Login HereGov. Eliot Spitzer has informed his most senior administration officials that he had been involved in a prostitution ring, an administration official said this morning....
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.
This one developing in a big way, and we'll get you more details as we hear them. It's a Monday...
(H/T to Atrios.)
UPDATE: NYTimes just updated their piece:
>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.
More as I find it...but that certainly sounds like it's coming from an FBI agent or someone in the USAtty's office, one of the other defense counsels or someone from the courthouse familiar with the filings.
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Resignation?
LMAO at the Lady Marmelade reference
Pimp, john or both?
talk about surprise headline
So much for that rising star.
This eu’d from last thread
This from the NYSun article linked at 55
Geez, wadaya gotta do for $5500 per hour? My imagination is not wild enough.
Does this mean Fox News will put an ‘R’ next to his name?
707
I’m thinking you supposedly got discretion and a clean HIV test record, for starters. So much for that discretion part…
link
$5,000 per hour???? I hope he didn’t put it on the state credit card.
Of course! They’re fair and balanced.
#3 beat me to it. The way it is written he seems like an owner.
I’m pretty curious about that too.
Bloomberg….
http://digg.com/politics/BREAK....._Up_In_NYh
WOW he been getting some :>)
Oh, this should serve to keep all the FISA, Iraq, Attygate & contempt proceedings off the front page. Excellent timing, one more cynical than I might think he was falling on his sword for the Bushies.
Boxturtle (Fortunately for the Bushies, there are few more cynical than I)
$5500? Must have a cape with an ‘S’ on it (whatever that ‘it’ is)
Perhaps some of the $5500 is an under the table political contribution.
At least P. David Soares, the Albany County District Attorney, is a Democrat.
Kinda cool last name for a legal eagle.
This ring originates out of Staten Island apparently…Staten Island? Servicing the Greater NY area…/s
Given that he’s a Democrat, I’d seriously doubt he’s doing the Bushies any favors…
Like the 5 troops killed in Baghdad today and the KBR water supplies making the troops sick and the Phase II report being released…and, and…
BTW, CNBC has really juicy speculation on this.
Whatever the case, I dodged a bullet on this one. I’ve been skeptical of Spitzer. Initial reason is because his NYS prosecutions that made him so popular were done on the basis of bullying. Then he took office, and tried to bully his way even more so, which is when I took a real dislike to him. Sad that it looks like he may have feet of clay, but good to know my nose for bad guys is accurate.
As a NYS resident formerly on Board of SUNY-New Paltz Foundation, and now on Board of Historic Huguenot Street, I am doubly sad. Spitzer supports both increasing funding for state universities and historic preservation. Sigh.
Thinking with the wrong head will get you trouble everytime
Guess this means no AG role for him…
T-
first reports on msnbc led me to initially believe that Spitzer somehow was running the ring…
I’m guessing that’s not quite right…
:
my initial thought as well - my gawd, you have made some extremely powerful enemies and you can’t keep it in your pants ?!?!?
btw, I really liked the guy
The way the story’s being reported, it sound more like he’s involved in running the prostitution ring, and less like he’s a customer.
ABOUT TIME! A sex scandal involving a democrat!! It’s been years…
I guess he’s pro-bush…
You’d think not, but everytime somebody says the Dems wouldn’t do the Bushies a favor, I think of Nancy pulling impeachment off the table after a ride in Air Force 1. That’s a pretty big favor. And then I think of the Dems working behind the scenes for telecom immunity.
Boxturtle (And then I think I’m not cynical enough)
My heart goes out for his family, this is not going to be easy. talk about media frenzy.
Fox is working on how to tag the Senator from NY with some of this.
No mention of diapers or cross dressing, yet.
I’m guessing that everybody at the top knew about this prostitution/political contribution business and that Spitzer has made so many serious enemies busting up Wall Street scams, and they are pinning this on him in revenge.
You had to go to the Dems to find a sex scandal involving consenting heterosexual adults…
It’s a bit of bizarre reporting, isn’t it? I know details are going to dribble out throughout the day, but it’s phrased very oddly…
or animals
He’s pro-bully, which is the closet relationship between W & Sptizer that I know about.
Yeah, the story appears to be breaking so fast that they were just searching for a polite way to say he was a “john.”
