Did Eliot Spitzer commit a victimless crime? I don’t get to talk about juicy stuff like that on Antiwar.com, so get on over to Taki’s Magazine and I’ll tell you why I don’t think so …
54 thoughts on “Eliot Spitzer — Martyr? I Don’t Think So …”
Comments are closed.
Not martyr–poon hound!
Prostitution should be legalized. It would be better for everyone. The prostitutes would be better off. It would put the pimps out of business. Physically deformed or perhaps otherwise unattractive men may only be able to obtain sexual gratification via the avenue of prostitution. As long as the sexual act is between adults and it is consensual it is not “evil”, “wicked” or “immoral”. Besides how do you define prostitution? Isn’t the secretary who sleeps with her boss to get a promotion a prostitute? What about Porn stars?
Andy’s points are well founded. What two consenting adults do in private is their own damn business and the government should find better things to prosecute.
Wow, I agree with Tim R. on something…. Are those pigs I see flying past my window?!
While we may disagree on what the “better things to prosecute” are, I agree that there are more important things going on in this world, and this episode is a distraction.
Some like to see a Mr. Clean get busted; but how many more politicians violate the law and go free? And how many poorer and less-connected people in his situation would be losing their jobs and families right now? That line of thinking should lead you to where the real problems are in this country.
Well, a-whoring can be immoral. The question is, should it be criminal? In Spitzer’s case, the real scary part is that he was found out by his bank squealing to the feds about “unusual” money transactions. Whatever happened to probable cause before being investigated?
“squealing to the Feds”?
My dear fellow, apparently you know nothing of banking regulations under the Patriot Act, including Suspicious Activity Reports.
Ironically, this all began under the rubric of a set of Federal Regulations cozily dubbed “Know Your Customer”.
Client 9 apparently is unfamiliar with the regulations too.
Meanwhile the frauds multiply. There is an online concern in Minnesota that sells to subscribing banks a service equivalent to plausible deniablity in regard to the identification requirements of the Patriot act, for example.
Wheels within wheels within wheels.
Should I apologize in advance for being a prima donna, do you think?
No. never!
Whatever our personal moral beliefs about prostitution, we have seen that far more harm is caused when it is outlawed. Just as with drugs, alcohol, firearms etc.
That being said, Spitzer has made a career out of going after criminal enterprises such as prostitution, which makes his transgression that much more serious.
I’m sure a great article, Justin, but must we “get on over” to Taki’s Magazine to read it? One gets fatigued dodging the Francoists over there. Sometimes paleo isn’t paleo, you know, its just a warmed over version of the Arrow Cross.
yeah, well I’ve had to dodge a few hammers and quite a few sickles in these here parts, so gather your courage, and go forward ….
:-)
Ethical behavior and “personal moral beliefs” are virtually non-existent in the world of big government and its associated poltical maneuverings. The morality play is used to keep the little folks in line and paying their taxes.
Most all of the players are compromised to one degree or another. Someone just decided that it was time to drop the “S” bomb on the Democrats as a wake-up call…
There is much more to this story than meets the eye. Do the names Chandra levy, Monica Lewinsky, and Golan Cipel ring a bell? There is one common denominator, and that is Israel. I suggest we all keep an eye on the ringleader and mastermind, Israeli, Mark Brener.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9903E5DD143FF930A2575BC0A9629C8B63
“Coercive hypocrisy”–has a ring, Raimondo–has a ring.
If one abstracts carefully what Spitzer and the rest were up to in relation to Smith and Wesson, including conspiring to use government lawsuits and the threat of suits and judgments, illegally to coerce, one may, upon careful consideration, uncover another aspect of “coercive hypocisy”.
More important than that, these very officials, some of them, were also conspiring to reward with government contracts, those private companies that played ball.
Where even to begin unraveling the mess?
Good question indeed.
corr: “hypocrisy” obviously.
Did warrantless wiretapping play a part in exposing this story? That would be the real crime.
The thought crossed mind, such as it is. Along with someone who went to the trouble of adding the potent adjective “International” to “Prostitution Ring” in one of the versions of the story.
Then, naturally, it wasa the “FBI”, wasn’t it, which once upon a time had a high proportion of Mormon agents.
