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Eliot Spitzer, former governor of New York, has a new calling: online commentator. At 5:59 p.m., Slate, the online magazine, published the first of what it says will be a series of biweekly columns by Mr. Spitzer on financial matters. Mr. Spitzer’s first column argues against using bailouts to prop up giant financial conglomerates, asserting that the money could be better spent elsewhere, whether it’s supporting “basic research and development that could give us true competitive advantage” or restructuring “our bloated health care sector.” The flaw in consolidation, Mr. Spitzer writes, is that it has created mega-banks that are deemed...

Imagine a world with more sexually open, sensual, happily libidinous politicians. Wait, can you? I want a smart, slutty senator. I want an effective, confident, sex-positive congressman or woman who, if asked, speaks openly and blamelessly and even happily about her proclivities, with a wink and a smile and maybe a bit of cleavage before Labor Day. Married, single, somewhere in between? Doesn't matter. And, dare I say it, I want president who not only freely discusses and shrugs off his or her loves and sexual desires and even affairs, but dares to enjoy sex and thrives because of it...

Disgraced former Gov. Eliot Spitzer has been identified as a long-standing client of a second high-priced call-girl ring, The Post has learned. The ex-governor regularly patronized Wicked Models, the Manhattan-based operation taken down Tuesday, according to financial documents and other evidence unearthed in a yearlong prostitution in vestigation, law-enforcement sources said.

SCHEMER: Darren Dopp, one of the governor's men who orchestrated the plot against Joe Bruno. Former Gov. Eliot Spitzer would have faced a grand-jury probe and may have warranted impeachment for repeatedly lying about his involvement in the Dirty Tricks Scandal, an explosive report from the Albany County district attorney concluded yesterday. In a startling revelation, District Attorney David Soares said that had Spitzer not resigned in the call-girl scandal, the DA would have asked a grand jury to consider urging impeachment or other disciplinary action because the then-governor repeatedly claimed in testimony to Soares that he was not...

Disgraced former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer is being linked to a second call girl ring called Wicked Models, which was busted by Manhattan police on Tuesday. The New York Post reports that alleged madam Kristin "Billie" Davis, a "busty bottle blonde" working toward her master's degree in psychology, has supposedly earned millions from the clients in her lengthy black book.

WASHINGTON -- If Republicans picked a theme song to describe the gloomy political climate they face this year, it would be "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head." With Americans at war in Afghanistan and Iraq and the economy tilting toward recession, it is hard to imagine the election-year environment can get any bleaker for the GOP, though that seemed to be the case this week. The consumer-confidence index plunged deeper, as the jobs picture grew darker, and gas prices continued to rise, up to $4 a gallon in places. The housing market, despite a rise in existing-home sales last month,...

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 week, the highly successful wife of New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer stood by his side "" silent, eyes downcast "" as he confessed his involvement in a sex scandal and resigned from office. Since then, Silda Spitzer, a Harvard-educated former Wall Street attorney, has been under scrutiny. Why did she support the two-timer? "If my husband cheated on me, I'd tell him to carry on (without me)," says Debbie Hargrave, who lives in Concord and has been married for four years. Her mother-in-law went through it and got a divorce. But Hargrave felt for Silda Spitzer. "She had to...

BOSTON (WBZ) ― Local bloggers have spotted an interesting sign outside Mr. Bartley's Burger Cottage in Cambridge. The famous burger joint is now selling the "Spitzer Burger," named after New York Gov. Elliot Spitzer, who's accused of paying thousands for a prostitute to have sex with him at an upscale hotel in Washington. "Blogging with Mr. Cooper" snapped a shot of a sign outside the restaurant advertising the newest addition to their political burger menu. "(The burger's) hot, sexy and you save $4,291.01." Bartley's says the burger is made with Cajun seasoning and is topped with blue cheese dressing.

The thunderous applause was still ringing in his ears when the state's new governor, David Paterson, told the Daily News that he and his wife had extramarital affairs. In a stunning revelation, both Paterson, 53, and his wife, Michelle, 46, acknowledged in a joint interview they each had intimate relationships with others during a rocky period in their marriage several years ago. In the course of several interviews in the past few days, Paterson said he maintained a relationship for two or three years with "a woman other than my wife," beginning in 1999. mo here

The federal criminal investigation that has led to Eliot Spitzer's resignation as governor of New York illustrates the great dangers all Americans face from vague and open-ended sex and money-transaction statutes. Federal law, if read broadly, criminalizes virtually all sexual encounters for which something of value has been given. Federal money-laundering statutes criminalize many entirely legitimate and conventional banking transactions. Congress enacted these laws to give federal prosecutors wide discretion in deciding which "bad guys" to go after. Generally, wise and intelligent prosecutors use their discretion properly -- to target organized crime, terrorism, financial predation, exploitation of children and the...

