Spitzer involved in prostitution ring

[channonc 466]

Waiting for more details...

LINK

[otterinbham 0]

Well, tomorrow's Wall Street Journal oughta be interest reading. They have no love for the man.

[DKW 86 7,441]

Does this make him an honorary Kennedy now?

[TexasTiger 13,026]

He needs to resign immediately.

[RunInRed 16,487]

guy just looks creepy

[TexasTiger 13,026]

guy just looks creepy

Agreed. And comes off as a jerk in interviews.

[arnaldoabru 11]

Well, at least it wasn't a mens restroom in an airport.

[TexasTiger 13,026]

Well, at least it wasn't a mens restroom in an airport.

Craig is a hypocrite, but at least he wasn't prosecutng folks for it. Persecuting, yes.

[DKW 86 7,441]

I want to tell tell you that I really thought this guy had cast himself as RFKII. He was a high profile successful AG and had the political chutzpah to get to the White House. As one friend of mine said today: "Eight years in Albany and he would be ready for the White House." Well, that all blew up today. I dont see how anyone is going to recover from the incredible amount of bad press this is going to get.

Though his signature issue was pursuing Wall Street misdeeds, as attorney general Mr. Spitzer also had prosecuted at least two prostitution rings as head of the state’s organized crime task force.

In one such case in 2004, Mr. Spitzer spoke with revulsion and anger after announcing the arrest of 16 people for operating a high-end prostitution ring out of Staten Island.

“This was a sophisticated and lucrative operation with a multitiered management structure,” Mr. Spitzer said at the time. “It was, however, nothing more than a prostitution ring.”

And what were you dealing with Mr Spitzer if not a "a high-end prostitution ring ?"

Albany for months has been roiled by bitter fighting and accusations of dirty tricks. The Albany County district attorney is set to issue in the coming days the results of his investigation into Mr. Spitzer’s first scandal, his aides’ involvement in an effort to tarnish Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno, the state’s top Republican.

Great, barely a year in office and already in court fighting charges of running a smear campaign on his opponents. I fear Elliot "Tricky Dick" Spitzer is watching the death of his political career in real time.

"Tricky Dick" is a reference to Richard Milhouse Nixon, the mythical king of the dirty trick.

Props to Tex for manning up on this one. There is indeed a huge difference in persecuting and prosecuting. It is a shame. I really liked Spitzer. I really thought he was a guy that would make a pretty good president someday. Tough on crime, etc.

[arnaldoabru 11]

Your elected to protect the public trust.He should go.

[channonc 466]

He should go, and to hear on the news this morning that he will likely not resign now so that he can try to get a better deal from the prosecution is like rubbing dirt in the wounds.

What never ceases to amaze me is the ones that stand up and point fingers at others are the ones with the most skeletons in their closet.

[DKW 86 7,441]

He should go, and to hear on the news this morning that he will likely not resign now so that he can try to get a better deal from the prosecution is like rubbing dirt in the wounds.

What never ceases to amaze me is the ones that stand up and point fingers at others are the ones with the most skeletons in their closet.

Well said.

Signed Jimmy Swaggart, Jim Baker, and others.

[otterinbham 0]

Why is prostitution illegal? Assuming a legal structure where prostitutes have to submit to monthly health checks, why outlaw it? As in my arguments for drugs and gay marriages, I don't participate or use these things. But I'm interested in why we outlaw something like this.

[DKW 86 7,441]

Spitzer may well be crucified by every woman in America for this one... I would never want to be him after this. He was apparently doing his whore on....Valentine's Day...OUCH Mrs. Spitzer, that one has to hurt most of all...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...1002724_pf.html

The filing indicates she took the 5:39 p.m. regional Amtrak down from Penn Station on Feb. 13 for her rendezvous with Spitzer in Washington. But Kristen -- described in the court papers as a "very pretty brunette, 5 feet 5 inches, and 105 pounds" -- forgave the governor for this slight. Calling in to her, uh, dispatcher just after midnight on Valentine's Day, she reported that Client 9 had given her $4,300 for the session and down payment toward the next. Spitzer had used just two of his four allotted hours; he had to testify the next morning before a House Financial Services subcommittee on the "State of the Bond Insurance Industry."

