Posted on 03/12/2008 11:16:26 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
NEW YORK - Gov. Eliot Spitzer resigned in disgrace Wednesday after getting caught in a call-girl scandal that shattered his corruption-fighting, straight-arrow image, saying: "I cannot allow my private failings to disrupt the people's work."
Spitzer made the announcement without having finalized a plea deal with federal prosecutors, though a law enforcement source familiar with the investigation said he is believed to still be negotiating one. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case.
"Over the course of my public life, I've insisted, I think correctly, that people regardless of their position or power take responsibility for their conduct. I can and will ask no less of myself," Spitzer said at a Manhattan news conference with his wife, Silda, at his side. He left without answering questions.
Spitzer will be replaced on Monday by Lt. Gov. David Paterson, who becomes New York's first black governor. He also will be the state's first legally blind governor and its first disabled governor since Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Paterson issued a statement in which he said he was saddened, but would move forward. "It is now time for Albany to get back to work as the people of this state expect from us," he said.
The scandal erupted Monday when allegations surfaced that the 48-year-old father of three daughters spent thousands of dollars on a call girl at a swanky Washington hotel on the night before Valentine's Day.
Spitzer was more composed than he was earlier in the week, when he apologized for an undisclosed personal failing and looked pale, drawn and glassy-eyed. His wife took deep breaths as each of Spitzer's words was accompanied by a rush of camera clicks.
"I look at my time as governor with a sense of what might have been," Spitzer said.
Attending the news conference with Spitzer were his close advisers and lawyers, including Ted Wells, a prominent attorney who recently represented I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby. Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, was convicted of perjury, obstruction and lying to the FBI in the inquiry over the leaking of the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame.
The resignation came after two days of furious activity. Calls for his resignation came immediately after news of the allegations broke. Republicans began talking impeachment if he didn't step aside.
The case started when banks noticed frequent cash transfers from several accounts and filed suspicious activity reports with the Internal Revenue Service, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press. The accounts were traced back to Spitzer, leading public corruption investigators to open an inquiry.
Law enforcement officials said he was the person identified as "Client 9" in court papers who paid thousands for a night in a Washington hotel with a prostitute named Kristen. According to an affidavit, a federal judge approved wiretaps on the phones of the escort service in January and February.
FBI agents in Washington put Spitzer under surveillance at least twice — on Jan. 26 and Feb. 13 — to confirm that a prostitute joined him at the Mayflower Hotel, according to a senior law enforcement official with knowledge of the case. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the investigation.
The stakeouts came after the FBI recorded phone calls by Spitzer arranging the tryst, the official said.
The wiretaps were necessary as part of the investigation into whether Spitzer violated the Mann Act, which makes transportation of someone across a state line for prostitution a federal crime, the official said. Authorities in Washington now are weighing whether to prosecute Spitzer for soliciting and paying for sex — a felony in the District of Columbia, the official said.
Whether U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Taylor, who prosecutes federal and local laws in the District of Columbia, will bring charges against Spitzer likely depends on the plea deal the governor is negotiating with the government in New York, two senior law enforcement officials said.
In a statement issued after Spitzer's resignation, U.S. Attorney Michael Garcia said there was no deal with the fallen governor: "There is no agreement between this office and Governor Eliot Spitzer, relating to his resignation or any other matter."
Spitzer, a first-term Democrat, built his political reputation on rooting out government corruption, and made a name for himself as attorney general as crusader against shady practices and overly generous compensation. He also cracked down on prostitution.
He was known as the "Sheriff of Wall Street." Time magazine named him "Crusader of the Year," and the tabloids proclaimed him "Eliot Ness." The square-jawed graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Law was sometimes mentioned as a potential candidate for president.
He rode into the governor's office with a historic margin of victory on Jan. 1, 2007, vowing to stamp out corruption in New York government in the same way that he took on Wall Street executives with a vengeance while state attorney general.
His term as governor has been fraught with problems, including an unpopular plan to grant driver's licenses to illegal immigrants and a plot by his aides to smear his main Republican nemesis. The prostitution scandal, some said, was too much to overcome.
White House press secretary Dana Perino responded to Spitzer's resignation by repeating that President Bush views it as a "sad situation."
"He has Gov. Spitzer and Gov. Spitzer's family in his thoughts and prayers," Perino said. "And he looks forward to working with Lt. Gov. Paterson when he takes over the post on Monday."
Asked if Bush planned to call Spitzer, Perino said: "I certainly think that's possible."
Barely known outside of his Harlem political base, Paterson, 53, has been in New York government since his election to the state Senate in 1985. He led the Democratic caucus in the Senate before running with Spitzer as his No. 2.
Though legally blind, Paterson has enough sight in his right eye to walk unaided, recognize people at conversational distance and even read if text is placed close to his face. While Spitzer is renowned for his abrasive style, Paterson has built a reputation as a conciliator.
