Story Of The Week

And probably the month. Unless a 16 seed beats a 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. That would be a bigger story than the (as yet potential) resignation of the governor of New York for visiting hookers. A 16 seed has never beaten a 1, but governors have resigned in disgrace before. What I find a bit unfortunate is that the original headlines said Elliot Spitzer was "involved" with a prostitution ring. That almost made it sound like he was a pimp. That would have been funny. What's sad is that I know the reason Elliot Spitzer is waiting to announce his resignation (trying to cut a deal with the feds on the assumption they'll lessen the charges if he quits), but it would not surpise me in the least if he decided that he wants to wait it out and doesn't resign.

Mainly because Spitzer is an arrogant horse's ass. It's laughable to me that so many people viewed him as some crusader against corruption. Sure, he "fought" corruption as Attorney General, but only if he could get headlines out of it. The AG's office was strictly there for the glory of Elliot Spitzer. For all the talk of Spitzer going after "Wall Street corruption", it was usually civil cases which are quite easy to win because major corporations will settle rather than fool with him. What happened when he tried to go the criminal route (which is actually the route an AG should be taking)? He lost big time. Of course, he already had his headlines which is what he wanted. Really, why was a state attorney general trying to prosecute what is essentially a federal crime regulated by the SEC?

Of course, why is a state attorney general investigating the compensation package of a corporation? He makes the news. Of course, some might think the way he goes about it is quite unethical. It was his typical modus operandi. Find a target. Make accusations to smear that person. Don't actually prosecute because you don't really have much of a case. Use this type of behavior to prove what a "crusader against corruption" that you are. Oh, if someone thinks you're overreaching and says so, call them up and threaten them. This guy wasn't just out to make a case. He wanted to destroy his target. Apparently abusing your office (and wasting taxpayer money to build your profile) is good enough to get you elected governor in New York.

Which is why he probably thought he could get away with this. The first thing "Mr Clean" did when he became governor was try to use the state police to dig up dirt on a political rival in the Senate. The fact that he'd never been called to account for his own corrupt behavior certainly added to his arrogant belief that he could get away with anything. After all, he got caught because of suspicious banking activity on his part, not because the feds were staking out some whores. As a former AG and District Attorney, you might think he would know that cases come out of that type of behavior. Still, he not only was soliciting prostitutes. He was taking them across state lines, so he was knowingly breaking state and federal laws.

Some have already said he shouldn't resign "because it's just sex". Those people are morons. I don't even think prostitution should be illegal. If women want to make their body a commodity, have at it. I still think Spitzer should not only resign, but made to do a perp walk. It's not just the level of hypocrisy which is incredibly bad. Spitzer wasn't just a regular politician. His job was to go after law breakers. Not use their services. Spitzer didn't just go after corporate might-be criminals. He busted some prostitution rings. Yet, it's being reported that he's been paying for sex for several years. That means he was de facto protecting some at the expense of others. After all, how could he claim that he didn't know about the prostitution going on at the whorehouse he was visiting. I'm sure he was Shocked, Shocked that prostitution was taking place at the businesses providing his hookers. It could easily be worse. What's the chance that he spiked an investigation into one of the whore services he frequented? Would he take the chance of some hooker mentioning to the arresting officer that she's had paid sex with the AG?

But let's look beyond such silliness as public corruption. I wish I had the kind of money where I would transport a whore with me on a business trip. Give me $4300 to spend any way I want, and one of my last options would be to spend all of it on a couple of hours with a call girl. I don't care how good looking she is. Granted, unless the pixelated face is hiding something fugly, the pic of one of his past purchases shows Spitzer does have taste in contracted booty. Of course, as Elliot is finding out, getting caught makes it even more expensive. I hope this case goes to trial and Court TV is there. I really would like to know what the hooker who brought down the governor of our second largest case looks like (although if her real name ever comes out, Playboy could be in her future). Plus, one of the things caught on the wiretap was he wanted something that other of the "girls" didn't think was safe. If it went to trial, we could find out what it was. Heidi Fleiss thinks it's bareback anal sex.

And why do the wives always stand up with their philandering husbands? Typical of a sex scandal, there's Elliot's wife on stage with him so her humiliation can be seen by all. Of course, it's now come out that she's the one pushing him not to resign, so you have to wonder if this was one of those political marriages where the wife doesn't care if the husband plays around on the side as long as he doesn't get caught and screw things up for both of them. I fully expect to see her running for Senate in the future. Or she could have been tired of him asking to put his shwang in her backdoor and told him to find some place else to stick it. So he did.