Posted on 03/10/2008 5:10:14 PM PDT by jdm
Just in case the governor of New York decides to “spend more time” with his family after getting tied to a prostitution ring by federal wiretaps, let’s recall what made Eliot Spitzer such a special kind of politician. In an era where politicians try to gussy up their power plays in politically correct language and strive for plausible deniability, Spitzer provided a refreshing lack of manners — as long as you like politics as bloodsport. For instance, even before becoming governor, Spitzer made his displeasure clear to John Whitehead after the former chair of Goldman Sachs had the temerity to criticize his prosecutorial methods (via Dean Barnett):
After reading my op-ed piece, Mr. Spitzer tried to phone me. I was traveling in Texas but he reached me early in the afternoon. After asking me one or two questions about where I got my facts, he came right to the point. I was so shocked that I wrote it all down right away so I would be sure to remember it exactly as he said it. This is what he said:
“Mr. Whitehead, it’s now a war between us and you’ve fired the first shot. I will be coming after you. You will pay the price. This is only the beginning and you will pay dearly for what you have done. You will wish you had never written that letter.”
I tried to interrupt to say he was doing to me exactly what he’d been doing to others, but he wouldn’t be interrupted. He went on in the same vein for several more sentences and then abruptly hung up. I was astounded. No one had ever talked to me like that before. It was a little scary.
Spitzer wasn’t always scary. In fact, sometimes he was a little too nice — with those who could do him favors. Facing an ethics probe for his use of the State Police to probe a political rival, he got a crony to head the investigative board. Herbert Teitelbaum then got a $15,000 raise, and promptly left in the middle of the investigation:
THE man supposedly leading a key state probe of Gov. Spitzer and the Dirty Tricks Scandal has abruptly taken a 21/2-week vacation in South America - after secretly receiving a $15,000 pay raise, The Post has learned.Recently hired Public Integrity Commission Executive Director Herbert Teitelbaum’s extended vacation in Argentina has left stunned commission employees questioning his commitment to a probe aimed at determining if Spitzer and his aides broke the law by using the State Police in an effort to politically damage Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno (R-Rensselaer.) …
Teitelbaum, a longtime Manhattan lawyer with close ties to Spitzer’s aides, was named in mid-July by another Spitzer appointee, commission Chairman John Feerick, as the $140,000-a-year head of the Ethics Commission. ….
Teitelbaum’s $15,000 pay raise two weeks ago was approved without public notice by Feerick, a former Fordham Law School dean accused by Bruno aides of seeking to cover up the scandal.
The nearly 11 percent pay hike came at a time when the state faces a massive, $4 billion-plus, projected deficit.
No one would be surprised to hear that the New York Times had supported Spitzer in the past, but an editorial from May 2007 really takes the cake. In an editorial titled “Targeting Human Trafficking”, the Times scolded the federal government for prioritizing larger trafficking rings rather than smaller brothels and sweatshops, but hailed Spitzer’s “muscular nudge” towards the state legislature to focus on the lower-rent operations:
After years of shameful recalcitrance, New York will take the lead in the nation’s effort to combat sex and labor trafficking with a new law that targets this modern form of slavery. The issue is an urgent one. Each year, thousands of people are brought into the United States — often through New York — to be used for forced sex or labor. Yet New York has lagged behind at least two dozen states in enacting laws to go after the traffickers and help their victims.
Federal law enforcement tends to focus on the largest trafficking rings rather than local brothels and sweatshops, and federal efforts need bolstering in any case. But attempts over the last two years to pass anti-trafficking legislation in New York ended in failure. Assembly Democrats resisted imposing tough new criminal penalties, and the Republican Senate objected to providing services for trafficking victims. Given Albany’s penchant for partisan gridlock, the deadlock might have continued for many more years absent a muscular nudge from Gov. Eliot Spitzer. The result is being applauded by both prosecutors and victims’ advocates and will give the state one of the strongest anti-trafficking laws in the country.
Anyone now wonder why Spitzer seemed more interested in the low-priced prostitution rings?
Alan Dershowitz wants to scold America over its revulsion at Spitzer’s hypocrisy:
YouTube: Dershowitz on Spitzer Busted w/ Prostitutes: "Big Deal!"
Sorry. I don’t think anyone can buy that line. If Spitzer thought that prostitution should be legal, he has been in uniquely well-suited positions to make that argument. Instead, he positioned himself publicly as disgusted by the exploitation of women through prostitution, even campaigning on it. That isn’t just a story about a married man going to a prostitute, it’s a story of hypocrisy and deception.
Exit question: when will liberals discover that “Europe would shrug at this” arguments don’t actually impress anyone?
Joe Bruno is loving this.
