posted March 12, 2008 12:43 PM            

Oh well, I guess the difference was Clinton had sex with a young intern...and Spitzer paid lots of money to hookers.

Spitzer Steps Down
N.Y. Governor Says Resignation Will Go Into Effect Monday

POSTED: 8:53 am EDT March 12, 2008
UPDATED: 12:14 pm EDT March 12, 2008

NEW YORK -- New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer said on Wednesday that he will resign effective Monday after allegedly spending thousands of dollars on meetings with prostitutes.

"I look at my time as governor with a sense of what might have been," Spitzer said, with his expressionless wife Silda standing at his side. "There is much more to be done, and I cannot allow my private failings to disrupt the people's work."

His wife took deep breaths as hundreds of photos were taken at close range. Each of Spitzer's words was accompanied by a rush of camera clicks.

Lt. Gov. David Paterson, slated to take Spitzer's place, requested that the resignation would go into effect next week in order to have more time to put a transition team in place.

Paterson will become the governor of New York when he is publicly sworn in on Monday. Paterson will become just the eighth black governor in American history, the first in New York.

In a statement, Paterson expressed sadness over the scandal.

"On a personal level, Governor Spitzer and Silda have been close and steadfast friends. As an elected official the Governor has worked hard for the people of New York."

Spitzer formally announced his resignation in a Wednesday morning news conference. Watch live coverage of the Spitzer scandal (NOW).

Prior to the announcement, Spitzer and his wife left their apartment around 11 a.m. and got into a black SUV to take them to his office. Cameras aboard news helicopters tracked the movement of Spitzer's three-vehicle motorcade from his apartment on the Upper East Side to his office in midtown Manhattan.

Spitzer's resignation will not become final until he informs top-ranking officials and submits an official letter. WNBC.com has been told to expect a paper statement e-mailed out and posted on the state's official Web site.

New York State Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, speaking at a news conference Wednesday, said he felt "sad" for Spitzer and his family but stressed that the state needs to focus on the future.

"He must deal with his own problems in his own way, but it is time for us and all new Yorkers to move forward," said Bruno.

Bruno and Spitzer have an acrimonious history, as Spitzer had been embroiled in an earlier scandal in which his aides were accused of overzealously searching for incriminating information about the majority leader.

Bruno also said he was looking forward to working with Paterson.

"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."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Slideshow: Past Political Sex Scandals
Images: Spitzer, Wife, Career Highlights
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The new developments of Spitzer's impending resignation come amid allegations that Spitzer spent tens of thousands of dollars as a client of a high-end prostitution ring.

Meantime, staff in the office off Republican majority senate leader Joseph Bruno said they have not yet heard from Spitzer.

Sources said Spitzer has been holed-up in his Upper East Side home with his lawyers, also trying to hammer out a deal to help him avoid criminal prosecution.

Even if he resigns from office, more New York state voters think he should face criminal prosecution for his actions than those who think he should not, according to a WNBC/Marist poll released on Tuesday.

According to the poll, 49 percent of registered voters said they think Spitzer should face criminal charges for his role as a customer of the Emperors Club VIP escort service. Sixty-four percent of Republican voters said they think the governor should be charged with a crime, but only 39 percent of Democrat respondents said they believe he should be charged.

During an alleged meeting with a prostitute, the Democratic governor used the alias "George Fox," a source said. His alleged conversations with the prostitution ring are detailed in court papers in which Spitzer is identified as "Client 9," according to a source.

The case started when banks noticed the frequent cash transfers from several accounts and filed suspicious activity reports with the Internal Revenue Service, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press Tuesday. The accounts were traced back to Spitzer, prompting public corruption investigators to open an inquiry.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.

The inquiry found that Spitzer was a repeat customer with the Emperors Club VIP, a high-end prostitution service, the official said. In an affidavit filed in Manhattan federal court last week, Spitzer appeared as "Client 9," according to another law enforcement official who also spoke on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation.

Spitzer allegedly paid for the call girl to take a train from New York to Washington -- a move that opened the transaction up to federal prosecution because she crossed state lines. The governor has not been charged, and prosecutors would not comment on the case. A Spitzer spokesman said the governor has retained a large Manhattan law firm.

Client 9 wanted a high-priced prostitute named Kristen to come to Washington on a 5:39 p.m. train from Manhattan Feb. 13. The door to the hotel room would be left ajar. Train tickets, cab fare, room service, and the minibar were all on him.

"Yup, same as in the past. No question about it," the caller told Kristen's boss, when asked if he would make his payment to the same business as usual, a federal affidavit said. The client paid $4,300 to Kristen, touted by the escort service as a "petite, pretty brunette," according to the court papers.

The tryst took place in the Mayflower hotel, where Spitzer rented a second room for the woman under another name, the law enforcement official who spoke to the AP on Tuesday said. Spitzer had to sneak past his state police detail to get to her room, the official said.

posted March 12, 2008 03:47 PM            

I am assuming it was all his money and not the States. Jeez, $80000 over 8 year period.

