NY Governor Involved In Prostituion Ring?

[FSTargetDrone]

Breaking news...

UPDATE 2-NY Gov. Spitzer tied to prostitution ring - NYT
Mon Mar 10, 2008 2:51pm EDT

(Adds background)

NEW YORK, March 10 (Reuters) - New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer has told his most senior administration officials that he had been involved in a prostitution ring, the New York Times reported on its Web site on Monday, citing an administration official.

A person with knowledge of the governor's role told the Times the governor was believed to be a client of a prostitution ring.

Spitzer had been due to make an announcement at 2:15 p.m. EDT (1815 GMT), but half an hour later had yet to address a room crowded with journalists awaiting his statement.

As state attorney general before being elected governor in November 2006, Spitzer was sometimes called the Sheriff of Wall Street for his prominent role in investigating financial cases.

A Democrat, he entered the governor's office promising ethical reform but soon entered into a conflict with Republican leaders in the state Senate, slowing his agenda.

He has been married to Silda Wall Spitzer since 1987 and they have three daughters.

Spitzer prosecuted at least two prostitution rings when he ran the state's organized crime task force, the New York Times said in its article.

The paper said Spitzer "spoke with revulsion and anger" after announcing the arrest of 16 people for running what the paper termed a high-end prostitution ring in Staten Island.

The Times quoted Spitzer as saying: "This was a sophisticated and lucrative operation with a multitiered management structure," Spitzer said at the time. "It was, however, nothing more than a prostitution ring." (Reporting by Daniel Trotta and Joan Gralla; Editing by Eric Walsh)

Ouch.

[FSTargetDrone]

Spitzer is apologizing right now.

Anyway, another story (may require registration), from The New York Times:

March 10, 2008
Spitzer Is Linked to Prostitution Ring
By DANNY HAKIM and WILLIAM K. RASHBAUM

ALBANY - Gov. Eliot Spitzer has informed his most senior administration officials that he had been involved in a prostitution ring, an administration official said this morning.

Mr. Spitzer, who was huddled with his top aides inside his Fifth Avenue apartment early this afternoon, had hours earlier abruptly canceled his scheduled public events for the day. He had scheduled an announcement for 2:15 this afternoon after inquiries from the Times. But his appearance was delayed by at least 45 minutes.

Mr. Spitzer, a first-term Democrat who pledged to bring ethics reform and end the often seamy ways of Albany, is married with three children.

Just last week, federal prosecutors arrested four people in connection with an expensive prostitution operation. Administration officials would not say that this was the ring with which the governor had become involved.

But a person with knowledge of the governor’s role said that the person believes the governor is one of the men identified as clients in court papers.

The governor’s travel records show that he was in Washington in mid-February. One of the clients described in court papers arranged to meet with a prostitute who was part of the ring, the Emperors Club VIP on the night of Feb. 13.

Mr. Spitzer appeared on a CNBC television show at 7 a.m. the next morning. Later in the morning, he testified before a Congressional committee.

An affidavit filed in federal court in Manhattan in connection with that case lists six conversations between the man, identified as Client 9, and a booking agent for the Emperors Club.

He had a difficult first year in office, rocked by a mix of scandal and legislative setbacks. In recent weeks, however, Mr. Spitzer seemed to have rebounded, with his Democratic party poised to perhaps gain control of the state Senate for the first time in four decades.

Mr. Spitzer gained national attention when he served as attorney general with his relentless pursuit of Wall Street wrongdoing. As attorney general, he also had prosecuted at least two prostitution rings as head of the state’s organized crime task force.

In one such case in 2004, Mr. Spitzer spoke with revulsion and anger after announcing the arrest of 16 people for operating a high-end prostitution ring out of Staten Island.

“”This was a sophisticated and lucrative operation with a multitiered management structure,” Mr. Spitzer said at the time. ”It was, however, nothing more than a prostitution ring.”

Albany for months has been roiled by bitter fighting and accusations of dirty tricks. The Albany County district attorney is set to issue in the coming days the results of his investigation into Mr. Spitzer’s first scandal, his aides’ involvement in an effort to tarnish Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno, the state’s top Republican.

[Glocksman]

Hey, at least it was with consenting adult women.
Though it does make him look like a sanctimonious hypocrite for being a customer of a prostitution ring if he busted other rings while AG.

[chitoryu12]

Finally, a politician sex scandal that doesn't involve gay sex with a Republican. And of course, we're all entertained by his attempt to act like he's totally disgusted by prostitution rings, let alone becoming a client of one.