We don’t know that yet…
or 2 wetsuits…
Bully….$5,000…ummm…S&M???
Spitzer longed to be prez, and had the hubris to go with it, according to MSNBC. Bwahahaha.
From the NYT article:
Just another hypocritical politician (although it sounds to me like something a Rethug would say).
Is this connected to his idea to give illegal aliens driver licenses?
*spew* I had forgotten about that…. oh, dear
Wonder what his next job is going to be?
I have re-read the article threee times and it is worded so strange (as laready mentioned) that it is difficult to make out what his role actually is/was
They have to figure out HOW to report this in such a way that the innuendo and double entendres don’t cause everyone in the newsroom to start snickering. And that’s probably not going to be easy with this one.
They are The Very Serious Media, after all.
LOL! I had forgotten about the multi-wetsuits. :)
This is one of a few issues I think I’ll stay away from.
he could switch parties and run for any repug oddice
Let’s see how fast Hillary can try to distance herself from this guy now.
oddice = office oy
Ooopsie. That’s really unfortunate. Sounds about like our Kansas AG who beat out the insufferable Phill Kline for AG in 2006, and then managed to snare himself in a sex scandal with a woman in his office when he was prosecuting attorney for Johnson Co., KS. He was forced to resign less than a year into the AG slot. I was very disappointed in him. He was a terrific prosecutor, but wow. You have to wonder about the judgement of people in public office who have these kinds of skeletons in their closets and think it won’t come out.
Oh I just thought you had a cold.
I wonder how close his relationship with HRC was. I know she made what was considered her first debate error defending his ideas about drivers licenses of illegal immegrants.
I thought oddice made sense!!! lol
Emperor’s club is worldwide…technology
If true, two silver linings:
1. Better to find out sooner rather than later for Ds. Wouldn’t want this to happen if he had a national office.
2. Now I won’t have to read his biography.
this should make it painfully clear to y’all that you don’t get to the top without a visit to hell. the more dirt, the more better. it just makes you easier to control and blackmail. can you begin to imagine what the hell else is going on behind the scenes. i’m laughing so hard i’m crying just like when chavez talked about el diablo. god help us and i’m not even a believer.
hehehe no, just a typing issues
Gawd, I hope “someone else” wasn’t a client…
Can someone formulate reasons why sex between consenting adults for gratuity should be illegal?
The world’s oldest profession strikes again.
Ya gotta love the name: Emperors’ Club. No hubris there, nope, none, not at all.
Yeah, maybe she can just try to say she hardly knew him like ol obamalamadingdong did about Tony “I HARDILY KNEW HIM” Rezko at the debates huh?
Caligula.
Updated above…
That’s a separate issue from state’s top lawyer who prosecuted prostitution, who it now turns out may be a john.
you know he was
Without knowing any of the details, or even if the incomplete reports are accurate, I’m starting to get some of the same feeling as when I first heard about Monica Lewinski. How could a person that smart do something so utterly stupid?
The conclusion I’m left with is that it must be pretty widespread, as it were.
DC connection…
I can’t think of one at all, kiddo
I think it becomes a problem when it is a hypocrisy issue
Sure. It isn’t taxed and it would be extremely difficult to trace the money to get the taxes. Anything the government can’t get a cut of is by defination illegal.
Boxturtle (Notice how I avoided the moral argument and distilled it down to money?)
Apparently Spitzer has an ego as big as all outdoors. That’s one way that people end up doing such stoopid stuff.
I’d bet the $5000 is as much about who as it is what. The prostitutes are probably very smart, educated and independent, not to mention gorgeous. They’re most likely the type of woman that seem completely unattainable under normal circumstances. And they probably have “specialties”.
Emperor’s Club isn’t the same as the DC Madam is it? Her operation is shut down, right? This sounds recent, based on Christy’s update…
Fed prosecutors have his text messages
This will certainly steal the news cycle from the Dem campaign.
We should have responses ready for the onslaught from the Noize Machine, which will say this (if true!) shows the character of Democrats, and totally ignoring the 100 times more of these there are for Repubs. Be ready for it.
Ha, the main charge is NOT prostitution, it’s money laundering.
Maybe he arranged a liaison for someone else important. That is sort of the impression I just got from the cryptic reporting.
Called it.
Came across the ring while investigation Gambino crime family (MSNBC). Spitzer has investigated the mob. Hmmmm.