Pardon, Latter Day Saints.
“wasa”–Freudian slip?
Client 9’s campaign literature in reference to its career as a prosecutor, and as quoted by the WSJ: “I had a simple rule. I never asked if a case was popular or unpopular. I never asked if it was big or small, hard or easy. I simply asked if it was right or wrong.”
Was the working girl packing perhaps?
Pardon–“wasa” and now forgetting to close Italics. What next?
Yes, this story is probably just a big distraction, to keep us from focusing on far more serious allegations against Spitzer, such as obstruction of justice.
http://911citizenswatch.org/?p=810
Another story has New York Republicans calling for Client 9’s immediate resignation and threatening impeachment.
Oh, my, Republicans can actually spell the word, I-M-P-E-A-C-H-M-E-N-T?
Apparently the prostitute part gets their constitutional hormones raging.
Even Paul, a gynecologist of all things, could not, as part of his principled stand on Clinton’s impeachment, fail to note the “soap opera” aspect.
Perhaps the reason that Congress isn’t so keen on impeaching Bush and Cheney is because they have been blackmailed into silence.
It’s highly likely that in the ongoing electronic surveillance frenzy orchestrated by the Bush administration, the phone calls, faxes and emails of Congress as well as the rest of us are being vacuumed up by the FBI and NSA. It doesn’t take much imagination to realize that most members of Congress, being corruptible political animals, have something to hide.
Yes and no.
At any rate surveillance goes far beyond telephone, fax, and e-mail nowadays.
In a few cases anxiety about something coming to light may be part of the problem.
In most cases, left and right, I doubt that it is a major concern at this point.
The more interesting question is whether the timing suggests an opening shot at Obama or Clinton.
In regard to the former, it won’t work.
In regard the latter, anyone’s guess. Rove and McCain’s handlers are salivating for Clinton as their opponent, so they have been very quiet about the latter but not about the former.
The Democrats won’t honor their oath of office (they have no honor) to defend the constitution through impeachment because they are only concerned with their election fortunes. They know that before they can impeach Bush, they’d have to impeach Cheney. That means that the Republicans would get to put a new man in the White House–someone whom the country could possibly like more than the Democratic nominee.
The Dims (sic) think they have the White House and larger Congressional majorities sewed up if they leave Bush in office to sink the GOP. However, the joke will be on them when Bush starts the next wars on Syria and Iran, there are terrorist attacks in this country, and that is used as the excuse to declare martial law, suspend the constitution and cancel the elections.
I received the following from democrat.com, where I signed an impeachment petition. Apparently they too are putting two and two together in relation to Spitzer and the Republicans’ eagerness to impeach:
Spitzer Resigns – It’s Time to Impeach Bush
Today Gov. Eliot Spitzer apologized again to the people of New York for his personal failings and resigned, just 16 months after winning an historic landslide election with 70% of the vote.
But Spitzer’s resignation was not entirely voluntary, because Republican leaders were busy drafting Articles of Impeachment.
What was Spitzer’s impeachable offense? The “lowest” crime in the book.
As we know, the Founding Fathers wanted Impeachment to be used for “High Crimes” like treason, bribery, war crimes, and subverting the Constitution itself.
Eliot Spitzer committed no “High Crimes” – but George Bush and Dick Cheney most certainly have, and they continue to do so with absolute impunity.
It’s time for Congress to impeach them for it.
http://www.democrats.com/peoplesemailnetwork/88?ad=d8
16 months ago, we posted a petition listing 10 High Crimes which justified their impeachment:
(1) Starting a “war of aggression” (2) torture (3) arbitrary detention (4) war crimes (5) warrantless wiretapping (6) signing statements (7) election fraud (8) outing a covert CIA operative (9) the “unitary executive” (10) gross negligence for Katrina and global warming.
Each one of these crimes is as unacceptable today as it was then. After 5 years in Iraq (see below), Bush has killed nearly 4,000 Americans and over 1 million Iraqis and incurred $3 trillion in costs. And there are many more crimes we could add, including Bush’s commutation of Scooter Libby’s sentence to stop him from testifying about the crimes of Bush and Cheney themselves, and Bush’s ongoing threats to bomb Iran. And each one makes Spitzer’s “crime” utterly insignificant by comparison.