[Flagg]

I wonder how many convictions are suddenly going to be coming up for review due to this. If he's really been one to go after prostitution rings it brings up the obvious question of whether or not he's looked the other way when the ones he's used come under investigation and if he's made a point to go after their competition.

And of course we can expect the usual chorus of Republican douchebags demanding his resignation...

Oh the bright side, he's a Hillary supporter isn't he?

[Elfdart]

Hiring a hooker is a misdemeanor like speeding. The fact that he might be guilty of a petty crime doesn't mean that Johns who were convicted earlier are entitled to anything unless they have evidence that they were targeted for other reasons.

[Flagg]

Hiring a hooker is a misdemeanor like speeding. The fact that he might be guilty of a petty crime doesn't mean that Johns who were convicted earlier are entitled to anything unless they have evidence that they were targeted for other reasons.

I was actually talking about the leaders of those organizations, rather than the individual Johns or prostitutes.

[Ubiquitous]

And of course we can expect the usual chorus of Republican douchebags demanding his resignation...

So a guy who has been clamping down on prostitution and was elected in an ethical mandate should not resign when he is caught trying to fuck high class hookers?

[Flagg]

And of course we can expect the usual chorus of Republican douchebags demanding his resignation...

So a guy who has been clamping down on prostitution and was elected in an ethical mandate should not resign when he is caught trying to fuck high class hookers?

Not the point I was making. Republicans who are elected as the holier than thou candidates like David Vitter remain in office with the support of the Republican constituency. Yet I can guarantee there will be a chorus of douchebag Republicans demanding Spitzer's resignation.

Whether or not he should, I don't know. I'd be inclined to say he should, but if he still has the support of the majority of New Yorkers (not that he does, I don't know either way) then why not stay?

[NeoGoomba]

NY Senator Joe Bruno is probably writhing in orgasmic pleasure at this right now. He and Spitzer HATE each other.

God I hate New York politics

[The Duchess of Zeon]

NY Senator Joe Bruno is probably writhing in orgasmic pleasure at this right now. He and Spitzer HATE each other.

God I hate New York politics

He's a Republican, so the proximate cause of that orgasmic pleasure is actually probably the crossdresser giving him a blowjob that he hired to celebrate Spitzer's downfall.

[NeoGoomba]

He's a Republican, so the proximate cause of that orgasmic pleasure is actually probably the crossdresser giving him a blowjob that he hired to celebrate Spitzer's downfall.

Theres nothing I find improbable in that statement, and hence, it gets my full endorsement.

[Guardsman Bass]

Hiring a hooker is a misdemeanor like speeding. The fact that he might be guilty of a petty crime doesn't mean that Johns who were convicted earlier are entitled to anything unless they have evidence that they were targeted for other reasons.

I thought Spitzer was in extra trouble, since the prostitute was transported across state lines (from New York to Washington D.C.).

[Guardsman Bass]

Addition: I'm watching "Countdown", and the guy he's got on is saying that he could be in far more trouble from transporting the prostitute over state lines, which is a federal crime with a severe penalty.

[Darth Wong]

Anyone who is so sanctimonious about high-end call girls is obviously full of shit. If they were children or something I could totally understand the anger, but my impression of high-end call girls is that they are well paid adults. Even if you you wouldn't ever use their services yourself, it's hard to imagine actually being full of rage and revulsion at the existence of such a service.

[FSTargetDrone]

Anyone who is so sanctimonious about high-end call girls is obviously full of shit. If they were children or something I could totally understand the anger, but my impression of high-end call girls is that they are well paid adults. Even if you you wouldn't ever use their services yourself, it's hard to imagine actually being full of rage and revulsion at the existence of such a service.

Apparently, since there was interstate "transactions" of the prostitution services, this incident may be in violation of the Mann Act which was written to criminalize "white slavery" in the US.

The Mann Act (18 U.S.C.A. § 2421 et seq.), also known as the White Slave Traffic Act, is a federal criminal statute that deals with prostitution and CHILD PORNOGRAPHY. Enacted in 1910 and named for its sponsor, Representative JAMES R. MANN, of Illinois, it also was used to prosecute men who took women across state lines for consensual sex.

Representative Mann introduced the act in December 1909 at the request of Chicago prosecutors who claimed that girls and women were being forced into prostitution by unscrupulous pimps and procurers. The term white slavery became popular to describe the predicament these females faced. It was alleged that men were tricking, coercing, and drugging females to get them involved in prostitution and then forcing them to stay in brothels.

