Thread: NY: Spitzer Is Linked to Prostitution Ring

New York State Gov. Eliot Spitzer is joined by his wife Silda as he makes a ...
By AMY WESTFELDT, AP
26 minutes ago

NEW YORK — Gov. Eliot Spitzer, the crusading politician who built his career on rooting out corruption, apologized Monday after allegations surfaced that he paid thousands of dollars for a high-end call girl. He did not elaborate on the scandal, which drew calls for his resignation.

His stone-faced wife at his side, Spitzer told reporters at a hastily called news conference: "I have acted in a way that violates my obligations to my family."

"I have disappointed and failed to live up to the standard I expected of myself," he said. "I must now dedicate some time to regain the trust of my family."

The New York Democrat's involvement in the ring was caught on a federal wiretap as part of an investigation opened in recent months, according to a law enforcement official who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing inquiry.

Four people allegedly connected to the ring, identified in court papers as the Emperors Club VIP, were arrested last week. The ring arranged connections between wealthy men and more than 50 prostitutes in New York, Washington, Los Angeles, Miami, London and Paris, prosecutors said.

According to the law enforcement official, Spitzer is the person identified in legal papers as "Client 9," who paid for a four-hour tryst with a woman identified as "Kristen" at a Washington hotel on Feb. 13.

A defendant, Temeka Rachelle Lewis, confirmed that the client would be "paying for everything — train tickets, cab fare from the hotel and back, mini bar or room service, travel time, and hotel," the court papers said.

Client 9 paid $4,300 in cash to the service, with some being used for the encounter and the rest apparently to be used for credit.

The prostitute, described in the complaint as a "petite, pretty brunette, 5-feet-5 inches, and 105 pounds" met the client in Room 871 at about 10 p.m., according to the complaint.

In a conversation with the booking agent, Kristen said that she liked the client and that she did not think he was difficult, according to the papers.

The agent said she had been told the client "would ask you to do things that ... you might not think were safe ... very basic things," according to the papers, but that Kristen responded by saying, "I have a way of dealing with that ... I'd be, like, listen dude, you really want the sex?"

Spitzer has not been charged, and prosecutors did not comment on the case. The four defendants charged in the case last week were charged with violating the federal Mann Act, a 1910 law that outlaws traveling across state lines for prostitution.

The scandal was first reported on The New York Times' Web site.

Spitzer spoke about an hour and a half later. Stunned lawmakers gathered around televisions at the state Capitol in Albany to watch, and a media mob gathered outside the office of Democratic Lt. Gov. David Paterson, who would become governor if Spitzer were to resign. It took opponents only minutes to call for his resignation.

"Today's news that Eliot Spitzer was likely involved with a prostitution ring and his refusal to deny it leads to one inescapable conclusion: He has disgraced his office and the entire state of New York," said Assembly Republican leader James Tedisco. "He should resign his office immediately."

Spitzer, 48, built his political reputation on rooting out corruption, including several headline-making battles with Wall Street while serving as attorney general. He stormed into the governor's office in 2006 with a historic share of the vote, vowing to continue his no-nonsense approach to fixing one of the nation's worst governments.

Time magazine had named him "Crusader of the Year" when he was attorney general and the tabloids proclaimed him "Eliot Ness."

But his term as governor has been marred by problems, including an unpopular plan to grant driver's licenses to illegal immigrants and a plot by his aides to smear Spitzer's main Republican nemesis.

Spitzer had been expected to testify to the state Public Integrity Commission he had created to answer for his role in the scandal, in which his aides were accused of misusing state police to compile travel records to embarrass Senate Republican leader Joseph Bruno.

Bruno wouldn't comment when asked what Spitzer should do.

"I feel very badly for the governor's wife, for his children," Bruno said. "The important thing for the people of New York state is that people in office do the right thing."

Spitzer had served two terms as attorney general where he pursued criminal and civil cases and cracked down on misconduct and conflicts of interests on Wall Street and in corporate America. He had previously been a prosecutor in the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, handling organized crime and white-collar crime cases.

His cases as state attorney general included a few criminal prosecutions of prostitution rings and into tourism involving prostitutes.

In 2004, he was part of an investigation of an escort service in New York City that resulted in the arrest of 18 people on charges of promoting prostitution and related charges.

http://www6.comcast.net/news/articles/g ... stitution/

ANOTHER SLEAZY POLITICIAN. THIS GUY IS TOAST.