Spitzer evidently had a reputation with the service for being "difficult" -- a sentiment shared by many Wall Street executives he prosecuted -- but Kristen was philosophical. "I'm here for a purpose. I know what my purpose is," she said in a phone call recorded by the feds. "I am not a . . . moron, you know what I mean. So maybe that's why girls maybe think they're difficult."

And besides, Kristen went on, "I have a way of dealing with that. . . . I'd be, like, 'Listen, dude, you really want the sex?' "

Thrice in his brief statement, Spitzer spoke of his affection for his home state: his desire to "bring real change to New York," to "rebuild New York" and to do "what is best for the state of New York." Even in scandal, he sought to patronize New York products, working with a New York company to have Kristen exported.

[otterinbham 0]

Spitzer may well be crucified by every woman in America for this one... I would never want to be him after this. He was apparently doing his whore on....Valentine's Day...OUCH Mrs. Spitzer, that one has to hurt most of all...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...1002724_pf.html

The filing indicates she took the 5:39 p.m. regional Amtrak down from Penn Station on Feb. 13 for her rendezvous with Spitzer in Washington. But Kristen -- described in the court papers as a "very pretty brunette, 5 feet 5 inches, and 105 pounds" -- forgave the governor for this slight. Calling in to her, uh, dispatcher just after midnight on Valentine's Day, she reported that Client 9 had given her $4,300 for the session and down payment toward the next. Spitzer had used just two of his four allotted hours; he had to testify the next morning before a House Financial Services subcommittee on the "State of the Bond Insurance Industry."

Spitzer evidently had a reputation with the service for being "difficult" -- a sentiment shared by many Wall Street executives he prosecuted -- but Kristen was philosophical. "I'm here for a purpose. I know what my purpose is," she said in a phone call recorded by the feds. "I am not a . . . moron, you know what I mean. So maybe that's why girls maybe think they're difficult."

And besides, Kristen went on, "I have a way of dealing with that. . . . I'd be, like, 'Listen, dude, you really want the sex?' "

Thrice in his brief statement, Spitzer spoke of his affection for his home state: his desire to "bring real change to New York," to "rebuild New York" and to do "what is best for the state of New York." Even in scandal, he sought to patronize New York products, working with a New York company to have Kristen exported.

Here's what I don't get about these politicos. When you're the Governor of New York, you're going to get caught doing these things. Why take the risk?

[channonc 466]

Why is prostitution illegal? Assuming a legal structure where prostitutes have to submit to monthly health checks, why outlaw it? As in my arguments for drugs and gay marriages, I don't participate or use these things. But I'm interested in why we outlaw something like this.

Otter, I am right there with you. They should be licensed and taxed with required STD and HIV testing, condoms mandatory, etc.

However, Gov. Spitzer knew that prostitution was illegal, in fact, he used to go after these rings. As Governor, he could have stood up and said he didn't feel that prostitution was worth the state's time to prosecute and would be seeking to have it legalized in NY. He didn't. He broke the law anyway...

I am for legalizing drugs too, and I feel the same way about guys like Marion Barry who get caught using drugs (that are illegal) while in public office.

I don't think politicians should be perfect or even self-righteous, but I think our society should hold them to a higher standard. Unfortunately, being a politician these days, you have the same standard of a professional athlete--- stay out of jail!!

[DKW 86 7,441]

http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2008/0...lient_no_9.html

Not piling on here, just showing how the media has turned on this guy.

From 54th gov to Client No. 9

Tuesday, March 11th 2008, 4:00 AM

Get this man to a shrink.

Eliot Spitzer obviously has major issues - and I don't mean the kind they debate in the Legislature. Only someone with a huge screw loose could do business with a prostitution ring, as Spitzer reportedly did, while relentlessly posturing as a holier-than-thou politician.

Here was a guy who had it all - a high public office, a wealthy lifestyle, a lovely family. Not that long ago, people were saying he might be the first Jewish President.

And he threw all that away by allegedly spending a night in a Washington hotel room with a high-priced call girl.

So we can add self-destructive tendencies to the long list of personality flaws that have gradually crippled - and now, it would seem, destroyed - his political career.

