Posted on 03/11/2008 3:36:05 PM PDT by doug from upland
Who Is Silda Spitzer?
First Lady Of New York Born In North Carolina
New York Governor Eliot Spitzer and his wife, Silda Wall Spitzer married in 1987. The couple has three teenage daughters.
Silda Spitzer is a native of North Carolina. According to the New York Governor’s office Web site, she is the founder and chair of Children for Children a not-for-profit organization that creates opportunities for young people especially in under-resourced areas of New York City.
Spitzer has a law degree from Harvard Law School and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Meredith College in North Carolina. She began her legal career with Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom, specializing in mergers, acquisitions and corporate finance. She served on the New York Blue Ribbon Commission on Youth Leadership as well as the board of The Children's Museum of Manhattan from 1995 until January 1999.
One of her last known interviews was with Domino magazine, which bills itself as "The guide to living with style." Spitzer talks about efforts to "green" the governor’s mansion in Albany. Her interview is in the March edition of the magazine.
She allowed her husband to use her as a human shield at his press conference yesterday. How dumb is that?!
Don’t judge her.
She looks like a classy lady and deserves a lot better than that lowlife. They have kids involved here too.
Being she stood there and took it, she has proved she is a modern day feminist.
She can stand by her children without standing by him. Her presence at the press conference softened the blows he deserved from the media for this.
the little lady advised him NOT to resign and to hang on.
Or so it was said.
Nobody knows what goes on behind closed doors.
um, she advised her dear cheating louse of a husband NOT to resign as governor.........
she is a liberal lawyer........what do you THINK she advised him to do?
Leni
I still feel sorry for her and her kids.
Doug, an article says she met Eliot in her second year at Harvard but on the next page it says she was MARRIED to another man in her second year at Harvard!! WAS SHE A CHEATER??? Oh, and she calls herslf a WARRIOR!! YIKES.
Interesting find.
Would it be bad taste or is it too early to hit on her?
That’s interesting. No wonder she wants to hang on the Albany.
Spitzer May Have Spent Tens of Thousands
By MICHAEL GORMLEY – 33 minutes ago
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — With pressure mounting on Gov. Eliot Spitzer to resign over a call-girl scandal, investigators said Tuesday he was clearly a repeat customer who spent tens of thousands of dollars — perhaps as much as $80,000 — with the high-priced prostitution service over an extended period of time.
Spitzer and his family, meanwhile, remained secluded in their Fifth Avenue apartment, while Republicans began talking impeachment, and few if any fellow Democrats came forward to defend him. A death watch of sorts began at the state Capitol, where whispers of “What have you heard?” echoed through nearly every hallway of the ornate, 109-year-old building.
On Monday, when the scandal broke, prosecutors said in court papers that Spitzer had been caught on a wiretap spending $4,300 with the Emperors Club VIP call-girl service, with some of the money going toward a night with a prostitute named Kristen, and the rest as credit toward future trysts. The papers also suggested that Spitzer had done this before.
Speaking of condition of anonymity, a law enforcement official said Tuesday that Spitzer, in fact, had spent tens of thousands of dollars with the Emperors Club. Another official said the amount could be as high as $80,000. But it was not clear over what period of time that was spent.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — With pressure mounting to resign Tuesday over a call-girl scandal, Gov. Eliot Spitzer found himself with few friends and lots of powerful enemies, many of whom regard him as a sanctimonious bully who got what was coming to him.
Republicans began talking impeachment, and few if any fellow Democrats were willing to defend him. A death watch of sorts began at the state Capitol, where whispers of “What have you heard?” echoed through nearly every hallway of the ornate, 109-year-old building.
While Spitzer and his family remained secluded in their Fifth Avenue apartment, insiders said the governor was still trying to decide how to proceed. Options included quitting as early as Tuesday afternoon, or waiting to use resignation as a bargaining chip with federal prosecutors to avoid indictment.
Democrats privately floated another option, telling The Associated Press that Spitzer was considering what was almost unthinkable immediately after Monday’s bombshell apology: hanging on.
“If the public is fine, he’ll stay,” said a Democrat who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject.
Still, Spitzer’s enemies were emboldened, and some of his friends went from shock to outrage.