Link to MSN Vids 2 total

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp ... 9#23562459

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23561606?GT1=43001

I just cant believe the number of sleazy politicians out there. And both partys are guilty as hell.

I hear rumors about Obama having sex and doing drugs with men. Bill Clinton had sex in the OVAL OFFICE AT THE WH, RIGHT UNDER HILLARY'S NOSE. Senator Craig solicits men in the bathrooms. Now Gov Spitzer is involved in a prostitution ring.

WHO IS NEXT? WHERE DID ALL THE DECENT PEOPLE GO?

What a pathetic representation of what is supposed to be America's finest.

Good questions posted on www.hughhewitt.com :

Questions re: Spitzer

1. How many people get caught in a vice sting on their 1st offense?
2. Who covers his tab at $5,500 per session?
3. How many prostitution rings are not connected to organized crime?
4. How long has he been a user?
5. How many O.C. figures do not know who Spitzer is?

It's not about sex, it's about the a.g./governor of NY being compromised...
how many of his selected prosecutions have been dictated by his own agenda, or by others? What would getting advance word of his targets be worth, or for that matter did he take direction under duress?

Originally Posted by butterbean

I just cant believe the number of sleazy politicians out there. And both partys are guilty as hell.

I hear rumors about Obama having sex and doing drugs with men. Bill Clinton had sex in the OVAL OFFICE AT THE WH, RIGHT UNDER HILLARY'S NOSE. Senator Craig solicits men in the bathrooms. Now Gov Spitzer is involved in a prostitution ring.

WHO IS NEXT? WHERE DID ALL THE DECENT PEOPLE GO?

What a pathetic representation of what is supposed to be America's finest.

Chin up BB. I think Jeff Sessions is above board. I think Tom Tancredo and Duncan Hunter are above board.

Spitzer Is Linked to Prostitution Ring



http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/10/nyreg ... ref=slogin

Rising Democrat star linked to worldwide prostitution ring



http://livenews.com.au/Articles/2008/03 ... ution_ring

Spitzer Scandal Opens an Ouch Moment for Clinton

Spitzer, who earned a national reputation as a crime buster, was busy apologizing Monday after having been linked--via a federal investigation--to a prostitution ring. The governor reportedly reportedly paid $4,300 to spend the night before Valentine's Day with a young lady at Washington's swank Mayflower Hotel.

The first question is an ugly one: Will Spitzer, one of Clinton's highest profile backers and the man who was going to lead the New York delegation at this summer's Democratic National Convention, quit politics?



http://news.yahoo.com/s/thenation/20080 ... n/45296891

He he what I want to know is who would "do" this guy even for a few thousand bucks? Ew....

What Now for Silda Wall Spitzer After Prostitution Scandal?


What Now for Silda Wall Spitzer (Pictured Left) After Prostitution Scandal?

By Lynda Johnson
Mar 10, 2008


Silda Wall Spitzer is yet another political wife under the stress of the job of standing by her scandal plagued man after being exposed by the media. This one is a doozy, New York Governor Eliot Spitzer is all over the news and accounts claim that he is 'Client Number Nine' and was involved with a high priced call girl.


She is the just last in the line of many. Don't worry, there will be more. Some of the former women include Hillary Clinton. She survived and is running for the president after blaming a "vast right-wing conspiracy" for forcing her husband to stain the dress of one Monica Lewinsky. Hillary had her eyes on the prize and let Bill Clinton slide (as she apparently has his whole life while he has had affairs) and she has a shot at the Democratic nomination for president.


***


Dina McGreevey stood by then New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey as he announced he was a "Gay American." Jimmy said that with pride as he tossed his wife under the bus. Idaho Senator Larry Craig confessed the opposite after his bathroom incident in Minnesota saying, "I am not gay, I have never been gay, and I will never be gay," or something to that effect with his wife Suzanne at his side.

So will Silda Wall Spitzer hang in there? The couple does have three daughters. Page Six.Com notes that she is an accomplished woman in her won right. She is a former corporate lawyer, but the First Lady of New York decided to leave the job she loved and concentrate on raising their children and working in philanthropy while her husband pursued a political career.


***


And she was rewarded with this mess that has emerged today. “It’s not necessarily the way I thought I would be spending my time,â€