Over 137,000 of you have signed this petition, and we thank you. (If you’ve forgotten, our form won’t let you sign twice.)
But many of you have not. And in the wake of the Republican effort to impeach Eliot Spitzer for his “low” crime, every American who is outraged by Bush’s “High Crimes” should sign it.
Please tell your Senators and Representative to Impeach Bush and Cheney Now:
http://www.democrats.com/peoplesemailnetwork/88?ad=d8
And thanks for all you do to make the world a better place.
When you see Alan Dershowitz defending Spitzer on CNN then the only conclusion is that Spitzer is an SOB who should be persecuted to end his career. That said, SOBs usually get away with it.
What happened to the good old days when one looked,lusted after but did not stake one’s reputation.
The only risk of convincing the wife to ‘dress up’ so as to bring the fantasy of the object of lust into one’s trembling hands was that one day the wife perchance, might run into said object of lust and if perceptive enough(as most women are when it comes to other women) get an inkling what ran or runs around in your’ perverted’ mind. But your reputation is left intact. Maybe you might have to sleep on the couch for several weeks but no harm is done.
If she still loves you then sooner or later your pleas,’declarations’ and of course GIFTS will offset the’ pain’ in her mind but no harm is done.
From some reports I’ve read, it appears that Spitzer wanted to pay such huge amounts of money for more than just a fantastic lay, he wanted to hurt the tiny young woman. Spitzer is such a good friend of Bill and Hillary.
They must get on famously.
I can’t help but to note that all “prostitution should be made legal” calls all come from male commentators… Sorry guys but no. The vast majority of prostitutes sell sex not by choice but because they have no choice. Anyway, about Spitzer. If you make a career out of chasing others for their immorality you should stay damned clear from doing the deed youself. Setup or not, it was an utterly stupid thing to do.
One is always amused by the asseveration that prostitution is illegal in the United States.
It happens to be legal in both Nevada and Rhode Island, no?
Which leads to the interesting question of how Americans make their maps, including maps of the United States.
One means, naturally, the maps in their heads, such as they are, and which maps their mouths reflexively foist off onto unsuspecting others.
“The vast majority of prostitutes sell sex not by choice but because they have no choice.”
On what authority do you have this factoid? Does being a female make you an expert, and my being a male mean that I have no credibility? That seems a bit sexist, no? There are many female supporters of legalization of sex work btw (look it up on the internet). I have made acquaintances of people working in sex work (not as client btw), and at least for those I met, no one had “no choice”. In some cases, they had very poor alternatives (i.e. mcjobs that would not of provided a living wage or any sort of economic empowerment), but that is a very different animal than “no choice” (which implies direct coercion). I don’t doubt there is a small percentage of sex workers that are coerced into their jobs. But certainly not of the 4000 dollar an hour elliot spitzer variety. If you are attractive and personable enough to charge 4000 dollars an hour for your time, you could probably get a different job. People choose sex work largely for the same reasons people choose jobs in general…best option of options available.
Keeping prostitution illegal simply marginalizes sex workers and is what largely contributes to making it so dangerous. And making it illegal certainly doesnt make it go away, because of the internet there are more sex workers operating now than at any time. It is flourishing. Its illegality is no more than a convenient fiction for society to feel better about itself. We should get real and get practical about it, like many other western societies.
That being said, I agree that Spitzer is a hypocrite. It seems pretty reasonable that prosecutors should avoid breaking the laws in private that they prosecute other people for in public.
Prostitution occurs everywhere whether it is legal or not. Legalizing it just recognizes the hopelessness of its eradication. You sound like one of those members of an old temperance society that wanted to ban all alcohol. We all know how well prohibition worked out don’t we? Prostitution is legal in the Netherlands. No disaster seems to have befallen the Dutch.
“ALBANY, N.Y. March 11, 2008 (AP) New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s connection to a prostitution ring could mean bad news for presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton, who needs every superdelegate vote she can get.
Spitzer, a Clinton supporter, is under pressure to resign. He remains a superdelegate only as long as he is governor, according to Democratic National Committee rules.
