Posted by Damozel | Apparently it's been going on for about 10 years, if you believe The New York Post. Earlier they were saying six, but now the number's increased. Meanwhile, one 22 year old call girl spoke up for him, saying, "Gov. Eliot Spitzer had been one of her customers two years ago when he
was New York attorney general and that he was a nice guy who tipped
well." (ABC News)
Well, that's something in his favor I guess. She also said that she knew who he was because he made calls from the attorney general's office. (ABC News) He spent upwards of $80,000 for them, apparently of his own money. And therein lies a further problem that hadn't occurred to me.
Federal investigators say there is no evidence Spitzer used state money or campaign funds to pay the prostitutes, but that the way he moved an estimated $40,000 through various accounts violated federal money laundering laws.
"These are serious laws and laws that given the amount of money involved here could mean a prison term of 10 to 18 months," Sean O'Shea, a former federal prosecutor specializing in financial crimes, said. (ABC News)
Really? I really hadn't thought of that angle. The New York Sun says that Spitzer will resign.
After agonizing over the decision, Governor Spitzer will capitulate to the growing clamor for his resignation over his alleged link to a high-end prostitution ring and turn over the reins of power to Lieutenant Governor David Paterson as early as today, according to three senior aides.
Throughout the day yesterday, Mr. Spitzer, holed up in his Fifth Avenue high-rise apartment, teetered between surrender and defiance, with one of his closest associates pleading with him not to give up and with a large number of his aides urging him to protect his family and step down.
The argument in favor of resignation ultimately prevailed and Mr. Spitzer, 48, conceded that Monday's stunning disclosure that he was a regular customer of a high-priced prostitution service, Emperors Club VIP, left him with no choice but to accept that his once-soaring political career had crashed, aides told The New York Sun under condition of anonymity. (New York Sun)
I still remain torn between indignation at what I imagine was a politically-motivated investigation and between indignation at the hypocrisy of this particular former attorney general spending $80,000 on prostitutes.
Salon has an excellent article on Spitzer's rise and fall.
As a former law enforcement official who shut down at least two "sex rings," Spitzer was guilty of the sin of hypocrisy by apparently patronizing prostitutes.
Like a baseball player named as a steroids user, Spitzer offered an apology without ever specifying why he was asking for forgiveness....[His] words were a far cry from Spitzer's inaugural address, just 14 months ago, when the first Democratic governor for the state in 12 years promised "a politics that asks not what is in it for me, but always what is in it for us."...
Reform politicians who hold themselves up as moral exemplars run the risk of not living up to their own self-proclaimed ethical standards. The financial transaction that was supposedly conducted in Room 871 of the Mayflower Hotel seems so tawdry in light of the glowing portrayal of Spitzer as "Wall Street's Top Cop" on the 2002 cover of Time magazine. The feeling of tragedy is unavoidable as the intense and wired Spitzer has gone from lion to laughingstock in just 14 short months as governor. (Salon)
Memeorandum discussion of the ABC News piece is here.
BN-POLITICS POSTINGS
The Spitzer Incident
Spitzer Should Resign....Right After Senators Vitter and Craig
No Quarter's List Of Obama's NAFTA-Gate Statements
Cool-Headed Commander Retiring Early
Studies Suggest Pro-Obama (or Anti-Hillary) Media Bias
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