Posted on 03/16/2008 10:24:40 AM PDT by Clint N. Suhks
Ben Stein Says The Feds Driving A Governor Out Of Office Is A Scary Thing
Like every other American, I was stunned by the fall of Elliot Spitzer. Of course I feel terrible for his family and for him. He fought the law and the law won.
But something sinister is happening here and it scares me.
Governor Spitzer was elected by an immense majority in the third most populous state. He got millions of votes. Now he's out of a job and in disgrace, and a man the voters did not vote for as governor is governor.
Why? Because some nosy civil servants at the IRS started a fishing expedition against Spitzer because they suspected he might be moving around money for political bribes.
So they wiretapped him and they found he was using the money he was moving around to buy the services of prostitutes.
Now, this is illegal in most states, and clearly it is in New York and in DC. But let's be honest: Men hire prostitutes by the thousands, maybe tens of thousands, every day They also bring women across state lines for sex every day.
The punishment for the men who hire hookers is usually nil, or at most a small fine close to what you'd get for a traffic ticket.
However, in Governor Spitzer's case, he got outed, humiliated, disgraced in front of his family, and then the voters lost the guy they voted for.
It is deeply scary to me that a few employees of the federal executive branch can start a train rolling that has such immense effects on the electoral process. Basically, a few career civil servants have nullified the will of the voters of the Empire State (over something clearly wrong, I don't doubt that, but it's not a political crime, not treason, not terrorism).
Having elected officials kicked out of office by appointed officials is a very dicey proposition. Over hiring prostitutes?
I strongly suspect that if the feds followed a hundred young male elected officials around for a year, they would find some sexual hanky panky among a lot of them, and some money or gifts changing hands often. If the feds prosecuted them all, it would basically mean that federal prosecutors have a veto over the electoral process.
That is dangerous.
More will be revealed but it all scares me. Elections are a lot more important than call girls.
Well Ben, is it illegal or is it not illegal? You stated correctly that it is illegal. So what's the problem? Simply because Spitzer was elected to office by a huge majority he's a victim of an overzealous State? Wrong.
I used to think that, but he's got a wide liberal streak. Watch his attitude toward taxes and the government on the Saturday morning Fox News show (Cavuto, maybe?). He's for higher taxes, as 'we' can afford it. He's for government charity spending, and actually seems to think the government can be competent at it without introducing all sorts of moral hazards.
“Men” who talk and act like women turn my stomach.
Is that because Spitzer lied to the people about the kind of person he really was?
-PJ
Wait a minute, I thought Spitzer resigned of his own free will? Ben says he was "kicked out of office" by officials? I missed that story ... can someone point me to it? /sarc
Spitzer could have stayed in office and fought impeachment if he wanted. If the millions of voters in NY wanted him to stay, they would have said so.
I'm sure Spitzer could have fought the charges against him while still being Gov., or would Mr. Stien want the charges droped because it was only about "SEX"!
Never, since those that move from New York to Florida keep "dual citizenship" and continue to vote in both places.
Then we should've stopped before Tom Delay was smeared.
If the Dems are going to criminalize politicos contrary to their own, then Democrats can be hit by actual criminal statutes and I'm goin' to laugh about it.
Schadenfreude! It's what's for breakfast!
The exchange of money and goods for sex isn't prostitution?
Poor Ben, I always liked him...
“He fought the law and the law won.”
this myth, about spitzer, was created by spitzer, pushed by the media and sold to the sheeple of new york - creating his “popularity”
none of his highest profile cases involved the law - charges yes, but not the law
he went after the retiring head of the new york stock exchange - a private corporation, grasso, for the retirement settlement grasso received - in the 9 figures
was that settlement set by the board of directors of the new york stock exchange - yes; were they apprised of the terms prior to grasso’s retirement - yes; was anyone but them legally responsible for setting those terms - no; were any laws broken by the terms they agreed to - no;
so no laws were broken but spitzer went after grasso anyway, because grasso’s retirement settlement was ‘outrageous’
how did spitzer ‘try’ grasso
he tried his standard bully tactics - the press
his team broke ny-state ethics laws on judicial conduct by releasing pieces of ‘evidence’ - in dribs and drabs, to reporters and in editorials, seeking to avoid an actual courtroom where they would have to prove matters of law; counting on the endless pocket book of the state against the private limits of the accused, to get the accused to settle
grasso, having witnessed this legal thuggery of spitzer’s before, did not buckle under
the same cannot be said for two major insurance firms, marsh and aig, whose practices disliked by spitzer - who claimed they were unethical - were industry standard practices not in contravention of us or ny law - marsh’s losses from their public fight with spitzer put them out of business and aig replaced their founder and ceo at spitzer’s demand
why - they broke the law? no
spitzer didn’t like the way they did business - period
he was simply a thug who was given the power of a state attorney general
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