ecwis

Neon.Wonder

Neon.Wonder

Mr. Gunn

See, bribery and corruption(oh! and torture) is a white-collar, republican-voting, SUV-driving kind of crime. Prostitution is a low-class crime. That's why it's so bad.

Mr. Gunn

@rjhiggins: I saw her on the Today Show. She had the good sense to dump him eventually, though. I would probably take my kids and head for the summer home, or my parents house or something.

missdona

Interesting angle I hadn't thought about before, and perhaps Spitzer's wife (an accomplished woman in her own right and certainly no doormat) was doing the same for their daughters. Must take enormous strength.

rjhiggins

Yes - just as soon as Bubba loses his license to practice law for his crimes. Ooops - I forgot. He was disbarred.

Well then, just as soon as Bubba pays the price that any other citizen would pay for perjury and obstruction of justice.

The crime was not Bubba's "playing around" - his perjury and witness-tampering actions are what should put that guy away.

I take no total comfort in the fact that he has gone down in history as an impeached President. His cronies in the Senate stifled that true punishment that he deserves.

Rode2008

Shame, I left my extra 4 grand at home.

Wimpkins

reznicek111

Don't get me wrong, I'd go stand at the podium. But my husband would really regret letting me do it! Hell, I think a nice fat check would be in order, to keep me from talking.

Mary Marsala with Fries

Angryagain

His mistake was having the hooker cross state lines.

Buy locally. Support local businesses.

RulesLawyer

ppiddyp

It shows an awful error in judgment on Sptizer's part. If he makes this type of error in his personal life, what confidence can you have that he won't do the same when making policy decisions.

whydidnt

He is the sole one to blame here. He made the conscious choice to break the law.

missdona

masonreloaded

IrisMR

masonreloaded

masonreloaded

stanfrombrooklyn

startertan

zibby

...Well, at least it would be no big deal if it didn't make him a bloody hypocrite.

IrisMR

Unfortunately, because he did engage in such prostitution prosecution, this makes him a hypocrite.

kc2idf

kable2

Stick it to the corporations, and go down.

SexCpotatoes

[news.google.com]

And Meg, IMO, I have no problem of the whore-ness of it all. Call a spade a spade.

missdona

sncreducer

Paul

dweebster

I feel much better about high-class prostitution now the Spitz has, er, inspected the business. My confidence as a consumer has only increased.

Now, how exactly is this hypocritical?

nonzenze

How exactly is what he did corrupt now? Did he spend public funds? Did he do it while on the job? Unless I'm mistaken, he paid for whores with his own money and fucked them on his own time - seems simple enough to me.

nonzenze

Buran

generalhousewifery

Ariel.Sanders

Would be savings billions.

Falconfire

Superborty

Clinton broke many, more laws (perjery [sic], obstruction of justice, witness-tampering, etc.)

This is just your opinion, right? Three different special prosecutors spent seven years and $60MM investigating Bill Clinton and none of them were able to establish that he committed any crime of any sort.

JiminyChristmas

the_wiggle

jarchie219

EtherealStrife

All in all, I don't really care what he does in his off-time, even if it is illegal. I don't care if it's immoral or dirty. Prosecutors will deal with that. As long as it doesn't interfere with his job of being a hypocrite apparently, go for it.

Copper

spinachdip

missdona

For what it's worth, this doesn't sully his image as a consumerist crusader - it's not like he got caught with a suitcase full of cash from Sony BMG. This just made him weaker after already going through the Bruno scandal.

spinachdip

ianmac47

ClayS

LionelEHutz

Bay State Darren

LionelEHutz

Rode2008

ClayS

Bay State Darren

I think Spiter should step down - just like I thought Bubba should have, too.

What is more detestable? (1) Spitzer paying for it but at least doing it in a hotel room? or (2) Bubba doing it on a desk in the White House.

Spitzer broke the law re: prostitution - Clinton broke many, more laws (perjery, obstruction of justice, witness-tampering, etc.)

IMO both should step down.

Rode2008

As a true Consumerist,I was always too cheap to hire a whore..besides,there were too many giving it away for that!

chilled

LionelEHutz

weave

LionelEHutz

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."

spinachdip

That makes a lot of sense from a consumer finance perspective. You are very wise.

ClayS

ClayS

Couldn't have said it better myself. Hypocrisy is the Governor's greatest sin and that's far worse in the electorate's eye than going to a hooker, lying about an infidelity or just plain being an idiot, like ClayS.

deserthiker

Damn, If I find ass thats worth 5 G's a night, I'm marrying it.

That said, from what I read, it looks like he also didn't like using condoms.

Sonnymooks

All Clinton did was tell a lie -- about his private sex life. If we force everyone who lies about their sex lives to resign...

rjhiggins

ecwis

You're an idiot. Like Clinton had to quit?

