New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer has been chosen to address the Society of the Friendly Sons of Saint Patrick on the evening of St. Patrick’s Day, March 17; “NBC Nightly News” anchor Tom Brokaw has also been selected to speak. The dinner, which will be held at the Sheraton, is one of the most celebrated events of the day.
Catholic League president William Donohue found this interesting:
“When Eliot Spitzer was asked three years ago whether he would march in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade, he told the New York Post, ‘No.’ When pressed, he replied, ‘It’s more a scheduling thing than anything else. I’m not going to march in it. I’ll just leave it at that.’
“Well, the Catholic League will not just leave it at that, not this year, that’s for sure. It is quite obvious that Spitzer has previously refused to march in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade because parade officials bar gays from having their own contingent (note: gays have never been barred from marching anymore than pro-life Catholics have—it’s just that neither group is permitted to have its own unit).
“Louis Giovino, our director of communications, called Spitzer’s office to learn whether the Attorney General was planning to march this year. He was told that Spitzer hasn’t decided yet and will let us know in a few weeks. In other words, Spitzer hasn’t found a way to get himself out of this jam. He knows what his schedule is the night of St. Patrick’s Day but he’s not sure what he’s going to do during the day. Maybe he’ll take in a movie.
“So that’s why we won’t ‘just leave it at that.’ We want to know whether Spitzer has the gall to address a major dinner on St. Patrick’s Day yet not march in the very parade that honors the patron saint of the Archdiocese of New York. And if he does have the chutzpah to do this, we’d like to hear from the directors of the Friendly Sons how they feel about their hero.”
