NY Governor and former star Attorney General, Eliot Spitzer, has resigned today after his predilection for pricey whores caught up with him.
Since publicly announcing his involvement with a prostitution ring, calls for Spitzer to resign had been growing until it seemed very unlikely that he could avoid impeachment, says the New York Times:
“I am deeply sorry that I did not live up to what was expected of me,” he said. “To every New Yorker, and to all those who believed in what I tried to stand for, I sincerely apologize.”
“Over the course of my public life, I have insisted — I believe correctly — that people regardless of their position or power take responsibility for their conduct,” he added. “I can and will ask no less of myself. For this reason, I am resigning from the office of governor.”
Things weren’t looking good for Eliot, or as he liked the whores to call him, “George Fox.”
“An impeachment proceeding would force Democrats to either abandon him or defend him,” said one leading Democrat. “They would abandon him.”
Spitzer was caught via wiretap making plans to send a whore to the Mayflower Hotel in Washington D.C.. Whoops.
Spitzer Resigns, Citing Personal Failings [NYT]
(Photo:Tyler Hicks/The New York Times)
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I wonder how the search warrant to listen to a governor’s phone calls was justified?
@KJones:
BWAHAHAHAHA! Now _that’s_ funny. If he were a Republican, that’s all we’d be hearing. It wouldn’t even be his name used. Instead of “Elliot Spitzer busted for prostitutes”, it would be “REPUBLICAN Governor busted for prostitutes”. In fact, had I not already known he was a Democrat, I would have never known, since not one of the dozens of articles I’ve seen on it has mentioned it, nevermind when the Larry Craig scandal broke, his party affiliation was the first thing mentioned.
And, what does the “rightwing media” have to do with the mainstream media who are covering this? Besides, during the Republican scandals, the closest to ‘boys will be boys’ I heard was, “We shouldn’t come down any harder on these guys than we have on Democrats who have been caught doing this before.”
@eheynowg: yyyeeeeaaaah, there’s NOTHING political about a sitting governor resigning over prostitution charges brought by the Department of Justice … nothing at all …
No wonder it has the city that never sleeps!
@jarchie219: First they thought he was being blackmailed so they looked at the transactions, then once they figured out he was paying the prostitution ring, he became part of a separate investigation which already had all sorts of warrants.
Basically, he acted stupidly and drew attention to himself, at which point he got really unlucky in his choice of hooker companies.
@rawsteak: Apeparently it’s not so much the hooker part, but the money laundering part. He was structuring payments in order to hide the money transfers from Fed/bank regulations governing transfers of $10,000+.
This Skunk actually thought his crime was not that serious.
Also, The Wall Street Journal reports that “Johns” are not typically prosecuted. What world would those johns be in? The wealthy and connected world? I believe that the”average” john, patronising a common $250 whore is brought in front of the judge all the time.
@Antediluvian: In all fairness, the GOP machine is pissed as hell at Vitter and Craig refusing to resign. It’s an embarrassment to the party. Same reason you had Democrats calling for Spitzer to step down.
@CumaeanSibyl: Difference is though that Spitzer is actually resigning, and Vitter (and Craig, but his problem is different at one level [and the same at another]) are staying on, and no one seems to be calling Vitter on his whore problem.
My bigger issue w/ Spitzer is the out-of-control spending — $4300! He’s going to paint all us Dems as spendthrifts.
Oh, and Vitter’s (and Craig’s) hypocrisy.
@rawsteak:
He’s a very high profile Democrat who just happens to be from the same state as one of the leading opposition presidential candidates. Do you think they thought twice about leaking it?!? The FBI is one of the most political agencies in the US government.
@Morton Fox: I agree. The man’s a snake.
Are you required to show your receipt when you leave the brothel?
Prostitution is legal in Singapore. However, if this happened over there, he would probably get caned 4 – 5 times, just like that punk kid Michael Fay.
So I guess “Bananas in Pajamas” isn’t just a kids show…but great advice?
That is what he gets for getting greedy and requesting the expensive trick. If he would have stuck with the the basic $2 whores he never would have been busted.
I agree (as a Republican) that Vitter, Craig, John Doolittle, William Jefferson, and Eliot Spitzer should all step down. I also think that Jim McGrievey (sp?) should not be teaching ethics.