Spitzer Resigns, Cites his ‘Private Failings’

Criminal Justice

Spitzer Resigns, Cites his ‘Private Failings’

Posted Mar 12, 2008, 10:49 am CDT
By Debra Cassens Weiss

Updated: After a day of speculation about whether he would remain in office, New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer has announced his resignation effective Monday.

Spitzer apologized for his actions in a late-morning press conference and said he hopes to continue to work for the common good after he leaves office. He said he is leaving because he cannot allow his “private failings to disrupt the people's work."

“The remorse I feel will always be with me,” Spitzer said.

Spitzer did not specifically refer to allegations that he paid for high-priced prostitutes, the Staten Island Advance notes. Nor did he reveal whether he had reached a deal with prosecutors, the Associated Press reports.

But CNN reports that the U.S. attorney in New York says no deal has been reached.

New York Times coverage of the speech says Spitzer is the first governor of New York to resign from office since 1973.

Spitzer's replacement is Lt. Gov. David Paterson, a graduate of Hofstra University School of Law. He is the first African-American and the first blind person to hold the job of lieutenant governor in the state.

A statement issued by Paterson said he is saddened by the recent events and he considers Spitzer and his wife to be close friends. “It is now time for Albany to get back to work,” he said.

Spitzer spent an agonizing day yesterday ensconced in his home as he decided how to respond to a New York Times report that he had paid for a prostitute employed by Emperors Club VIP. The club's prostitutes were given rankings from one to seven diamonds and charged $1,000 to $5,000, an indictment against club officials alleges.

The investigation into Spitzer’s link to the prostitution ring began as part of a routine Internal Revenue Service investigation into suspicious transactions reported by banks.

Investigators believe Spitzer made three wire transfers of about $5,000 to Emperors Club VIP from personal bank accounts in the spring and summer of 2007, according to a Wall Street Journal story. They also believe he paid $4,300 cash for a Feb. 13 linkup with a prostitute in Washington, D.C.

But an Associated Press story says the total spent could be higher. It quotes an anonymous law enforcement official who said Spitzer may have spent as much as $80,000 on prostitutes employed by the club.

Updated to include references to AP and Staten Island reports on the resignation speech, the AP report of additional money spent on prostitutes, the CNN report that no deal has been reached, and New York Times coverage.

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Posted by David - 5 months, 3 weeks, 2 days, 23 hours, 36 minutes ago

We Demand The Appointment Of A Special Prosecutor:

To Investigate Eliot Spitzer’s Long Reign of Abuse of Prosecutorial Discretion and his Failures To Pursue Organized Crime Involving his Associates.

This Neo-Mafia of law firms and corrupt public officials in Law Enforcement and the Judiciary maintains a fascade of “respectability” which all of their “brethren of the bar” must kiss else suffer extreme professional consequences. Ordinary lawyers, as well as some public servants, have had their careers turned upside down when they have attempted to expose corruption in the justice system.

There is only one stand out surprise, one supreme significance, related to Eliot Spitzer’s admitted connections with the Prostitution Ring.

There is no surprise that Eliot Spitzer was a corrupt prosecutor and attorney general.
The corrupt nature of Eliot Spitzer was reported before his election to Governor (http://www.bankruptcymisconduct.com/site/content/view/12/30/) of New York by bankruptcyMisconduct.com in a November 2006 press release which revealed a specific example of his abuse of prosecutorial discretion when protecting his associates in the Neo-Mafia.

Some may find it a surprise that the Feds who uncovered Spitzer’s crimes did not quietly bury them again.
We do not find it surprising that there exist proud public servants who honor their sworn oaths to the Constitution of the United States and ignore implicit and explicit threats to themselves, their careers, and their families as they tenaciously expose and eliminate corruption.

Some may find it a surprise that Eliot Spitzer had the chutzpah (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chutzpah) to withold his resignation, holding the people of the State Of New York hostage as he selfishly sought a no-prosecution deal.
But readers of bankruptcyMisconduct.com are learning that Mr. Spitzer’s expectation that as a former DOJ employee he should hold immunity from Federal investigation and prosecution was reasonable and appropriate in light of such de facto policy established by the highest levels of our DOJ.

Some may find it a surprise that a man who held extraordinary wealth, who pursued and then attained great fame, would then deem himself above the law and above morality.
That Eliot achieved his fame through as a prosecutor at the Federal and highest State levels strike some as ironic. At the same time, other ordinary citizens with an awareness of the pervasiveness of government corruption, merely see it as the explanation.

There is no surprise that Spitzer had close friends who ran hedge funds, and used the name of at least one of them, George Fox of Titan Advisors, LLC (http://www.titanadvisors.com/about/firm_history.php), as cover when booking a hotel.
There is no better “pro” to lie for you than a hedge fund manager: the capo of unregulated money funds for the super-rich and the Neo-Mafia.

There is no surprise that hedge funds would be connected with corruption of government officials.

The great surprise which the media, pundits, and politicians should be talking about:

Eliot Spitzer was in bed with organized crime ... and thus
All Official Conduct Of Spitzer Is Suspect And Must Be Investigated

No rational person could imagine that one day, Eliot Spitzer decided to login into a prostitution website, or that Eliot walked
blindly into some whore house:

“Hi, I would like your services. One problem: I am Eliot Spitzer and would be recognized by anyone who sees me in your prostitution ring so please just informally assure me that your peeps will keep this private”

Yeah, right. Consider who the man was, his experience, and the actions he performed as a prosecutor. This man was a Federal prosecutor, was New York’s Attorney General, the most senior law enforcement officer of the State of New York, this man undertook bold and radical prosecutions never before seen, Governor of the State of New York. Eliot Spitzer himself prosecuted organized crime including prostitution rings.

None of us can believe that Spitzer just decided one day to check out the Emperors Club. We know better. None of us can honestly believe that Spitzer could think he would not be immediately recognized and blackmailed, unless… Spitzer was dealing with an organized crime family that he trusted.

We already know that Eliot Spitzer had an “intimate relationship” and trust with this one Prostitution Ring, only an ostrich could not see that Spitzer would have connections with relations of this Prostitution Ring, that the prositution ring was merely one branch of the Neo-Mafia.

A Special Prosecutor Must Be Appointed To Investigate Spitzer’s Legacy Of Protectionism of his Organized Crime Relations

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