At a morning news conference, Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, Spitzer's chief rival, said he was moving on with the business of the state. Lawmakers were set to vote on budget bills Wednesday afternoon.
"We are going to partner with the lieutenant governor when he becomes governor," said Bruno. "David has always been very open with me, very forthright ... I look forward to a positive, productive relationship."
Bruno, though the next highest-ranking official, does not become lieutenant governor upon Paterson's ascension to governor. The lieutenant governor's office would remain vacant until the next general election in 2010 under state law. However, whenever Paterson is out of state or if he were to become incapacitated, Bruno would be acting governor.
Pride goeth before a fall. Those who exalt themselves shall be humbled.
Nothing more to say.
I do not support the man. As always, men who betray peoples trust fall hard.
This will be a very expensive lesson for him. Not only the lose of his position as Gov., suffering humiliation and possible prosecution....he may lose his family.
No, he has no honor nor integrity. His troubles are certainly not over.
With that said, I hope this will humble him. I hope he finds redemption in the Savior.
I agree.
Spitzer’s wife is gorgeous and the 24 year old Kerstin cannot match her at all (except Kerstin probably has a better political mind than that Harvard educated feminist).
That being said, women are legal at 18 and there is mostly no social stigma, even in the USA, for men of any age to be with them, nor should there be IMO...although that 80 year old with Anna Nicole Smith was too much. :-)
McCain, Thompson and Giuliani were not harmed politically for having wives young enough to be their daughters. Fred was the FR favorite and he was 42 when his future wife was 18. Kucinich probably gets all of his 2% of voters from jealous young men who like his much younger wife.
Ben Kingsley, Nicholas Cage...married to much younger foreigners.
To someone old enough that 10 years is a small time period, it is admittedly weird to think that a 24 year old was just a 14 year old only ten years ago. But nobody needs to go through that mental exercise. All psychologists agree that 18 is an adult age.
Spitzer’s kids look a good deal younger than 18.
YES!! I knew you would get "it" SD.
If she didn't, which I seriously doubt, she obviously wasn't willing to give up her political ambitions. From what I gather, she was one of the few insiders who were campaigning hard for him NOT to resign.
Me thinks her tears are for the end of her shot at the big time.
Considering the number of libertarian Republicans on FR, there seems to be posting at cross purposes here.
Half of FReepers would be really ticked off that:
1) Wiretaps were used on such a non-terrorist enterprise and
2) The government could reveal embarrassing details of a man’s personal life, especially when he was a political enemy of many in the current government.
3) The Mann Act section that refers to “immoral purposes” clearly needs to be overturned and I would love to see Spitzer forced to take that charge to the Supreme Court.
That being said, Spitzer was a Jackass Neocon Democrat who AGREED with the Mann Act, Wiretaps, Ruining innocent people’s lives and reputations and he propagated feminist lies about “sex trafficking” statistics and defined the phrase as meaning all voluntary prostitution (when the phrase needs to be finally defined as involuntary prostitution which is what other countries are doing).
Libertarian Republicans wanted this guy screwed for THOSE reasons.
Those of you who hated Spitzer simply because he was a pro-abortion Democrat are at cross purposes with the rest of us.
You have to understand that a President Obama would sic his FBI against conservatives in the same manner. Do you want to be a future conservative leader and have your political enemies reveal something you said on a private phone call?
Spitzer only deserved all this because he was in FAVOR of wiretapping and destroying people over their person lives.
This is sweet justice for that reason.
Those of you who think that Spitzer’s main crime was cheating on his wife or visiting a whore are in another hemisphere.
Similary, please do NOT assume that most Republican males hated Clinton for messing with Monica (with a wife like Hillary, I can understand what he did).
We hated Clinton for accepting Ken Starr’s investigation as legal and then abandoning his friend Monica to save his own hide by lying.
Back to Spitzer: While I am happy that this Hillary loving feminist puppet hypocrite has been removed from power, I am very concerned about another matter:
If male politicians are no longer getting sex for free from interns and now turning to $4300 per hour call-girls, then it means that the price of female attention is such that they may be ready to use our rights as cheap currency for any organization a cute young woman might be lobbying for.
The NOW can send hundreds of gorgeous young feminsts onto Capitol Hill to offer free services (valued at $4300 per hour thanx to Spitzer) in return for Republican politicians voting in a manner other than their conservative constituents want them to.
With the way Republican politicians have already been voting against the interests of males for the past 7 years, I am fairly certain that the “high cost of extra-curricular sex in DC” has something to do with that, however indirectly.
Whether she knew or not depends on whether she knew how much he earned and had access to his personal financial records.
Otherwise, no, women generally don’t know IMO.
The same is true for men. They can remain clueless.
