Some of his comments during the prosecution of two different rings were fairly over the top. He was an arrogant prosecutor and he broke the law (repeatedly). He left himself open to potential blackmail (thus compromising his position) and he should resign. Put another way, he wouldn’t have let any of his Wall Street targets get away with this.
What a hypocrite.
By the way, I’m for legalizing prostitution.
[QUOTE=Lochdale]
Some of his comments during the prosecution of two different rings were fairly over the top. He was an arrogant prosecutor and he broke the law (repeatedly).[.quote]
Do you mean he broke the law repeatedly as a prosecutor? Cite?
So what if he was arrogant? I want to know if he put anybody in jail who wasn’t guilty. If he did nothing unethical or illegal as a prosecutor then why is he called a “witch hunter?”
Well he leaked confidential information to the media during the AIG and Marsh investigations (source: today’s Wall Street Journal). His entire campaing for Governor was based on his supposed high-moral standards. As I noted earlier, this is no different than someone running on a religious “family values” platform. He passed variois bills regarding prostitution and sex tourism.
Most importantly though he compromised his position as Governor and left himself open to manipulation. From a man who campainged as a moral warrior this is the ultimate failing. Even if you want to disregard the actual crime, his utter contempt for laws he himself signed coupled with his lack of judgment mean that he should resign instantly.
Ask the people in the financial and insurance industries what they call it. Regardless of whether every prior proscecution was 100% on point he’s still toasted himself. He provided the means for a person to cross state lines for purposes of prositution - Mann Act and the Structuring charges which looks to me like an attempt to avoid currency transaction reports is most definitely hypocritical for someone with his past record in proscecuting fraud in the financial sector.
Some details on one of the NYS AG’s prosecutions against prostitution (bolding mine):
I don’t know that Gov Spitzer signed any bills regarding prostitution and sex tourism.
Two thoughts on this:
He shook up wall street by prosecuting them. He is rich and they see him as a turncoat . He did a lot of good for the public.It came at the expense of the rich and powerful. They will not forgive or forget.
A blind man could do a better job than this guy.
good one. 
pinky promise not to tell?
Some cases yes and in some no. There was a sense that a lot of his prosecutions were more about headlines than about actually helping a situation.
Fact is, he is terminally compromised and should do the decent thing and resign. If anything, this delay just highlights what many critics consider his deepest flaw, his arrogance.
Stephen Colbert says he now has dibs on the phrase, “Eliot Mess.”
I keep hearing people say that this is a personal issue, so he shouldn’t resign. Some are saying he should resign because he’s a hypocrite. Okay on the second one. But what about the most important fact. HE BROKE THE LAW! He’s a former Attorney General!
Why isn’t breaking the law cause for a lawmaker to lose his job?
The Albany press is just sitting there waiting for something to happen. They are eating this up because it means one or two less house fires, traffic accidents or child molesters to report. This is the most excitement we’ve had in Albany since…since…well, I’ve only been here 10 years so that’s all I’ve got.
So if he resigns, does this mean we get Joe “I named a stadium after myself” Bruno as Lieutenant Governor?
According to Jim Tedisco, the legislators were reading the Constitution to figure out what to do. :rolleyes:
Yes. He’d either be Lt. Gov. or Acting Lt. Gov. until 2010.
A governor is not a lawmaker.
I’ve got an acquaintance who charged in the thousands while working as an escort. She started off lower, got a great reputation from clients, plus she’s hot and young… voila, she made almost a mill a year. Of course, she spent most of it on drugs. She may not have been on the streets getting slapped by a pimp, but she was being pimped nonetheless and she was far from a ‘happy hooker.’
So you’re hanging his not resigning on the thinest of thecnicalities? He is utterly compromised. He not only broke the law but he put himself in a position whereby he could have been severely compromised. It’s simply not good enough and he should resign or he will be impeached.
I’m not hanging anything on that. I was just correcting an error for the record.
The fact is that lots of elected officials break laws and keep their jobs. It’s not like all lawbreaking s equal. Buying a hooker is a trivial offense. It’s a victimless crime an no one with any sense should give a shit.
I’m with Lochdale. A lot of people “with any sense… give a shit.” Spitzer should resign ASAP.
It was semantical and petty. It was no more a correction than his alleged victimless crime.
So what, a lot of people do things and get away with it. Does that make it ok? It’s not a trivial offense because he compromised his position both morally and actually via the threat of blackmail. It’s not as simple as just “getting a hooker” and you know it.