ELIOT DODGES STADIUM FRAY
By FREDRIC U. DICKER

May 23, 2005 -- ATTORNEY General Eliot Spitzer, the Democratic guber natorial hopeful who has taken on controversial issues from reforming Wall Street to backing homosexual marriage, is refusing to take a stand on the hottest issue of the day.

Spitzer, who lives in Manhattan, won't say where he stands on the hotly fought-over, $2 billion-plus West Side stadium — and he refuses to say if he thinks the Public Authorities Control Board should authorize $300 million in state bonds for the project.

Repeated efforts Friday, Saturday and yesterday to find out Spitzer's position were rebuffed by his spokesman, Darren Dopp, who said the normally outspoken attorney general wasn't yet ready to take a stand.

But sources close to the stadium project insist Spitzer has privately confided to friends that he is opposed to the plan.

Gov. Pataki and Mayor Bloomberg, both Republicans, strongly support the stadium, the hoped-for new home of the New York Jets and a possible venue for the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Meanwhile, Wednesday's scheduled PACB vote on the stadium will likely be postponed again for at least a week because of a looming court decision on the massive project, insiders say.

The delay, the insiders agree, will come at the request of Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, the Manhattan Democrat who says he fears that a huge office complex to be built as part of the stadium will divert businesses that might otherwise locate at Ground Zero, which is in his district.

Silver also contends the West Side project would cost the city and state far more than the $600 million that's been stated, and he's asked Pataki for a detailed accounting.

"I think it's important for the public to know what the actual cost is going to be, and to my knowledge, we haven't gotten that information yet," Silver told The Post.