“Particularly because of the reform platform on which he was elected governor, his ability to govern the state of New York and execute his duties as governor have been irreparably damaged,” said Citizens Union, a good-government group that supported the crusading attorney general for governor in 2006 and provided critical support in his effort to reform Albany. “It is our strong belief that it is now impossible for him to fulfill his responsibilities as governor. Accordingly, Citizens Union urges him to resign as governor.”
The scandal erupted Monday, when allegations surfaced that Spitzer, a 48-year-old married man with three teenage daughters, spent thousands of dollars on a call girl named Kristen at a Washington hotel on the night before Valentine’s Day. 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 AP. The accounts were traced back to Spitzer, prompting public corruption investigators to open an inquiry.
The investigation also found evidence that Spitzer was a repeat customer with the Emperors Club VIP, a high-end call-girl service, the official said. In court papers, Spitzer was identified only as “Client 9,” according to another law enforcement official who also spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is still going on.
The governor has not been charged, and prosecutors would not comment on the case. A Spitzer spokesman said the governor has retained a large New York City law firm.
In Albany, Democratic Lt. Gov. David Paterson, who would become governor if Spitzer resigned, was talking to legislative leaders about a possible transition.
On Wall Street, where Spitzer built his reputation as a crusader against shady practices and overly generous compensation, cheers and laughter erupted Monday from the trading floor when news broke of his potential ruin.
Many in the financial industry had long complained that the man known as “Mr. Clean” and the “Sheriff of Wall Street” was abusive and insulting, that he went after them with holier-than-thou zeal, and that he was just trying to make headlines and advance his political career.
“The irony and the hypocrisy is almost too good to be true,” said Bryn Dolan, a fundraiser who works with many Wall Street employees. “If he had any shame, he would’ve already resigned.”
Reporters, government workers and the public milled around the state Capitol on Tuesday, waiting for any developments. News vans lined up around the building, and camera operators sat next to their tripods on the front lawn waiting for something to happen.
The official Democratic line was to give Spitzer time to decide.
“On every level — the human level, the governmental level — this is not the time to speculate and guess at the outcome,” said Democratic state Assemblyman Richard Brodsky. “There’s too much at stake.”
But privately, several Democrats in the Legislature and in the administration said resignation appeared inevitable.
“He’s weighing the rest of his life,” one Democratic official said sadly.
Late Tuesday, freshman Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand became the first Democratic member of New York’s congressional delegation to mention resignation.
“This is very grave and sad news,” she said. “If these serious allegations are true, the governor will have no choice but to resign.”
But more than a day after the scandal broke, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and other senior Democrats in the delegation had yet call on Spitzer to quit.
Meanwhile, the Republicans Spitzer fought with for a year struck harder.
“The trust of the people has been violated and we’ve become a laughingstock,” said state Sen. Martin Golden, a Brooklyn Republican. “It has the potential ability of throwing us into a major crisis, but we won’t let it happen.”
Assembly Republican leader James Tedisco warned that if Spitzer did not resign within 48 hours, he would call for impeachment. But any impeachment would face a difficult road in the Democrat-controlled Assembly, where articles impeachment would require a majority vote to go to a trial. A trial would be decided by a combined vote of the full Senate, which has a slim GOP majority, and the Court of Appeals.
Tedisco was an early target of Spitzer’s abrasive and uncompromising style in Albany. In a private call, an angry Spitzer once described himself to Tedisco as a “steamroller” — he attached a profanity for emphasis — and warned: “I’ll roll over you and anybody else.”
There were times, too, when Spitzer visited individual legislative districts to impugn by name lawmakers who defied him, a breach of etiquette even by New York’s bare-knuckle standards. It was a legislative version of the name-calling he used against Wall Street targets for years as attorney general.
So when the news about Spitzer’s disgrace hit Wall Street, many were delighted to see him get his comeuppance.
“It’s great that he’s going to take a fall for what is essentially a minor thing,” NYSE employee Greg Longworth said outside Harry’s at Hanover Square, a favorite Wall Street drinking hole. “He was such a stuffed shirt, and it turns out he was doing the same thing.”