In all those years at Horace Mann, Princeton and Harvard Law, Spitzer apparently never learned that he has to follow the same rules as everyone else.

We already knew he had anger-management problems from his days as attorney general, when he was infamous for righteous, collar-bursting tirades and inappropriate threats.

Possibly the worst incident was described by John Whitehead, former Goldman Sachs chairman, who had dared to criticize Spitzer in an Op-Ed piece for The Wall Street Journal.

"I will be coming after you," Whitehead quoted Spitzer as saying. "You will pay the price."

A lesser man than Whitehead - a veteran of D-Day - might have been scared silly by words like those coming from a sitting AG.

Spitzer's landslide election as governor, with almost 70% of the vote, did nothing to tame his gargantuan ego.

He started his honeymoon with the Legislature by calling himself a "f---ing steamroller" in a private phone call with Assembly Republican leader Jim Tedisco. Then he made things worse by publicly scolding Senate GOP leader Joe Bruno. "This is my room, we'll play by my rules," he said in a televised meeting with legislative leaders, apparently mistaking them for a kindergarten class.

A few disappointing months into his term, he bragged that he had accomplished more than any governor in New York history.

And all the while, the man who claimed to believe so completely in his crusade to save state government was insanely - it's really the only word - risking everything, Bill Clinton-style.

His utter lack of self-awareness continued yesterday in the apology he issued to his family and the people of New York. He called this a "private matter" - when it could hardly be more public - and still tried to portray himself as a noble fighter. "We sought to bring real change to New York, and that will continue," he said.

Rep. Charles Rangel once sneeringly dubbed Spitzer "the smartest man in the room," and Spitzer gives every sign that he believes that.

And perhaps that was his problem: He thought he was a Golden Boy, brilliant and righteous, ever above the rules or their consequences.

How else to explain the man's chronic contradictions? He gave a pretentious speech about the need for humility in politics, and a few days later snapped, "Get a life, buddy," at a reporter who asked one question too many.

When Mayor Bloomberg gently criticized the governor's plan to give driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, Spitzer lashed out again, calling him "legally wrong, morally wrong, ethically wrong."

Which is a pretty good summary of his own behavior, if the charges that surfaced yesterday are true.

There was no previous hint of trouble in his personal life. He ate healthy, got up early, jogged every morning. He was not one of the many Albany politicians rumored to be a womanizer.

But now, the one-time Sheriff of Wall Street is just "Client No. 9."

His implosion is now complete.

[Ranger12 46]

I am for legalizing drugs too, and I feel the same way about guys like Marion Barry who get caught using drugs (that are illegal) while in public office.

Berry is a classic case of his constituents getting what they deserve. The fact the idiots in DC re-elected this moron after his felony drug convictions tells you how brain dead most of DC really is. The only reason he did not seek 5th term was because of more questionable activities he was associated with.

Then after his last term as mayor he was elected to the DC council back in 2004 and soon after was arrested for IRS fraud and tested positive for marijuana and cocaine. Then most recently he was arrested for DUI. Yet this guy is still on the DC council!

I don't think NY voters are much brighter. They elected Hilary Clinton to represent them, even though she did not or ever live there, but was allowed to represent them because of the technicality that she bought a house there in 1999 just so she could run in for the NY opening in 2000.

[autigeremt 6,714]

Look for Rudy to run for this post in 2010. It would not surprise me one bit. He and Bloomberg.

[TitanTiger 20,511]

File under "Tell Us How You Really Feel":

"There are, as I say, many reasons to dislike Eliot Spitzer. I, too, hope he goes away, and quickly. The music critic Tim Page, referring to an unpleasant and pretentious college president, observed that he was the sort of chap that gave “pseudo-intellectuality a bad name.” I feel similarly about Eliot Spitzer and hypocrisy. His behavior gives that ambiguous vice a bad name. What’s wrong with Eliot Spitzer is not so much that he praised good things and did bad ones. Most of the items he championed in his various moral campaigns were, when you looked behind the rhetoric, of dubious value. Really, he was a power-hungry, regulation-crazed functionary whose chief sin was to harness the power of the state to destroy his enemies and aggrandize himself. Had he been a little more hypocritical he might have been less dangerous."

