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Eliot Spitzer Tell-All Book Draws Fire From Ex-Governor, Andrew Cuomo

By DNAinfo Staff on March 4, 2010 8:35am  | Updated on March 4, 2010 8:32am

Former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer addresses an audience during a Harvard University ethics forum on the school's campus in Cambridge, Mass., Thursday, Nov. 12, 2009.
Former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer addresses an audience during a Harvard University ethics forum on the school's campus in Cambridge, Mass., Thursday, Nov. 12, 2009.
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AP Photo/Steven Senne

By Nina Mandell

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

MANHATTAN — A new book about the scandal that brought down Eliot Spitzer has drawn criticism from the former governor and Attorney General Andrew Cuomo.

In "Journal Of A Plague Year," Lloyd Constantine, a former close friend and advisor to Spitzer, blamed the governor’s lack of his usual tennis matches for his indiscretions and said he advised him to go to sex addiction rehab before resigning, the New York Times reported.

The tell-all, which comes out shortly before the second anniversary of Spitzer's resignation, has drawn criticism from the ex-governor's camp.

“What Mr. Constantine has written is little more than a self-serving and largely inaccurate interpretation of events mixed with unfounded speculation,” Spitzer said in a statement to the Times. “That such a close adviser and confidant of my family and member of my administration would choose to write such a book is a fundamental breach of trust.”

Eliot Spitzer, seen here on his way into The Colbert Report in early February, is furious about a new book on his resignation.
Eliot Spitzer, seen here on his way into The Colbert Report in early February, is furious about a new book on his resignation.
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Jennifer Glickel/DNAinfo

Since his resignation, Spitzer has slowly climbed back into the public eye, first with a finance column on Slate.com and later with appearances on shows such as “The Colbert Report.” He has often been rumored to be considering re-entering public office, but has made no official moves to do so.

In his book, Constantine reportedly wrote that he believed Spitzer had been destined to be President.

“I was telling anyone who would listen that the American presidency was Eliot’s manifest destiny,” the book said, according to the Times.

The book also reportedly lashes out against Cuomo, saying his investigation into the “Troopergate” scandal was sloppy.

“The book is an obvious attempt by the author to excuse his key role in a decidedly corrupt administration,” John Milgrim, a Cuomo spokesman, told the Times.

The book is available on March 9.