You guys should get a kick out of the video. Contessa Brewer of MSNBC busts Dershowitz, leaving him speechless for a few seconds.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=lRTxmqvW6mY
“That isn’t just a story about a married man going to a prostitute” it’s a FEDERAL RAP! Hard time in the pen for our pal. Heh. One can hope. No plea bargaining. Put on the stripes you [expleteive]!
dimowitz is a snivelling little putz
If he used any government assets (cell phone, travel monies, etc.) to deal with the prostitutes, he violated his own stringent government ethics code enacted via Executive Order (#1):
http://www.ny.gov/governor/executive_orders/exeorders/1.html
Mr. “Ethics”!!!
Couldn’t have happened to a better guy. Bwhaha haha hahha..
Except maybe Obama.
Never.
Liberals are incapable of shame or retrospection.
If you could put a thought bubble above their heads that would capture their thoughts on this, you would see:
"He/She/I got caught cavorting with prostitutes after He/She/I made an issue about how terrible the sex trade was? Oh well. Doesn't mean anything."
Eegads. This is worse than I even imagined. So, this guy is giving speeches on the EVIL of this crime, even while committing it? The raw arrogance of this is hard to fathom, even after years of scandal and humilation under the Clintons.
Even worse, he had $4300 to waste on this little fling, which obviously was a habit. He wasted his family’s money, even while exposing them to the risk of disease. Then, he makes her show up in “support” after the story breaks.
Then, he exposed the entire state to blackmail if anyone decided to threaten him.
I’m sure I’m missing a lot, but hey, I’m just getting started.
Yet the scumbag still got elected by an overwhelming margin. And I suspect if there were another election tomorrow, he would win again.
What a tool. What a raging idiot. Dershowitz is speechless? I am speechless after listening to him.
Liberals are pathological. That can be the only explanation.
Thanks. More fun with this story.
I went to High School with his wife .... she was a sight to behold back then ( ‘75-’76 ). Even @ a racetrack last year or the year before , she was just as beautiful. It hurt my heart to view that woman on the news today. She doesn’t even look like the same person. Oh well , ya lay down with dogs .........
We are ALL loving this.
I might even learn how to spell schadefreude
This pr!ck prosecuted others for prostitution. Then he has the high and mighty act about it. No deals. No reduction of sentence. Hard time and mandatory sentences for this piece of [expletive]. The [expletive] hasn’t even resigned yet! Jail his sorry [expletive] and hold him without bail. He’s definitely a flight risk. Kind of hard to be Governor of NY while in the slammer, too. Best as I understand it, maximum is 8 years for this. And you deserve every damn day of it.
MORE. . .
I’m posting this from newsbusters.org....
Just like the clintons, the writing was on the wall...
“This Iisn’t Spitzer’s First Transgression
March 10, 2008 - 20:45 ET by bias-fighter
How quickly the media “forgets” (whitewashes).
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977250909
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977257380
His performance and rating have been subpar (and that’s being generous)
One of Spitzer’s key campaign pledges was to reform the state budget process. While the state did pass a budget on schedule in 2007, the ultimate results fell short of what many reformers hoped Spitzer would achieve. Newscorp’s The New York Post opined, “Spitzer promised reform, and delivered something completely different” and termed the budget itself “bitterly disappointing.”[30]
Spitzer’s budget quickly turned into a deficit, as by the end of October it was projected the state would run a deficit exceeding $4 billion for the year. During Spitzer’s first year the state payroll increased, aggravating budget problem.[31] Despite increasing the public sector payroll, in late 2007 New York State started leading the nation in lost jobs
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eliot_Spitzer
Spitzer proposed a bill that would give illegals licenses.
A 57-page report issued by the Attorney General’s office concluded that Spitzer engaged in creating media coverage concerning Senator Bruno’s travel before any Freedom of Information Law request was made.
The report criticized Spitzer’s office for using State Police resources to gather information about Bruno’s travel and releasing the information to the media
Douglas Muzzio, a Baruch College political scientist, commented that “The Watergate analogy is inescapable.” and now with the latest round, he has become another Clinton.
Before his latest scandal, his approval rating was as low as Bush’s.
http://gothamist.com/2007/08/07/spitzers_scanda.php
“Eliot Spitzer is like the good-looking bouncer in a bar, who is secretly dealing drugs,”
http://www.nymegaphone.com/node/24
Spitzer Filed Legal Brief, Helped Silverstein Win $4.5 Billion WTC Insurance Windfall
http://www.911blogger.com/node/11254
In sum, like Bill Clinton, ES is a corrupt, hypocritical, vengeful, power hungry animal who will say and do anything. He’s the embodiement of at least a controlling portion of the Democratic party. Something the party tries to project onto Republicans with the aid of the “media.”
The full story won’t be reported because the media is useless.”
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