Reluctant First Lady Endures a New Ordeal

Silda Wall Spitzer was a reluctant first lady of New York, but when her husband's dalliances became public she was one of the few people urging him not to resign, the New York Times reports. Silda all but begged Eliot to stay in office, and if she means it, it could matter. Even now, friends say Silda has tremendous influence over her husband.

A former corporate lawyer, Wall Spitzer has avoided the political spotlight, spending most of her time at home in Manhattan. “The whole period of his governorship hasn’t fit her,” one friend said. “It strained the marriage.” As mother, charity worker, and first lady, “I have three jobs,” Silda once lamented. “And none of them are corporate law, and none of them pay.”