. Releasing him now will endanger the $300,000 investment New York has already made in this man. To ensure that we receive a full payback on the money we have already spent on Dr. Friedgood, we must maintain a 24-hour watch on him and ensure that he is given all the care he needs.
Releasing him now will endanger the lives of thousands of innocent people. While The New York Times, may buy the story that he’s going to retire to Florida and live with his sister, I don’t. Ask yourself, is a man who hasn’t worked for 30 years going to be able to afford retirement? I don’t think so. As far as I can see, Dr. Friedgood is going to have to get a job. Since it’s hard for convicted felons to find work, he’s going to work for himself. That’s right, Dr. Friedgood will open an office in Florida, perform heart surgery on innocent Floridians who have no knowledge of his past—and claim that those people who die in surgery didn’t die because he was trying to get back at society—they died because...
Next time I have lunch with Mr. Spitzer, I’m going to ask him what Dr. Friedgood promised him in return for his release. I want to know if the rumor that Mr. Spitzer was offered unlimited amounts of free, heart surgery are true. While I’m not jumping to any conclusions, New Yorker’s have a right to know if Mr. Spitzer is in as good health as he claims.
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