NY Governor Eliot Spitzer to Resign Over Prostitution Ring (Update - Maybe Not)

The former crusading NY Attorney General and now Governor Eliot Spitzer has been caught in a high-level prostitution ring and will resign his office. There are many on Wall Street who were innocent victims of Spitzer's war on Wall Street, and I guarantee there's some dancing going on on the floor of the stock exchanges today.

I'm kind of surprised he's resigning so quickly. Republicans usually do the right thing and quit when they get caught with their zippers down. Democrats consider these things resume enhancements.

One Fox News analyst thinks this resignation is probably part of the plea deal the Governor is trying to work out with Federal prosecutors.

UPDATE: Spitzer apologized at a very brief appearance, but apparently hasn't yet resigned. He may still be working on a deal before he quits...or he's going with the resume enhancement angle.
UPDATE 2: Spitzer will reportedly resign at 7pm EDT. The new governor, David Patterson, is an African-American who is also legally blind. Rep. Peter King (R-NY) has high regard for him. King also said that he had never known anyone who was more self-righteous and unforgiving of others, which is why nobody is coming to his defense. UPDATE to UPDATE 2 - It's past 7pm and still no resignation and no word if one is coming.

Apparently David Patterson is extremely liberal and some of his positions are way out there, such as his "shoot to wound" bill which would have required police officers to shoot suspects in the legs or feet rather than the torso to avoid killing them. That's just nuts.

UPDATE 3: No indictment yet, but Spitzer is apparently part of a criminal complaint against the owners of a prostitution ring and reportedly met with a prostitute in Washington DC in February. As a guy who has formerly prosecuted prostitution rings, this kind of behavior is more than a little bit unbelievable. Reports are he paid the prostitute $4,300. The going rate was $5,500, so either he got the Democrat discount, or one look told them they couldn't in good conscience charge him the full price.

Spitzer was a big supporter of Hillary Clinton. Apparently Clinton wasn't the only one receiving 3AM phone calls.

UPDATE 4: From the NY Times:

ALBANY - Gov. Eliot Spitzer has been caught on a federal wiretap arranging to meet with a high-priced prostitute at a Washington hotel last month, according to a person briefed on the federal investigation.

An affidavit in the federal investigation into a prostitution ring said that a wiretap recording captured a man identified as Client 9 on a telephone call confirming plans to have a woman travel from New York to Washington, where he had reserved a hotel room. The person briefed on the case identified Mr. Spitzer as Client 9. ...

The man described as Client 9 in court papers arranged to meet with a prostitute who was part of the ring, Emperors Club VIP, on the night of Feb. 13. Mr. Spitzer traveled to Washington that evening, according to a person told of his travel arrangements.

The affidavit says that Client 9 met with the woman in hotel room 871 but does not identify the hotel. Mr. Spitzer stayed at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington on Feb. 13, according to a source who was told of his travel arrangements. Room 871 at the Mayflower Hotel that evening was registered under another name.

Federal prosecutors rarely charge clients in prostitution cases, which are generally seen as state crimes. But the Mann Act, passed by Congress in 1910 to address prostitution, human trafficking and what was viewed at the time as immorality in general, makes it a crime to transport someone between states for the purpose of prostitution. The four defendants charged in the case unsealed last week were all charged with that crime, along with several others.

Mr. Spitzer 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.”

Looks like the Emperor had no clothes.