—Roger Kimball

[Tigermike 3,054]

Now I get it, he's spent 6+ years and $80,000 on the 'little guy'. Nice.

[Tigermike 3,054]

Cliff May asks an intriguing question which has also crossed my own mind as I watch the 24/7 Spitzer coverage:

What Would WJC Do?

Cliff May

I have assiduously avoided commenting on the Spitzer Scandal, even telling one TV booker that my only strongly held opinion is that the governor should not have to resign – he should have the option of being waterboarded instead as his punishment.

But it occurs that there is a dog not barking here: Why have the media been so reluctant to compare Spitzer’s transgressions to those of Bill Clinton? Is it not clear which are the more egregious?

Spitzer paid high-dollar call girls in exchange for sexual favors. Leaving aside the question of how a low-paid public servant affords that, what Spitzer did is surely immoral, illegal, hypocritical, and embarrassing.

By contrast, Clinton exploited the power disparity between the American president and a young intern in his office. Earlier in his career, Clinton allegedly used state law enforcement officers to procure women for him. He allegedly sexually harassed Paula Jones. Juanita Broaddrick alleges that he raped her.

Also: If Clinton were advising Spitzer what course might he counsel? Perhaps something like this:

Tough it out. Say you are sorry to have let your family down and disappointed your supporters. Say you gave in to temptation and that you are disappointed in yourself. Say you want to stop talking about this now publicly and instead devote your time to healing the wounds you’ve inflicted on your family. Say you also want to get back to the people’s business – which is more important than any personal failings you may have demonstrated. Consult a clergyman and/or psychologist. TV producers will soon be at their doors. They should say that addictions are tragic – and that anyone can fall into their clutches.

I could go on but you get the idea.

link

May goes on to suggest a few things that Clinton might recommend to Spitzer, but I am more interested in the answer to his question--a question I've wondered about myself.

I think it has to do with the whole idea of "family secrets". If you don't mention a thing--particularly a bad thing--then it doesn't exist anymore. This is what happens in many families where incest or abuse have occurred. Everyone knows on some level that these things occurred, but you pretend that everything is fine. Usually in such situations, there is an seemingly inexplicable animus displayed for the innocent victim of the sexual or violent abuse, since that person is the one who can "blow the lid open" on the collective fantasy.

The Democrats have their little family secret when it comes to Bill and his multiple sexual transgressions over the years. They have always dealt with it by attacking and destroying the reputations of his victims while defending the essential goodness of their man. That this behavior is perversely contrary to their professed committments to women's rights and 'social justice' has always been a source of amazement to me. The fact that they don't see how self-serving--not to mention morally and intellectually bankrupt--their behavior in the Lewinsky matter was, is clearly of clinical significance.

God knows that Hillary has her faults, but I suspect that one of the reasons the Party has turned so viciously against her presidential ambitions is that they don't want to have to deal anymore with the reality of her unfaithful spouse. They also don't want to have to admit that there was anything wrong with Bill's behavior, or even dredge up that inappropriate behavior in any way, shape, or form ever again.

If it is dredged up, then it might even result in some unwanted scrutiny of both the Democratic Party and its ideological contradictions by the electorate. It might result in some truly unpleasant moment of insight and self-awareness. Better to blame the usual suspects.. Then the "family" can go on as if nothing of importance happened.

This is the reason that many on the left have come to the defense of the sleazy behavior of the New York Governor; or have remained mysteriously silent hoping he will simply resign and make it all go away. Better not to talk about these things too openly or else the family secret (which is never really a secret anyway) becomes a focus of attention once again.

Better to suggest that it is a frame-up; a Republican plot against the poor defenseless Democrats, etc and so forth. In other words, party/family business as usual.

It's all Bush's fault..

[Tigermike 3,054]

Why is it that CNN's entire article about Spitzer fails to disclose his party membership?

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/03/10/spi...=rss_topstories

[DKW 86 7,441]

Why is it that CNN's entire article about Spitzer fails to disclose his party membership?

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/03/10/spi...=rss_topstories

Same reason Democrat mike Nifong was barely mentioned being in the Party when he finally imploded as well. man, it has ben a rough year for Democrat prosecutors.