No one should go to jail for this, and I hope he doesn't. We have way too many people in prison as is. Yes, he probably should resign, because he demonstrated such poor judgement.

ClayS

humphrmi

And this does belong on Consumerist, he was one of the most successful advocates for the causes many of us probably support. Don't get me wrong, 'Emperors Club' is going to be a great punchline for years to come, but that's why this really does kind of suck.

lightaugust

cinlouwho

thirdbase

Bay State Darren

vividblurry

DrGirlfriend

spinachdip

I doubt anyone goes to jail on this but the Governor is done. If he were a Republican he could just go on but since he's not he'll have to quit.

Unless, he could find a way to connect the banking crisis and some vast right wing conspiracy and......Never mind. No one would believe it.

deserthiker

Another interesting observation: The DC Madam investigation went on for three years and Vitter's name never leaked out of the Department of Justice. He didn't fess up until Larry Flynt threatened to out him in Hustler magazine. Now, with the Emperors Club VIP, Spitzer's name leaks within a week of the initial arrest. I'm sure some 'loyal Bushies' are dancing with glee in the DoJ right now.

JiminyChristmas

I honestly am starting to think the best arrangement for marriage aside from a straight woman and a moral straight man, is a straight woman and two monogamous gay guys. The guys can have all the sex the woman doesn't want to have, plus they can still lift things around the house when necessary.

Thorny

[www.reuters.com]

missdona

He hired a prostitute, the issue is with his wife, not the public.

He broke various laws, well that is an issue but only as much as another crime of that level is. Honestly I think it is stupid that prostitution is illegal. I would rather see it highly regulated as both public health and workers rights issues.

Really the only issues I see is he broke a law, how big of a deal that is depends on NY laws. Hiring prostitutes when he was fighting that very business previously, he has egg on his face.

bohemian

He came after my industry (Wall Street finance) with a pitchfork, and I could tolerate it as long as he, too, is living by the rules. To me, this is intolerable and I hope he resigns.

missdona

ClayS

Instigator

I'd be really pissed if I was George Fox right now. Or Mrs. Spitzer. Or a resident of New York. As it is, I'm only thoroughly disgusted.

It will be interesting to see how this pans out (i.e. will he resign).

erica.blog

firesign

This is between Spitzer and his wife, who unfortunately looks like she's been crying for awhile. Poor lady.

bigtimestuff

cmdr.sass

rjhiggins

This makes me laugh every single time I see it.

mattbrown

How would that be worse? He'd still be breaking he same laws and cheating on his wife.

Bay State Darren

frankadelic

Pro-Pain

rjhiggins

VA_White

rjhiggins

MercuryPDX

MercuryPDX

DrGirlfriend

Bay State Darren

jmschn

jmschn

rbb

the only issue is the he personally prosecuted prostitute rings and put people in jail. just doing his job, I guess.

and yea... I'm sure those girls who were making more in one evening than most Americans make in a month were feeling REAL exploited.

Crazytree

CharlieSeattle

mgy

That said, they're expected to live up to a higher standard because they govern us. Look at Congress: If prostitution, pedophilia, rampant drug abuse, and homosexuality are good enough for them, why do they continue to pass laws making them more illegal?

Now, I'm not all for the pedophiles and drug addicts, but the question is perfectly valid.

RvLeshrac

More importantly, why is prostitution illegal in the first place?

Nevada seems to have no issue with it. Funny how Vegas and Reno don't show up much worse than other major cities on the crime scales.

----

Others to come (and Meg):

This is bad because he committed a crime, not because he was frequenting prostitutes.

Before you pull the "exploitation" card, keep in mind that the girls are only "exploited" when prostitution is illegal. It is amazing what legalization does for their willingness to go to the police when they really are exploited or abused.

RvLeshrac

vatica40

DrGirlfriend

MercuryPDX

mikelotus

Mecca lecca hi mecca heiney ho

discounteggroll

bravo369

I can't help notice that he leaves out of the list of things he violated the laws of the State of New York [and possibly D.C.] Considering his duty to uphold them, especially when he was AG, I think they're worth mentioning.

Bay State Darren

lightaugust

jmschn

thirdbase

jmschn

QueenHawkeye

Bay State Darren

CityGuySailing

Galls

eightfifteen

Ben Popken

Bay State Darren

Meg Marco

I feel bad for the Spritzer family. He was an amazing fighter for consumers and shareholders. If he departs from public life it will be a loss. I think he may have damaged his credibility too much to stay Governor of a major state though.

starrion

magic8ball

(Disclaimer: I read specialized news blogs in part because there's less slogging through filler. I don't give a crap what Brittney is up to this week.)

memphis9

Tank

Mollyg

billbillbillbill

BuddyGuyMontag