If he quits, he would not be replaced as a superdelegate. Lt. Gov. David Paterson would become governor and he already supports Clinton, meaning the New York senator would lose one superdelegate.
Sen. Barack Obama leads with 1,579 delegates to Clinton’s 1,473. A total of 2,025 is needed to win the nomination.”
“NEW YORK (AFP March 11, 2008) – If Eliot Spitzer succumbs to pressure to resign over a sex scandal, New York would get its first black governor, and the United States its first blind governor, in the shape of David Paterson.
Paterson, 53, currently serving as Spitzer’s deputy in the role of lieutenant governor of New York, was born in New York City and went on to study law before joining the prosecutor’s office in the borough of Queens.”
I don’t know the man, or anything about him. On the other hand, he is an elected politician so there is at least the possibility of an expansion in the phrase, “stealing you blind”.
Gee, didn’t the great Jack Johnson do a year in Leavenworth for sending his girlfriend a ticket to travel from Pittsburgh to Chicago?
Johnson invented and later patented a new wrench while serving time.
Do you suppose this will spoil Spitzer’s chances of being in the running for Vice President this year or sometime down the line, as he has been touted,, “the United States’ first Jewish President”?
“ALBANY, N.Y. AP March 11, 2008- Pressure mounted Tuesday on Gov. Eliot Spitzer to resign because of a prostitution scandal, with a top state Republican threatening to push for impeachment proceedings if the governor doesn’t step down in 48 hours.
My word, are these Republicans quick on the draw defending the rule of law–not only can they spell “impeachment” after all, but they know how to give a deadline of 48 hours.
Spitzer must have seriously abused the office of Governor or done something so egregiously unconstitutional that immediate removal from office is called for.
Anyone got any idea what it was?
Some years ago there were rumors that Bush was fraternizing with a male prostitute and faux journalist by the name of Jeff Gannon who would ask Bush softball questions at press conferences. Visitor logs reportedly indicated that Gannon had spent quite a few nights in the White House.
So forget about war crimes, unconstitutional actions and 900+ lies concerning the reasons for the Iraq war. This is our last chance to avert national catastrophe. If we want Bush impeached, we must link him to Gannon!
What gets me is his wife standing next to him while he “apologized.”
Do these women have any self-respect whatsoever? And I’m including the bimbo at the Mayflower.
Spitzer shold be out of here yesterday. An attorney general who breaks the law? Who needs him.
“Self-respect”? Is that anything like “self-ownership”?
Thank God that having sex with a prostitute is of far more greater importance than genocide against Muslims and other weaker people in the world.
Had his wife known that sex is the best gift Mother Nature has given to humans, he most likely wouldn’t have needed services of a pleasure provider.
New York Republicans are now plotting to impeach Spitzer. Their cohorts in Washington, D.C., have no problem with Republican David Vitter being a frequent customer of prostitutes or Republican Larry Craig soliciting sex in airport restrooms. However, any Democrat caught in a sex scandal must be removed from office!
And, of course, the criminals Bush and Cheney must be zealously protected as being above the law while the despicable Democrats take much-needed impeachment off the table. No wonder that Americans consider Republicans stronger on defense. The Democrats have no balls, but the only people Republican politicians will defend are in their own criminal fraternity.
Eugene Costa raised a good point above. Spitzer was nailed by the PATRIOT Act. Was Spitzer and those call girls terrorists? No. Now we see the real purpose served by the PATRIOT Act. It’s a tool of political power and selective prosecution of vice.
Transitional consequence from coup d’etat which resulted from 9/11.
Life in the Land of Scared and Frightened!
Life will get easier when majority get used to life in POLICE STATE!
Apparently what first drew attention to Spitzer was that he was repeatedly withdrawing large sums of cash from his bank account, though below the $10,000 mandatory reporting threshhold. Under the Orwellian named, Know Your Customer, law, Bank personnel are trained to look for such patterns and he was reported to the IRS who investigated his cash withdrawals further and then decided that this was a matter for the FBI.
His hubris is towering. Thinking that he is invincible, he was snared by the same police state mechanism that he viciously used as a federal prosecutor against others in order to advance his career.