Not me. There are better things to police. I suppose that in the case of public servants the question of how much money is spent could be relevant.
Being a client is a lot different from being involved in the illegal enterprise.
Different outfits, but the same industry.
Bill Clinton anywone?
I got the pimp vibe as well
Frankly, I’m much more worried about John McCain than Mr. Spitzer’s alleged somewhat less than, or different from, ‘middle of the road’ proclivities. Let’s put Spitzer and Larry Craig in the same cell, and see what happens.
ahhhhh
Wow…the Emperor’s Club….hmmmm…who is the Emperor?? Oh, my…I’m going to get some popcorn.
I was just going to ask you to explain more about the money laundering (no TV) but now I’m thinking hmmmm right along with you.
It steals the news cycle from anything important
MSNBC - text messages - request to set up “a meeting”
Popcorn. This is truly a popcorn event.
Was Spitzer seen hanging around Bill C. in Westchester area recently?? :)
I can hear the Repukes already…” see!!..the Democrats have no morals..they are more corrupt than us!!” ….countdown commences now 10,9,8..
OMG! Has LHP weighed in on this yet?
Someone above said “What would you have to do for $5K?”
We all know, no woman is worth $5K/hr for sex, which makes Elliot Spitzer not only a moral midget but stupid!
I’m looking at the site because I’m curious as to what $5500 ‘achy breaky’ looks like
5K plus per hour! Just how much is the State of NY paying their Governor?
As I commented over at Emptywheels:
Here is an article about the bust itself 3/7:
http://www.time.com/time/natio.....81,00.html
Spitzer is independently wealthy. Family in real estate business, I think. Will check it out in his biography, which I now have no intention to read.
Yup, they just want the money.
Boxturtle (My faith in Government is restored :-) )
There are areas in Nevada where prostitution is legal. Obviously this is a state issue.
His poor kids and wife
”a prostitution ring that charged wealthy clients in Europe and the U.S. thousands of dollars for prostitutes rated by diamonds.”
Always.
The girls are ‘cute’ some are very pretty, but $5000 ummmmm no
Well, not if it’s money laundering.
Which would have trouble passing my smell test.
the seduction of Joe Tynan…
Power is a drug.
Politics is Dante’s unmentioned level of you-know-where, waiting for all of us just this side of purgatory.
As for a Biblical perspective on the seedy world Spitzer’s been caught up in, I think it is best described in Luke, Chapter 4, V5-6.
And never forget, we ARE talking NYC here, Albany is just a distant suburb, The Big Apple is pretty wormy.
You guys are a hoot. This whole thing is nuts. What is wrong with these people.
Yes, I hope there’s not another one of those scenes with the poor woman having to stand there demonstrating continued loyalty.
I should think “cute” would be barely qualifying at those prices. These are probably women with opportunity costs, and hurdle rates to clear. Their own risk premia.
I believe we should get Bob Livingston’s and Newtie’s take on all this.
don’t tell anyone but… most of the super wealthy obtained their wealth on the black market.
5k an hour?!?!?!???!? She better do the dishes and clean the catbox before she leaves for that kind of money (that and a month long perpetual grin on my face)!!
Okay as more news comes in, as stated up thread, it’s money laundering (but the sex thing always grabs the attention first)
Gawd, it really sounds so far like he was pimping for the money…geez.
expected to resign - Pox
Yes, $5500/hour, but what’s the price in Euros? This could be yet more evidence of Bush’s destruction of the value of a dollar.
Okay, I need some perspective. Is he a friend or a foe of the Clinton campaign? Will this affect her campaign in any way? Sorry if this has been asked or answered anywhere else. Comments are coming in too fast for me to keep up with them!
Back in my college days, I knew a number of very high priced call girls. (I have never been one myself) They were professionally accomplished women, some with advanced degrees, who were expected to stimulate the mind of the client as well as the body. All kinds of fantasy services were offered, including one RN who specialized in medically safe SM for handicapped clients.
This is gonna be hung around our necks by the thugs 24/7 ’til November and the media will have a field day…just what they love - sex and sin.
‘Cuse me while I go lose lunch.
I heard they get it for free in the airport bathroom…
LS @108:
“A kiss on the hand may be quite Continental, but diamonds are a girls best friend?”