"See, that's your problem. Shoulda gone with Art Vandelay."
Posted on 03/10/2008 5:03:22 PM PDT by jdm
NEW YORK -- More details about Eliot Spitzer's alleged meeting with a prostitute emerged Monday after the New York governor and father of three apologized to his family and the public.
According to a law enforcement source close to the investigation, the Democratic governor used the alias "George Fox" when meeting with a prostitute. His alleged conversations with the prostitution ring are detailed in court papers in which Spitzer is identified as "Client 9," according to a source.
On Monday afternoon, the Democratic governor delivered an apology standing next to his wife, Silda, who looked down at the ground as he spoke.
"I have acted in a way that violates my obligations to my family and violates my, or any, sense of right and wrong," Spitzer said. "I apologize first and most importantly to my family. I apologize to the public, whom I promised better."
"I do not believe that politics in the long run is about individuals; it is about ideas, the public good and doing what is best for the state of New York," Spitzer said.
The governor may have been linked to the ring through cell phone records, sources told NewsChannel 4.
Spitzer's involvement in the ring was caught on a federal wiretap as part of an investigation opened in recent months, according to a law enforcement official who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing inquiry.
The New York Democrat, identified in legal papers as "Client 9," met last month with at least one woman in a Washington hotel, the law enforcement official said.
The prostitution ring, identified in court papers as the Emperors Club VIP, arranged connections between wealthy men and more than 50 prostitutes in New York, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Miami, London and Paris, prosecutors said. Four people allegedly connected to the high-end ring were arrested last week.
The club's Web site displays photographs of scantily clad women with their faces hidden. It also shows hourly rates depending on whether the prostitutes were rated with one diamond, the lowest ranking, or seven diamonds, the highest. The most highly ranked prostitutes cost $5,500 an hour, prosecutors said.
One of those arrested, Temeka Rachelle Lewis, told a prostitute identified only as "Kristen" that she should take a train from New York to Washington for an encounter with Client No. 9 on the night of Feb. 13, according to an affidavit. Click here to read the affidavit.
Lewis said the client would be "paying for everything -- train tickets, cab fare from the hotel and back, mini bar or room service, travel time and hotel," the court papers said. The client paid $4,300 in cash to the service.
The prostitute, described in the complaint as a "petite, pretty brunette, 5-feet-5 inches and 105 pounds," met the client at about 10 p.m., according to the complaint. Lewis asked Kristen how she thought the appointment went, and she said that she thought it went very well.
In a conversation with the booking agent, Kristen said that she liked the client and that she did not think he was difficult, according to the papers.
The agent said she had been told the client "would ask you to do things that ... you might not think were safe ... very basic things," according to the papers, but that Kristen responded by saying, "I have a way of dealing with that ... I'd be, like, listen dude, you really want the sex?"
The scandal was first reported on The New York Times' Web site.
Spitzer spoke hours later. Stunned lawmakers gathered around televisions at the state Capitol in Albany to watch, and a media mob gathered outside the office of Lt. Gov. David Paterson, who would become governor if Spitzer was to resign. It took opponents only minutes to call for his resignation.
"Today's news that Eliot Spitzer was likely involved with a prostitution ring and his refusal to deny it leads to one inescapable conclusion: He has disgraced his office and the entire state of New York," said Assembly Republican leader James Tedisco. "He should resign his office immediately."
Spitzer, 48, built his political reputation on rooting out corruption, including several headline-making battles with Wall Street while serving as attorney general. He stormed into the governor's office in 2006 with a historic share of the vote, vowing to continue his no-nonsense approach to fixing one of the nation's worst governments.
Time magazine had named him "Crusader of the Year" when he was attorney general and the tabloids proclaimed him "Eliot Ness."
But his term as governor has been marred by problems, including an unpopular plan to grant driver's licenses to illegal immigrants and a plot by his aides to smear Spitzer's main Republican nemesis.
Spitzer had been expected to testify to the state Public Integrity Commission he had created to answer for his role in the scandal, in which his aides were accused of misusing state police to compile travel records to embarrass Senate Republican leader Joseph Bruno.
Bruno wouldn't comment when asked what Spitzer should do.
"I feel very badly for the governor's wife, for his children," Bruno said. "The important thing for the people of New York state is that people in office do the right thing."
Spitzer had served two terms as attorney general where he pursued criminal and civil cases and cracked down on misconduct and conflicts of interests on Wall Street and in corporate America. He had previously been a prosecutor in the Manhattan district attorney's office, handling organized crime and white-collar crime cases.
News of his troubles rocked the city.
"I just think it's ironic ..." said Steve Song of Manhattan, who works as a research analyst for an investment firm he declined to name. "Things come full circle."
Spitzer's cases as state attorney general included a few criminal prosecutions of prostitution rings and into tourism involving prostitutes.
In 2004, he was part of an investigation of an escort service in New York City that resulted in the arrest of 18 people on charges of promoting prostitution and related charges.
I think "Georgie" foxed himself this time.
It’s SPITZMAS!!
So he met a prostitute. He shook her hand. Nuthin’ to see here.
I once shook the hand of Jimmuy Carter. So sue me.
Wait, you mean he was boinking prostitutes?
That’s a little different than “met.”
So he was hoping they’d blame Bush and Fox News?
Gotta remember that one! LOL!
That almost has "Don't taze me Bro!" potential.
George Fox (disambiguation)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
George Fox is the name of:
* George Fox (1624–1691), a founder of the Religious Society of Friends (”Quakers”)
* George Fox (1809-1880), Irish poet
* George Fox (musician), a Canadian country music artist
* George L. Fox (clown) (1825–1877), an American entertainer
* George Lane-Fox, 1st Baron Bingley (1870–1947), British Conservative Member of Parliament 1906–1931
* George L. Fox (1900–1943), a chaplain who gave his life during World War Two
* George E. Fox, co-discoverer of Archaea
* George Fox University, a a Christian university founded in Newberg, Oregon in 1885 by Quaker pioneers
The issues against Spitz are for illegal wire transfers, possible money laundering, transporting a woman across state lines for illegal activity etc.
The DUmmies are already claiming that this is a clever diversion to distract from bad news in the Bush camp L0L
“Private matter”???
Breaking the law is a private matter?
I’d be, like, listen dude, you really want the sex?
Oh please.
He would be, like, “Listen whore, you really want the money?”
When do we get to know who clients 1 through 8 are? How about clients 10 through 20 just for giggles? I bet all of them are sweating quite a bit right now.
I hear “normal” people would get 20 years for “transporting a woman across state lines for illegal activity”.
What about conspiracy to commit a crime. He used a number of methods to hide his activities.
Where did he get all of his hooker money?
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