I think it has more to do with his Gemini traits (that is his double standards, double talks , etc...everything double)

I am willing to condone it actually if he offered to resign.

Also its time mistresses are accepted in American culture just like they are in Europe. I am against repression.

posted March 12, 2008 06:41 PM            

Something else interesting too is that his wife was urging him to not resign. Perhaps she liked being First Lady of New York...or in her Scorpioness she wanted Spitzer in the spotlight so she could punish him in public.

posted March 12, 2008 07:06 PM            

Ann Coulter

This is a disaster for Hillary Clinton.

According to the wiretaps, New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer was delighted to be getting the prostitute "Kristen" again. At least he knew her name. It took Monica Lewinsky's boyfriend six sexual encounters to remember her name (raising his lifetime average to 8.2).

You know that queasy feeling you get thinking about Bill Clinton back in the White House again? Now you remember why. Hillary Clinton couldn't feel worse about the Spitzer case if she were an actual New Yorker.

Proving that Karl Marx got everything wrong -- more bad news for Hillary -- history is indeed repeating itself, but, contra Marx, the first time as farce, the second time as tragedy. Clinton's scandal was hilarious; Spitzer's is just depressing.

Most people outside of New York can't grasp the enormity of Spitzer's political free fall.

Eliot Spitzer was the golden boy with an absolutely charmed life. His parents were the children of Jewish immigrants, who created a Ralph Lauren lifestyle for their children.

Spitzer's father made half a billion dollars in New York real estate and raised three high-achieving children -- two lawyers and a neurosurgeon. In a family like that, becoming governor of New York makes you the black sheep.

Spitzer went to the best schools -- Horace Mann, Princeton and Harvard Law School. He must have written some good papers.

He lives at the perfect address (Fifth Avenue and 79th St.) with his perfect Harvard Law School-educated Southern Baptist wife -- whose parents must be telling her they told her so right about now -- and their three perfect daughters. (Admittedly, the apartment is a gift from Dad: A mere top-flight education doesn't get you an apartment overlooking Central Park.)

And now Spitzer's entire anal-retentive, good paper-writing life has collapsed in the horrifying image of a frenzied masturbator. This is the most complete coup de grace imaginable, short of an assassin's bullet.

Spitzer's life is ruined. It doesn't matter if he has defenders who will wail, "It's his private life!" It doesn't matter if he fights the charges. It doesn't matter if this was a political prosecution. As Talleyrand said: "It's worse than a crime; it's a blunder."

Eliot Spitzer, Harvard Law graduate and Fifth Avenue denizen, is forevermore: "Client No. 9."

Forget about his career -- those around him better have him on suicide watch. Dudley Do-Right is on tape in a white-knuckle negotiation with pimps about payment for a prostitute. (Let's just be thankful that there's no anti-Semitic expression for Jews haggling about money.)

No one will ever be able to look him in the eye again. How can Spitzer hold a press conference when reporters won't stop giggling at him?

Spitzer can't go to the restaurants he used to frequent. He can't go to the Whitney Museum near his apartment. He can't go to track meets at his daughters' expensive private school. He can't show his face in public.

The golden boy's disgrace is deep and subliminal; it can't be expunged.

One shudders to imagine the sepulchral gloom pervading the Spitzer home this week. At least Hillary would liven the place up with some lamp-throwing.

Whatever Spitzer's flaws, he was a pristine product of wealth and attainment. And he threw away a star-studded life of accomplishment in a wanton, reckless pursuit of sex with prostitutes.

There's no prettifying what Spitzer has done. The Web site of the "Emperor's Club VIP" whorehouse patronized by Spitzer heroically claims the prostitutes -- or "models" -- are chosen for their "level of education, family background, intelligence, personality."

One can almost hear the typical John, heavy-breathing into the phone: "And this one you call 'Busty Betty' -- does she come from a good family? Parents still together? What church do they attend?"

Surprising no one, police wiretaps indicate that the "models" were semi-literate, could not learn to swipe a credit card and seemed invariably to be on drugs. That's what you get for $2,000 an hour in this charming business.

After one prostitute missed an appointment and left a "crazy" text message for one of her pimps, the procurer remarks that the girl is on drugs. It seems, the procurer adds, "a lot of these girls deteriorate to this point."

Behold the "victimless" crime of prostitution. Hard to believe these girls would turn to drugs. Having sex with strangers for money, nothing to live for ... just thinking about it makes me want to take drugs.

It's absurd to talk about Spitzer's problem being "hypocrisy" -- as if everything would be fine if only he had previously advocated legalized prostitution.

It's absurd to talk about "alpha males" and political power -- an alpha male does not bring his family shame and disaster. Who was more alpha than Ronald Reagan? Think he ever had a "***** problem"? This is more like a dog who wee-wees on your leg.

It's absurd to talk about legal defenses. This guy has fallen from the pinnacle of New York society to being a disgrace to his class. He's the Ivy League version of Paris Hilton.

posted March 12, 2008 07:42 PM            

Duh... He went to Harvard law school and he was AG in his career.