The legislation was intended to stop the interstate trafficking of women. Though federal criminal statutes were rare in 1910, and seen as an attack on state POLICE POWERS, the legislation encountered little opposition. The act made it a felony to transport knowingly any woman or girl in interstate commerce or foreign commerce for prostitution, debauchery, or any other immoral purpose. It also made it a felony to coerce a woman or a girl into such immoral acts. President WILLIAM H. TAFT signed the bill in June 1910.

The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the Mann Act in Hoke v. United States, 227 U.S. 308, 33 S. Ct. 281, 57 L. Ed. 523 (1913). The Court broadened the scope of the act in Caminetti v. United States, 242 U.S. 470, 37 S. Ct. 192, 61 L. Ed. 442 (1917), when it ruled that the act applied to noncommercial acts of immorality. In Caminetti the Court seized on the phrase "any other immoral purpose," concluding that Congress intended to prevent the use of interstate commerce to promote sexual immorality. This interpretation radically changed the scope of the act.

The Mann Act was used by the FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION to curtail commercialized vice. It was also often used to prosecute prominent persons who did not conform to conventional morality. Jack Johnson, a heavyweight boxing champion, was charged with and convicted of a Mann Act violation in 1912, for taking his mistress across state lines. Over the years, similar charges were leveled against the architect Frank Lloyd Wright, the actor Charlie Chaplin, and the rock and roll singer Chuck Berry. Of these three, only Berry was convicted of a Mann Act violation.

Congress amended the act in 1978 to attack the problem of child PORNOGRAPHY. The amendments made the act's provisions regarding this issue gender neutral, so that both boys and girls who were sexually exploited were now protected (Pub. L. No. 95-225, 92 Stat. 8–9). In 1986 the law was further amended. The new amendments made the entire act gender neutral as to victims of sexual exploitation. More important, all references to debauchery and any other immoral purpose were replaced by the phrase "any sexual activity for which any person can be charged with a criminal offense" (Pub. L. No. 99-628, 100 Stat. 3511–3512.) This change took the federal government out of the business of defining immoral. Because most states have repealed criminal laws against fornication and ADULTERY, noncommercial, consensual sexual activity no longer is subject to prosecution.

There is talk that there may have been money laundering within this prostitution ring, but if Spitzer was merely a client, I don't see how he is affected by that.

It's all very nonsensical.

[SirNitram]

You know, everything I hear is that ring is rather small and inconsequental.

Isn't it interesting that the Feds had arranged a wiretap? That Spitzer's name is leaked immediately?

He's a hypocrit, of course, but I expect that from policitians. I don't expect them to be shining white.

[The Yosemite Bear]

Anyone who is so sanctimonious about high-end call girls is obviously full of shit. If they were children or something I could totally understand the anger, but my impression of high-end call girls is that they are well paid adults. Even if you you wouldn't ever use their services yourself, it's hard to imagine actually being full of rage and revulsion at the existence of such a service.

To be a puritan is to live in constant fear that someone, somewhere might be enjoying life- Ben Franklin, the jerk who invented Daylight Savings Time.

[HemlockGrey]

Isn't it interesting that the Feds had arranged a wiretap? That Spitzer's name is leaked immediately?

Are you insinuating this is a sinister Republican plot to discredit Spitzer?

In any case, the guy's always been a Grade A asshole and even if I'm not sold on the importance of the case its nice to see him sweat a bit.

[Elfdart]

Since the Republitards are so hell bent on giving amnesty to those who carry out illegal wiretaps, it's a good guess. I'm not the only one who smells a rat:

Link

ABC News

It Wasn't the Sex; Suspicious $$ Transfers Led to Spitzer
Officials Say Spitzer Is 'Client 9' in a Federal Complaint Against the Prostitution Ring
By BRIAN ROSS
March 10, 2008—

The federal investigation of a New York prostitution ring was triggered by Gov. Eliot Spitzer's suspicious money transfers, initially leading agents to believe Spitzer was hiding bribes, according to federal officials.

There's more, but at this point my bullshit detector went off. If Spitzer was getting payoffs, why the fuck would the money go into his bank account? All one would have to do is look at his deposits and see something fishy was going on. He was paying money out of his account, which would hide nothing since whoever got the wire or cashed the check would create a trail back to where the money came from. All that they've shown so far is that Spitzer used his own money to hire hookers -a misdemeanor. The fact that he paid a company that wasn't named Whores 'R' Us isn't proof of a criminal conspiracy, any more than credit card bills for strip clubs or hotel porn don't list the items as "Beer and Lap Dances" or "Pay-Per-View: Lesbian Spank Inferno". Or that's what I've been told.

All the other "charges" are so much hot air.

[HemlockGrey]

I wouldn't put it past the Administration (particularly given that 5.6-1 statistic) but at this point it doesn't seem like there's any particularly solid evidence.