Well we shall see... he’s made a lot of enemies and has very few friends... This isn’t a popular personable guy with lots of friends...
Frankly I believe undoubtably the prostitution issue is just the tip of the iceburg. This guy got collared in an investigation into money laundering and discrepencies in public accounts... I think they are going to find way way way more criminal activity and malfeasance than this prostitution thing.
In a blink of an eye, she goes from the first lady of NY, to a soon to be ex-wife/single mother of a jailed convict whose the laughing stock of the state.
It’s all about the pecking order in NYC, and she’s been bumped way, way down now.
Buh-bye Senate bid.
Buh-bye A-list parties.
Buh-bye political connections.
Buh-bye army of people kissing your butt.
BTW, if soon to be Governor Paterson were to die, resign, or be removed from office, the State Senate would pick an Acting Governor from its own membership. That Acting Governor would serve for three months, after which the winning ticket of a special election would finish the current term.
Uh, honey, I don’t even know where they’re located on a map...
The only thing that matters is if he is treated like any ordinary person would be. If he gets the special treatment that is reserved for the high and mighty elite, as did Nifong, then there is no rule of law left in the United States.
Or raping women who said NO!
Or Scooter Libby’s. What the heck do either one of them have to do with this story, except to smear them. Grrrr.
I’m sure that you realize that there is no rule of law in the US. Those in power protect their own kind. The interesting thing will be if spitzer sings and puts other powerful people in jeapordy. I’m sure that the Mafia bosses who “sponsored” this enterprise want him to shut up and they have the ability and will to make that happen if he gets too “happy” with any testimony.
I believe God is really sifting our nation as well as our church leaders who are blatantly sinning and going against His commandments, especially in sexual sin. I pray for the man to repent.
>>I believe God is really sifting our nation as well as our church leaders”
I use the term purging the church.
People in leadership whether in government or Christ body are removed abruptly and usually realize a harder fall.
God is good, all the time.
I don’t know if he is a follower or not, but just like every other human on the earth, he can rise again.
Hopefully, he will give the glory to God, then he will be redeemed. This whole thing will turn around and be used for good. I hope so.
4862
Fanastic to see another one thinking of men’s rights.
Nifong’s name is like “Remember the Maine” was in the Spanish American War.
Only about 0.01% of posts on FR reference the fact that the Democratic Party and the Republican Party have been taken over by feminists.
Sadly, I don’t think many people here know who Nifong is.
Nifong tried to railroad a bunch of white male lacrosse players at Duke University because a young black woman (a stripper whom they had insulted) falsely accused them of rape because she was angry at them.
I have found that white hetero males are on their own with their indignation about this story however.
I recommend that everyone reading this do a Google search for Nifong and “men’s rights”.
Even black men’s rights activists actually dare to say the white guys deserved the false rape charge because they had called the woman with the N word (nobody is saying they were behaving like nice guys that night and they were paying to have a stripper perform).
Considering that the Duke Lacrosse players would probably have also paid for sex, the following needs to be said:
FReepers are all happy that Spitzer is being disgraced, but apparently for different reasons. Many think the act of being with a whore makes him the scumbag, but that would mean that they would hate the Duke lacrosse players for paying for their erotic activities as well.
Libertarian Republicans hated Eliot Spitzer because he hated other males (he felt he was the White Knight on a horse who was God’s gift to and savior of women).
Social conservatives can disapprove of other men’s behavior, but they must not side with some angry women to take away what used to be considered male rights. Prostitution can be banned and prostitutes arrested, but when you pass laws that say that male CLIENTS of prostitutes should be arrested, you are taking away what used to be a male right, no matter how immoral you may think the other men are and no matter how much you are swayed by the bogus feminist argument that it is only fair to arrest the client if you arrest the prostitute.
Sorry...I insist that the patriarchy not be dismantled. That is conservative. To think otherwise is progressive.
To agree with feminists as a social conservative is to ally the social conservative right with feminists.
Spitzer worked with the feminists to target men who visited prostitutes and to define sex trafficking as including all voluntary sex work.
Spitzer was a liberal lackey of the feminists. His consituency did not include any conservative women and no conservative men.
Yet he was the biggest fighter of “sex trafficking” on the planet.
Those FReepers who speak so dirisively of Spitzer actually visiting a prostitute...should be DEVASTATED that the biggest fighter of prostitution has been brought down.
Without Spitzer, prostitution will flourish in New York.
Spitzer’s fall indicates that the oldest profession will never be stopped and those who try to stop it will be brought down after being setup.
Bush’s anti-prostitution czar was caught visiting a massage parlor last year.
Spitzer loved wiretapping people and personally destroying them.
He got what he deserved.
The rest of us, however, do not deserve to be wiretapped and have our lives destroyed by our political enemies if we go astray and they are listening in.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.