AP writers Valerie Bauman and Michael Virtanen in Albany, and Vinnee Tong in New York contributed to this report.
Mr. Spitzer needs to spend some time behind bars.
She is a smart, classy looking woman.
Did she know hubby had been using high priced hookers for years when he stood her up as a prop at his presser or did she think it was just once? and only to find out since from the news media?
The kid on the right looks like Elliot in a skirt and wig lol. Don’t suppose he wants some sleazy political hack picking her out of an online catalogue. “Kristen” has a father too you know.
Wow, all it takes is a quick read of about half a dozen posts here, and I’ve gone from having sympathy for her to wondering whether any of it matters to her at all.
If she has urged him not to quit, I am having less sympathy for her. The children are another matter entirely.
Appearances matter, they have 3 kids, nitwit. Theres plenty of time for her to set her lawyers on him and take half of everything he owns. Whats your hurry?
she was married for 29 days
So her and her three kids had to take it in the name of modern day feminism as a strong educated woman.
OK
What appearances? Circle the wagons to protect the family assets?
Nice lesson for the girls, no doubt; they will make much better courtesans for the lesson.
“The kid on the right..”! I thought exactly the same thing! Mirror image!
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So you listen to Howard Stern too, eh? |
As I recall, Mrs. Craig and Mrs. Vitter both stood beside their husbands during press conferences.
I don’t consider it bad for a woman to stand by her husband and try to save her marriage, nor for a husband to stand by his wife. Marriages are complicated.
Being a teenager is traumatic enough without dad putting you through this.
God bless them.
I heard on Fox today that he’d requested “unsafe” sex from the prostitute and that she didn’t want that. He really thinks a lot of his wife and kids.
I agree. It just really ticks me off that pricks like Spitzer treat women like that like dirt and get away with it when there are men in flyover country (a widower like me) that have lost the woman they loved and are looking for another woman of the same caliber.
Exactly. Apparently a fight to hold on wouldn’t be much of a bruise to her ego.
She can “stand by him” without showing up at the press conference and posing as a human shield to protect her lousy spouse from the press.
What’s the date and what’s the date she met Eliot the Mess?
No, I don’t get Howard here or have a Sirius at work. Did Howard say that? This really sucks knowing that he and I think alike. That is really scary...
This just broke, what is the hurry? Why the rush to judgement?
The longer he stonewalls, the more that comes out, and eventually she leaves with the kids. For Gods sake, McGreeveys wife stood up there weeks later smiling her butt off, and then ended up suing his pants off (excuse the pun). Time will serve us well.
Lacking any hard data and considering that she’s one of these supposed superior intelligences with all those fancy degrees and stuff I must conclude that she did know all about it and didn’t care as long as his star was rising. In that case, unless anyone can prove otherwise, she can GFH as far as I’m concerned.
Just once I’d like to see one of these phony ‘successful women’ stand up and say they are throwing the bum out. Lacking such fortitude I don’t care about them one whit.
My wife doesn’t have one of those ‘superior educations’ but she wouldn’t tolerate such shenanigans for one second. I’d be lucky to get out of range of her Lady Smith alive. LOL!
Plus he seemed EBULLIENT at a roast SAturday and he learned on FRIDAY that the Feds nailed him!! PHSYCOPATH?
It just broke in the press. Unless she’s brain damaged she knows the marriage has been a political marketing artifact for years.
Standing with him at the press conference protects HIS job (and her perks). It does nothing to repair the hollowed out mockery of their marriage.
Are you SURE she is liberal?
She’s not the sweet little lady you might think she is. She considers herself a WARRIOR!
I dont know, around the same time I think. So what? The other guy was a millionaire, and so is Spitzer. I'm sure she compared the two and found Spitzer the better investment. Wouldnt be the first time a woman did that
I also suggest she make an appointment with her physician for a complete STD screening so she can find out if he's murdered her as well as slaughtering his marriage vows.
eliott spitzer, you are irredeemable filth of a clintonian degree.
Breaks my heart to see those poor girls. What a lowlife scum he is.
Either that or he was covering up his knowledge with some bad acting. But I’m going with psycho or socio.
Maybe she found a SOUL MATE.
What a coincidence!!...Corinth Warriors!!
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