It's always satisfying when the cruel and power hungry are brought down by their own oppressive tools. It brings to mind Robespierre. Unfortunately the rest of us must continue to struggle against their legacy.
The scary thing is not what Elliot did but how he was caught. Federal agencies probably now have enough material on every politician so they can pick and choose who to target next. This is how things are done in other parts of the world. Welcome to the third-world. The legislature has slept for the last 7 years, now there is a price to pay. Even if they wake up now they will not be able to undo the damage because many of them will be faced with all these personal follies (even if they are not criminal in nature.)
One wonders what is behind Alan Dershowitz’s defense of Spitzer.
Spitzer Has Sinned, But It’s Our Sex Obsession That’s Criminal .By Alan Dershowitz
http://www.forward.com/articles/12885/
Salem S:
Dershowitz desperately wants Hillary Clinton to beat Obama and the fall of Spitzer deprives her of an important Teflon ally.
What is the real issue here, prostitution? Infidelity? Hypocrisy? What if he had been a bachelor? What if he didn’t have a record as a “moral crusader”? Prostitution should not be criminalized anymore then smoking Marijuana should be.
For some of the religious “Libertarians” obviously, and also for others because of their childhood and the way they were raised I suspect, “Liberty” is one of the poles of what is just another doublebind, to wit–you must be accorded freedom to choose solely in order willingly to choose what they prescribe.
Interestingly enough, Hegel, for anyone willing to read all of him, or most of him, has a very similar pattern in his all too Christian “state”.
My understanding is more elementary.
If, for example, one says there shall be no abridgment of freedom of speech, it is hard for me to read that as “some” abridgment.
On the other hand, many of those raised with the idea of blasphemy still have yet to grasp the contradiction with parrhesia.
Is one really surprised that Israel is now moving to restrict Al Jazeera?
This is just the agreement of authoritarians and Fascists, Left and Right, on Speech Codes, if not on their specific content.
I look forward to the great Uri Avery, who rightly traces logic to Olympus, treating the new Likud declaration with some real depth and sensitivity.
At any rate, it seems curious for anyone arguing for the naivety of self-ownership, which by the way fits nicely into the old British Liberal’s idea of “Labor”, to exclude prostitution, which is a sale of one’s body for money in some definitions at least, from what one can legitimately to with whatever property it is that is “self-owned”.
corr: “legitimately do”
Ed Koch on Eliot Spitzer:
“I think he felt he was totally invulnerable and could do whatever he wanted and there would be no consequences,” says Ed Koch, a former New York City mayor who considers himself a friend of Spitzer’s.
[Cloud, Time March 13, 2008]
Hmmm. “No consequences”. Banking regulations aside, Spitzer also used an online “escort service” of the very same type which he as prosecutor had closed down in at least two instances.
Shortly after his resignation Profumo began to work as a volunteer cleaning toilets at Toynbee Hall, a charity based in the East End of London, and continued to work there for the rest of his life. He “had to be persuaded to lay down his mop and lend a hand running the place”, eventually becoming Toynbee Hall’s chief fundraiser, and used his political skills and contacts to raise large sums of money. All this work was done as a volunteer, since Profumo was able to live on his inherited wealth. His wife also devoted herself to charity until her death in 1998. In the eyes of most commentators Profumo’s charity work redeemed his reputation. The social reform campaigner Lord Longford said he “felt more admiration [for Profumo] than [for] all the men I’ve known in my lifetime”.
Profumo was awarded a CBE in 1975, which he received at a Buckingham Palace ceremony from Queen Elizabeth II, signalling his return to respectability. In 1995, former Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher invited him to her 70th birthday dinner, where he sat next to the Queen. He appeared only occasionally in public, particularly in his last years when he was confined to a wheelchair. His last appearance was at the memorial service for Sir Edward Heath on 8 November 2005.
In 2003 Profumo received the prestigious Beacon Fellowship Prize for his work at Toybee Hall in countering social deprivation and exclusion.
[wikipedia s.v. John Profumo]
I had not realized Profumo landed at Normandy on D-Day.
Of course his offense was lying to Commons.