On April 9, 2003 the Drum Major Institute for Public Policy hosted the latest installment of its 'Marketplace of Ideas' series with New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer at the Harvard Club in New York City. Through his pursuit of corporate malfeasance, Spitzer has taken the national dialogue back to the question that guided the original progressive movement: what is the role of government in protecting the interests of the people?

Panelists:
Arianna Huffington, Columnist and Author, Arianna Online

Richard G. Ketchum, President and Deputy Chairman, The NASDAQ Stock Market, Inc.
Dennis Rivera, President, 1199/SEIU New York’s Health and Human Service Union.
Richard Steier, Author of Chinatown, New York: Labor and Politics 1930-1950

Moderated by Richard Steier, Editor of The Chief Newspaper

Introductions by Hon. Fernando Ferrer, President, Drum Major Institute for Public Policy

New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer took office in 1999 and through a series of innovative actions has redefined the role of Attorney General. He investigated conflicts of interest by investment banks, illegal trading practices by mutual funds and bid rigging in the insurance industry. He has recovered billions of dollars for small investors and other consumers in these cases and was the catalyst for industry-wide reforms. He sued Midwest power plants and achieved significant reductions in the emissions that are responsible for acid rain and smog in the Northeast. He exposed the dangerous practice by pharmaceutical companies of concealing information about the clinical trials of drugs, and helped develop new disclosure policies in the industry.Again and again, Attorney General Spitzer has acted to stop fraud in the marketplace, to level the playing field for honest businesses and to help restore confidence in the markets. As a result of these and other actions, he has won national acclaim. He was named 'Crusader of the Year' by Time magazine; the 'Sheriff of Wall Street' by 60 Minutes; and 'The Enforcer' by People magazine. Reader's Digest magazine called him America's 'Best Public Servant.'

The title that most accurately reflects his role is 'the People's Lawyer.' The cases that mean the most to him are his pioneering labor rights cases to ensure the minimum wage and decent workings conditions for immigrants and other low-wage workers in service industries.

He has also been an aggressive advocate for taxpayers, exposing misconduct in state authorities and pressing for greater accountability throughout state government.

He began his career in public service as a clerk to U.S. District Court Judge Robert W. Sweet and later served as an Assistant District Attorney in Manhattan under Robert Morgenthau from 1986-1992, rising to become Chief of the Labor Racketeering unit where he successfully prosecuted organized crime and political corruption cases. He also spent time in private practice with Paul Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton and Garrison, and Skadden Arps, Slate, Meagher and Flom. He was also a partner at Constantine & Partners.

Hon. Fernando Ferrer is recognized nationally as an architect for revitalizing American cities, with over 25 years of innovative, effective and accomplished leadership in New York City Government. During his 14-year tenure as Borough President of The Bronx, Mr. Ferrer designed and oversaw the largest urban rebuilding effort in the country -- transforming what was once a national symbol of urban decay into an international model for urban revival. On Mr. Ferrer's watch, over 66,000 small homes and apartments were built, over 34,000 new jobs were created by hundreds of new businesses and over 2.5 billion dollars were invested in institutional renewal and growth. In 2001, Mr. Ferrer ran an historic campaign for Mayor of New York City, highlighting the issues that affect the lives of each and every New Yorker.

Arianna Huffington is a nationally syndicated columnist and author of 10 books. She is also co-host of 'Left, Right & Center,' public radio's popular political roundtable program. Her weekly liberal commentary is syndicated in newspapers across the country by Tribune Media Services.

Originally from Greece, she moved to England when she was 16 and graduated from Cambridge University with an M.A. in economics. At 21, she became president of the famed debating society, the Cambridge Union. A few of her books include: The Female Woman, on the changing roles of women, Greetings from the Lincoln Bedroom, Pigs at the Trough: How Corporate Greed and Political Corruption are Undermining America, and Fanatics and Fools: The Game Plan for Winning Back America, which offers a scathing portrait of our contemporary political landscape.

Huffington has made guest appearances on numerous television shows, including 'Charlie Rose,' 'Oprah,' 'Nightline,' 'Real Time with Bill Maher,' 'Inside Politics,' 'Larry King Live,' 'Hardball,' 'Good Morning America,' the 'Today' show, 'Countdown' and 'The O'Reilly Factor.'

She serves on several boards that promote community solutions to social problems, including A Place Called Home that works with at-risk children in South Central Los Angeles. She also serves on the Board of Trustees for the Archer School for Girls, the advisory board of the Council on American Politics at George Washington University, and the board of the Reform Institute that works on campaign and election reform issues.

Richard Ketchum spent 12 years at the National Association of Securities Dealers Inc., (NASD) and Nasdaq. He served as president of Nasdaq for three years and as president of NASD for seven years. Prior to working at the NASD and Nasdaq, Mr. Ketchum was at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for 14 years, eight of those years as director of the division of Market Regulation. Mr. Ketchum earned his J.D. from the New York University School of Law in 1975 and his B.A. from Tufts University in 1972. He is a member of the bar in both New York and the District of Columbia.

Dennis Rivera is the president of 1199 SEIU New York's Health and Human Service Union, which represents more than 200,000 health care workers in the greater New York City metropolitan area. A leading advocate for improving quality health care, Mr. Rivera and 1199 SEIU are credited with playing a pivotal role in the campaign that led to the enactment of New York's Child Health Plus and Family Health Plus programs which offer affordable health insurance for working parents and children. Mr. Rivera, a trade unionist for more than two decades, currently serves as a member of the board of the Children's Defense Fund and the national AFL-CIO.

Richard Steier is the editor and columnist of The Chief-Leader, a New York City-based civil service newspaper with a circulation of 52,000 that focuses on municipal government and its labor unions. He has held that position since June 1998, and has worked for the paper for 15 years in three different tenures.

Sandwiched in between were four years working at the New York Post as a City Hall reporter and labor columnist, and 20 months spent at WCBS-TV as a field producer and writer. Steier is a contributor on labor issues to Newsday's New York City edition, and his work has also appeared in the New York Observer, the New York Times, the Boston Globe, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Village Voice, and the New York Daily News, among other publications.

He is the co-author, with Len Ragozin and Len Friedman, of 'The Odds Must Be Crazy,' (published by Little Brown in 1997) about a former Newsweek researcher (Ragozin) who after being blacklisted for his Communist beliefs during the mid-1950s devoted his energies to developing a system for measuring thoroughbred racehorses' performances that today is considered state of the art among serious horseplayers.