Disgraced former Gov. Eliot Spitzer has a new job: adjunct political science professor at the City College of New York.

Spitzer, who resigned in March 2008 when he was linked to a prostitution ring, confirmed Tuesday that he is teaching a course at the city college in Manhattan. Classes started Tuesday.

The college said he’s teaching a three-hour law and public policy class once a week in the political-science department for the fall semester. He will earn what adjuncts there receive, $98.43 an hour, said college spokesman Ellis Simon.

“We’re delighted that Eliot Spitzer has become an adjunct member of our facility,” Simon said. “His experience as attorney general and as governor of the state of New York gives him a unique and powerful perspective that can only benefit our students.”

Spitzer said the class will focus on government, economics and philosophy. Spitzer has taken a more public role in recent months, writing an online column for Slate and doing interviews on Wall Street’s problems. He helps run his father’s real-estate firm.

“It’s an eclectic course that at the end of the day hopefully will teach students to think both philosophically and practically about government, what it does, how it does it, whether it does it well,” Spitzer told Gannett’s Albany bureau.

Spitzer’s attempts to rebuild his public image have fueled speculation that he could return to public office. The New York Post on Tuesday, citing unnamed sources, reported that Spitzer is considering a run for statewide office next year, possibly state comptroller or U.S. Senate.

Spitzer declined to comment about his political future, but people close to Spitzer said Tuesday that they do not believe he is interested in a run for public office.

Asked about Spitzer’s political future, Gov. David Paterson, Spitzer’s successor, said the former governor hasn’t mentioned a return to public office in their conversations.

Paterson, in fact, told reporters that he has gotten the impression that Spitzer wouldn’t be interested, but said it would be up to Spitzer and the public to decide.
Of the possible seats Spitzer might consider, Paterson joked, “I didn’t hear governor so it sounds alright to me.”

Spitzer’s family has close ties to the City College of New York. His father, Bernard, graduated from the college in 1943, and in 2005, the school established the Anne and Bernard Spitzer Chair in Political Science after a $2.1 million gift from the couple.

Earlier this year, Bernard Spitzer gave $25 million to City College for its School of Architecture.