Eliot Spitzer, Crook

Commentary ^ | 03.10.2008 - 18:32 | John Podhoretz

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

The thing is, Eliot Spitzer is a crook. I’m not referring to the current prostitution scandal. I’m not referring to the scandal last year involving his senior aides and the leaking of confidential police information to the Albany Times Union. I’m not referring to the threatening phone call he made to the august John Whitehead, retired head of Goldman Sachs, who had the temerity to question a case Spitzer was building against an old friend of Whitehead’s. I’m referring to his conduct dating back to 1994, when he designed a complex scheme involving loans and real estate and collateralized apartments to evade campaign-finance laws so that his own father, Bernard Spitzer,  could pay for his campaign as attorney general of New York state. Millions of dollars. And then, in 1998, running for the same office, he did it again. It’s hard to explain, but basically, Spitzer’s father gave him a lot of real estate. He used it to secure loans totaling more than $8 million. Then his father paid back the loans. He was supposed to pay his father back. He said he did. Then he acknowledged he hadn’t. Then somehow it all went away. I’m not a big fan of campaign-finance laws, but they are laws, and they are supposed to apply to everybody.

The rules don’t apply to Eliot Spitzer, or at least, that’s how Eliot Spitzer has acted throughout his public life. Sic transit gloria mundi.

[MtnClimber]

What comes around goes around!

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

More stuff on the Spitzer...

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

From the NY Times .... October 28, 1998:

THE 1998 CAMPAIGN: THE MONEY;
Spitzer Concedes That His Father Has Helped to Pay for Campaigns

***************************EXCERPT*********************

For months, Eliot L. Spitzer's political rivals in the race for state attorney general have attacked him by raising one essential question: who has paid for his campaigns?

After repeatedly contending that he alone paid his campaign bills this year and in 1994, Mr. Spitzer, the Democratic candidate, acknowledged in interviews with The New York Times this week that his father, a wealthy real estate developer, has played an extensive role in helping to finance his campaigns.

[Rome2000]

What bill is this I'm signing again?

David Alexander Paterson (born May 20, 1954) is an American politician and the current Lieutenant Governor of New York. He is the first African American and the first legally blind person to hold this position. He was selected as running mate by New York Attorney General and Democratic Party nominee Eliot Spitzer in the 2006 New York gubernatorial election.[1] With current news reports indicating that Governor Spitzer may resign as soon as the evening of March 11, 2008, Paterson could become the first African-American Governor of New York and the first legally blind governor in the nation.[2]

[goldstategop]

For someone above the law, he's finally been caught. Shakespeare talked about "ambition o'ervaulting itself" in Macbeth. Spitzer isn't even a likeable Shakespearean villain. He was just a ruthless thug who pushed too far and then found no safety net to stop his fall.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

[bigbob]

Might we change his name to “Idiot Spitzer”?

[flying_bullet]

Indeed. Sic semper tyrannus!

[mc5cents]

Sic transit gloria mundi

Ah yes indeed. That Latin phrase that means "Thus passes the glory of the world" is so appropriate. How true, how true. So thus the mighty fall. Could not happen to a more deserving thug.

[Churchillspirit]

Wonder if he automatically becomes a super delegate and if so, will he support Hitlery - a NY senator or will he have the guts to support Obama?

[A_Former_Democrat]

Spitzer represents what’s exactly wrong with American politics. No wonder the country is so divided and so many people are put off by politicians and the process.

[mc5cents]

Sic semper tyrannus!

How about Sic semper Spitzer! LOL!

[TrebleRebel]

I’m not defending Spitzer but can someone explain to me how transferring $15K between your personal, private bank accounts consitutes activity that rises to the level of the bank reporting it to the IRS and a judge ordering a wiretap? I mean, shouldn’t there be millions of reports submitted to the IRS daily based on this criteria? And then millions of wiretaps? Pretty soon half the population will be employed by the FBI listening into wiretaps of the other half.

http://www.wnbc.com/politics/15562646/detail.html

Spitzer allegedly used the escort service for at least six months and paid more than $15,000 for numerous meetings, a source familiar with the case told WNBC.com.

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.

[Zuben Elgenubi]

Wow, Podhoretz is fast. Commentary is an excellent monthly (an AJC publication) to which I subscribe. I can't wait for the next issue (so to speak).

Good comments on their board, too.

[The KG9 Kid]

LOL. Yeah, I hear that NY state Democrats are enthusiastic about installing Paterson as their new governor just as soon as they can find a way to bust his eardrums.

[SierraWasp]

Spitler’s (thanks Liz) hipocrisy is second only to our CA Republican Governor’s constant hipocrisy on a much wider range of issues!!!

[colorado tanker]

Did Daddy also pay for Elliott’s hooker habit?

[SierraWasp]

Spitler’s (thanks Liz) hipocrisy is second only to our CA Republican Governor’s constant hipocrisy on a much wider range of issues!!!

[goldstategop]

Any transfer of funds above 10K gets reported to the IRS. If you haven't committed a crime, you have nothing to worry about. But if you intend to wire money to commit a crime, then the Feds will come after you hard.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

[meandog]

Move along here, nothing to see it’s just about sex, nothing else.