[MKSheppard]

Best joke I've heard:

(in reference to the $4,300 to $5,000 an hour spitzer reportedly paid the whore):

"Why can't Dems be like fiscally conservative Republicans and simply blow people in restrooms for $5?"

[FSTargetDrone]

So Spitzer is evidently going to resign. One Republican assemblyman just said on MSNBC that if Spitzer doesn't resign after 24-48 hours, articles of impeachment will be prepared.

N.Y. leaders seek to govern amid Spitzer scandal

By Joseph Spector, Gannett News Service

ALBANY — State lawmakers tried to get back to work today as leaders at the state Capitol waited for the likely announcement that New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer will resign amid a scandal linking him to a prostitution ring.

With a state budget to approve by April 1 and a $4.6 billion deficit looming, the state Capitol was brought to a standstill Monday after Spitzer was linked to sex scandal involving his hire of a high-priced prostitute at a Washington D.C. hotel last month.

LATEST: Official says cash questions triggered Spitzer probe

Legislators said they will try to push forward Tuesday, but were more importantly waiting to find out Spitzer's next move.

"Who's the governor?" asked Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, D-Greenburgh, Westchester County.

Spitzer was holed up in his Fifth Avenue apartment late last night and this morning, aides said. He has hired a high-powered New York City law firm to represent him as he weighs his legal options and political future.

But lawmakers were increasingly convinced that Spitzer's resignation would come sooner rather than later. Lt. Gov. David Paterson would be the state's next governor, Becoming the first African-American governor in the state's history.

Paterson aides said today they were still awaiting word on Spitzer's next move. Paterson called legislative leaders on Monday night seeking their support for an eventual takeover.

Still, legislators said budget negotiations would stall until the executive branch determines its new leader.

"The place is paralyzed unless he resigns," said state Sen. George Winner, R-Elmira.

Spitzer is apparently trying to determine his legal options as part of a potential plea deal if he resigns. He has not yet been charged with any wrongdoing.

POLITICAL IMPACT:Prostitution ties could cost Spitzer his future

That was the course took by former state Comptroller Alan Hevesi, who resigned in December of 2006 and accepted a plea deal after he was found to have used state aides to chauffeur his ailing wife.

Spitzer's ties to the prostitution scandal reportedly came out of a federal public-corruption investigation that was launched after investigators found Spitzer had moved large amounts of cash from several bank accounts to one that was operated by the company, QAT, which is linked to a prostitution ring called Emperors Club VIP.

The wiretap, according to federal complaint, identified a man known as Client 9 on a telephone call Feb. 13 discussing plans to have a prostitute travel from New York to Washington, where he had reserved a hotel room for the night. Several media outlets, citing unnamed sources, identified Spitzer as Client 9.

The complaint says that Client 9 would "be paying for everything — train tickets, cab fare from the hotel and back, mini bar or room service, travel time, and hotel."

The affidavit suggests that the Client 9 was a repeat customer. In one instance, Client 9 allegedly said about payment that "Yup, same as in the past, no question about it."

The court documents state that Client 9 paid $4,300 after about a two-hour stay at room 871 of the unnamed Washington D.C. hotel, ending at about midnight.

The U.S. Attorney's office had no comment.

The Democratic governor, who was labeled the "Sheriff of Wall Street" for his investigations into corruption as state attorney general, gave a brief statement Monday afternoon and apologized, but did not specifically mention the tryst.

"I have acted in a way that violates my obligations to my family; that violates my or any sense of right and wrong," he said. "I apologize first and most importantly to my family. I apologize to the public whom I promised better."

[Darth Wong]

Why does everyone keep saying "Spitzer involved in prostitution ring" when he was merely hiring a hooker? If some junkie buys a hit off a dealer at a street corner, do people say "junkie found to be involved in drug smuggling operation"?

The entire media has chosen to use a particular phrasing which implies that Spitzer was actually involved in the operation of this prostitution ring.

[Aenigma]

Why does everyone keep saying "Spitzer involved in prostitution ring" when he was merely hiring a hooker? If some junkie buys a hit off a dealer at a street corner, do people say "junkie found to be involved in drug smuggling operation"?

The entire media has chosen to use a particular phrasing which implies that Spitzer was actually involved in the operation of this prostitution ring.

Marketing. The currency of media is attention, routine sex, even if its paid for isn't very exciting. A large scale sex scandle, on the other hand, is going to draw peoples attention; the fact that what they're implying, with their choice of words, isn't entirely true is inconsequential in their minds. Those "newspapers" need to be sold afterall.