The only thing missing from the article in yesterday’s New York Times on the possible financial missteps of Mario Gabelli was the name of Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. Mr. Gabelli, known as “Super Mario” on Wall Street for his highly successful record as a fund manager, is facing a lawsuit filed by two of his minority shareholders in the State Supreme Court in Westchester County accusing him of a series of corporate abuses.

The suit contends, the Times reports, that Mr. Gabelli and his directors “are guilty of looting the assets of the company, breaching their fiduciary duties to its shareholders and oppressing its minority shareholders.” Documents reportedly show that among the abuses are Mr. Gabelli’s construction of a web of private and public businesses that allow him to pay himself hundreds of millions of dollars. The Times reports that a spokesman for Mr. Gabelli described the suit as “tantamount to greenmail” and that it is set to be heard later this year.

What’s unusual about this suit is the absence of General Spitzer’s involvement. He made his reputation by assailing financial misdealing in Wall Street. This would appear to be a classic Spitzer case. The New York Sun ran an editorial in June, “Meanwhile, Spitzer’s Fund-Raising,” offering a sampling of contributors to Mr. Spitzer’s gubernatorial campaign from the financial industry he regulates. One such donor is Mr. Gabelli, who ponied up $24,000.

No one is suggesting that Mr. Spitzer has been bought off, but if the attorney general doesn’t want New Yorkers to view him with cynicism, Mr. Spitzer would do well, as we recommended in June, either to stop accepting contributions from an industry he is charged with regulating or to step down from his role as regulator until his campaign has ended.