Eliot Spitzer’s downfall as governor last week may have roots in pursuit of wealthy bankers while state attorney-generalIN early 2004 Eliot Spitzer was at the height of his powers as the sheriff of Wall Street, the highflying New York prosecutor who had set his sights on the cosy corporate kleptocracy that was pocketing millions from insider deals while ordinary investors went bankrupt. His latest victim was Richard Grasso, the chief executive of the New York Stock Exchange, who had made headlines around the world by negotiating himself a $140m (£69m) retirement package that Spitzer alleged was illegal. Grasso claimed he...

Prosecutors are homing in on the disgraced former New York state governor Eliot Spitzer, by investigating whether he used money raised for political campaigns to pay for travel and other expenses relating to his meetings with prostitutes. The New York Times, which broke the story of his involvement with a prostitution ring that led to his resignation on Wednesday, said the inquiry into his actions was focusing on three trips in which he employed the services of women supplied by the Emperors Club VIP, a New Jersey-based operation. One of those meetings was the February 13 liaison at a Washington...

As the political eulogies for Eliot Spitzer are written, a lot will be said about the alleged contradiction between his "righteous," "crusading" public persona and his tawdry personal life. For example, in a remarkably insipid column today, Gail Collins of the New York Times professes utter amazement at the revelation about Spitzer, as if it came out of nowhere, like space_aliens_landing in the middle of Central Park. "You never know," sighs this middle-aged naïf. The New York Post's man in Albany, Fredric Dicker, is having none of it. "I Knew He Was a Fraud & a Hypocrite from the Day...

It has been said that “he who lives by the sword shall die by the sword.” And in the case of Eliot Spitzer this couldn’t be more true. In his case it’s the political sword, as his enemies rejoice in his downfall. Most people, it seems, believe he got exactly what he deserved. The illegal tools of the state brought Spitzer down, but think of all the harm done by Spitzer in using the same tools against so many other innocent people. He practiced what could be termed “economic McCarthyism,” using illegitimate government power to build his political career on...

"If you are in a relationship, and it is 'doing absolutly [sic] nothing' for you, makes you feel bad about yourself of situations, just causing unessesary [sic] drama, and ruining things that you may actually care about . . . why would you want that in your life?" She wrote, "Surround yourself around people that [sic] are making moves, and doing what 'they want and love' with their lives, positive energy . . . that's what life all about . . . living." I feel a tear coming on. Two alternate pictures are emerging of Ashley. In one, she's a...

A call-girl has been ordered to testify about her tryst with Eliot Spitzer, the disgraced New York Governor, as prosecutors investigate whether he used campaign funds for his meetings with prostitutes. Ashley Alexandra Dupre , also known as Ashley Youmans, has received a subpoena to appear behind closed doors before an investigating grand jury hearing the case against the Emperors Club VIP prostitution ring, her lawyer said in court this week. The struggling singer was caught by an FBI phone-tap talking to an accused madam about her $4,300 encounter with a man identified as Client 9, now named as Mr...

So New York Governor Eliot Spitzer resigned because the FBI discovered he was sleeping with expensive call girls. America, predictably, went crazy. A man cheated on his wife! Quick, call all the pop psychologists and famous feminist authors, and book them for the morning talk shows! And I, a former booking agent at one of New York’s most exclusive escort agencies, just rolled my eyes. Remember that scene from Casablanca, when Captain Renault declares that he is shocked, shocked to find gambling going on — just as the croupier hands him his winnings? I keep thinking of that scene when...

As David Paterson gets ready to take over as governor on Monday, there are reports that federal investigators are looking into whether former Governor Eliot Spitzer used campaign funds to cover his tracks while paying for high-priced prostitutes. According to the New York Times, the feds want to see records from three trips Spitzer took, including the February 13th visit to Washington.

** EXCERPT ** Once, just once, wouldn’t you love to see the politician up there at the lectern sweating bullets, apologizing for letting down his wife and family …. alone? Once, just once, wouldn’t you love to see the wife issuing her own statement saying that what he had done was unacceptable and that she was leaving him? Wouldn’t that be morally correct? But instead, again and again, we see the pathetic, ravaged faces of these women victims, standing supportively beside their husbands as they allow themselves to be excruciatingly humiliated in front of the whole world. We really haven’t...