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Editorial: The 'other shoe' falls on Spitzer: lying over Troopergate
Schenectady Gazzette ^ | 3/26/08 | Editorial Staff

Posted on 03/26/2008 8:27:33 AM PDT by pissant

As upsetting and intolerable as Eliot Spitzer’s patronage of high-priced prostitutes was for most New Yorkers, the notion that he may have lied about his involvement in the “Troopergate” scandal — raised by a New York Times story Monday — should be even more infuriating.

And these wouldn’t be little “white” lies concerning minor details of the scandal, in which his aides planted an embarrassing story about Spitzer’s chief political adversary in the Times Union. They would be bald-faced whoppers concerning Spitzer’s fundamental role in the political dirty trick on Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno.

When the story broke last July and it became apparent that Spitzer aides had set up a hatchet job on Bruno, Spitzer denied knowing about it or having anything to do with it. He maintained a moral high ground, expressing remorse for his aides’ behavior, suspending one and demoting another.

But in recent testimony before Albany County District Attorney David Soares, one of those aides — who was subsequently granted immunity from prosecution and thus has no reason to lie — reportedly said that Spitzer was behind the whole operation; that the then-governor insisted on leaking the damaging information when the aide expressed concern that doing so might start a political war.

It did exactly that, and may have even led to the governor’s downfall: According to a different story in Monday’s Times, Roger Stone, the infamous Republican consultant/dirty trickster, may have been the person who instigated the FBI investigation into Spitzer’s use of high-priced prostitutes. (Stone himself became a casualty of the Spitzer-Bruno war, fired by Bruno last August for allegedly making a threatening phone call to Spitzer’s father.) Stone told the Times that he had his lawyers write the FBI last November, alerting the Bureau to Spitzer’s patronage of prostitutes on trips to Florida.

However morally repugnant, hypocritical and illegal it may have been for Spitzer to do so, it was still a mostly personal matter that had nothing to do with his management of the state. Lying to the public about a very public matter — Troopergate, after all, distracted state government for months — is a different story, even if it turns out that none of the lying took place under oath.

We’ll presumably find out from Soares when his investigation is complete in the next few days, but if it does turn out that Spitzer did lie under oath — Soares interviewed him about Troopergate at one point — he should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, for perjury.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; US: New York
KEYWORDS: corruptdems; spitzer; spitzmas
I reckon his cell mate in the pen will call him Kristen, not Eliot.
1 posted on 03/26/2008 8:27:34 AM PDT by pissant
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To: pissant

Ooooooo! Juicy. :)


2 posted on 03/26/2008 8:28:41 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin (Save The Earth. It's The Only Planet With Chocolate.)
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

Let’s hope the prosecutors go after this dirtbag.


3 posted on 03/26/2008 8:30:36 AM PDT by pissant (THE Conservative party: www.falconparty.com)
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To: Liz

Ping


4 posted on 03/26/2008 8:31:59 AM PDT by pissant (THE Conservative party: www.falconparty.com)
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To: All
What political party is Spitzer in?

Does anyone know?
5 posted on 03/26/2008 8:34:21 AM PDT by j_k_l
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To: pissant

6 posted on 03/26/2008 8:34:41 AM PDT by Vaquero (" an armed society is a polite society" Heinlein "MOLON LABE!" Leonidas of Sparta)
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To: j_k_l

DIMBULBOCRAT


7 posted on 03/26/2008 8:35:06 AM PDT by Vaquero (" an armed society is a polite society" Heinlein "MOLON LABE!" Leonidas of Sparta)
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To: pissant

bump


8 posted on 03/26/2008 8:35:09 AM PDT by VOA
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To: pissant

A democrat caught in a lie? No way!


9 posted on 03/26/2008 8:36:21 AM PDT by meandog (Please pray for future President McCain--day minus 300 and counting! Stay home and get Baraked!)
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To: meandog

It is easy to see how the left, when it gets total power, rounds up and disposes if it’s enemies.


10 posted on 03/26/2008 8:42:26 AM PDT by MtnClimber (Not liking my choices in this election!)
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To: pissant

11 posted on 03/26/2008 9:46:00 AM PDT by Gritty (One may smile and smile and be a villain - William Shakespeare)
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To: pissant
According to a different story in Monday’s Times, Roger Stone, the infamous Republican consultant/dirty trickster, may have been the person who instigated the FBI investigation into Spitzer’s use of high-priced prostitutes. Stone had fingered Spitzer's father for dirty campaign financing.

This version falls right into the Alan Dershowitz trap to get Eliot off by making the whore-fixated animal into a "victim." Dersh has been the only one coming to Spitler's defense.

More plausible is this official version: A security analyst was looking at a mountain of bank tips sent to the IRS about suspicious account activity. They can't possibly attend to them all. However, in this case, it seems large sums of money were going out to shell companies (a red flag). The analyst spied Spitzer's name and thought "no, it can't be"-----and immediately concluded someone was using Spitzer’s name for fraudulent activities perhaps in political bribes and corruption.

That's why they decided to investigate----to protect Spitzer. But when analysts traced the money, they found it was going to the call girl operation.

Dersh is a Spitler suckup--plenty of money to be made there. Spitzer WAS NOT being targeted in the hooker sting. However, L/E was conducting surveillance on the ring and found they had Spizter on tape, ordering up hookers.

That's how he got caught---cause he was high-profile good guy---he had made a name for himself as a crime-fighter.

Crime fighter my Aunt Tilly---Eliot Spizer was more Meyer Lansky than Eliot Ness.

12 posted on 03/26/2008 9:54:59 AM PDT by Liz (I spent $60 million and got one lousy delegate. Rudy Giuliani)
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To: pissant
This is turning into a comedy. Spitzer truly is stupid. I have known people who did well in school but when it came to practical things they acted like morons.
13 posted on 03/26/2008 10:01:53 AM PDT by Jane Austen
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To: pissant

bump


14 posted on 03/26/2008 10:03:58 AM PDT by VOA
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To: pissant

bump


15 posted on 03/26/2008 6:10:50 PM PDT by lowbridge ("I can't wait to see what he stands for." - Susan Sarandon on her support of Barack Obama)
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