Utterly shocking news breaking out of New York right now: Gov. Eliot Spitzer has admitted to being tied to a prostitution ring, and is about to make a public statement. From the NYTimes:
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 scheduled an announcement for 2:15 after inquiries from the Times.
Mr. Spitzer, a first term Democrat who pledged to bring ethics reform an 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.
This is huge, because Spitzer made his considerable political reputation as a moral crusader, especially against Wall Street excess. He was headed for a national career as a Democratic politician based on his relentless crusades against corporate corruption. As New York attorney general, he prosecuted at least two prostitution rings:
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.”
Well, well, well. Now he's ruined. Like Mark Shea always says, "Sin makes you stupid." What on earth gets into the minds of these powerful people, taking these kinds of chances? Is it really that thrilling to tempt fate?
UPDATE: It's a dirty rotten shame that Spitzer got mixed up in this, and they should throw the book at him. But it sure looks like the fit hit the shan at just the right moment.
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Who said it cannot be done away with? I didn't, Sig.
It is a fact (never said universally accepted). And it is LEGITIMATE in some places in the world.
I'm not assuming anything. It is commerce.
I never said ANYONE is ENTITLED to get sex whenever they wanted.
Entitled? That would be Spitzer, McGreevy, Clinton, JFK.
They feel they are entitled. It is about ego.
My own assumptions have not been put out here. I never said I agreed with, or disagreed with any of this. I stated reality.
You do not know my stance on prostitution. This isn't about what I think. I don't foist my thinking on people (or try not to).
You really don't read my posts. I do not understand your analogy to 'women robbing banks.' You said "Over half the population is female and thus doesn't have the "need" you speak of" -- this is not even a true statement. And I challenged it.
Women do have the need, there are successful male escort services out there. Cougars (and by that I mean older women prowling for men) do troll the bars -- they may pay for the guy via drinks, trinkets - or they may BUY THEIR TIME. Just like any other prostitution transaction.
And if you want to get into it - what about the golddiggers - be it male or female. The choose to PROSTITUTE themselves in order to get the money, power (um, the things I've said about Spitzer), whatever that they feel they need.
Same word, different take. From streetwalker to call-girl, golddigger to lonely person - what makes someone choose to go, or be, a prostitute, is well, a large discussion indeed.
sig, Joel and others pursuing the debate over Melissa Farley on this thread may find it notable to see Farley's co-written op-ed in today's New York Times:
OPINION
The Myth of the Victimless Crime
By MELISSA FARLEY and VICTOR MALAREK
"Whose theory is it that prostitution is victimless? It’s the men who buy prostitutes who spew the myths that women choose prostitution."
nytimes.com/2008/03/12/opinion/12farley.html
Melissa Farley is the author of “Prostitution and Trafficking in Nevada: Making the Connections.” Victor Malarek is the author of “The Natashas: Inside the New Global Sex Trade.”
Scott -
The significant other/spouse is a victim. On another Spitzer thread I said "Spitzer, by not using condoms, played russian roulette with his wife's life..."
Arrogance, ego - above the law. People in power seem to think they are immune from being caught.
But, the Farley quote above -- myth that people choose prostitution? Myth? They have. They may feel they have no other choice, but one is not necessarily coerced into prostitution any more than being coerced into staying in an abusive relationship. It is a choice. I'm confused about the comment.
Spitzer's "Kristin" does not seem a person held against her will. I do not believe the Embassy group locked her up or stole her from her home and forced her into this life.
Am I missing something?
speak:
Was simply passing along a "further reading" link unto the Joel/sigal.
needlematch above, given that the veteran credibility or otherwise of the author so linked, who just happened to byline in yesterday's NYT opinion section, was a prime moan of contention...
"Wasn't it Chesterton who said that original sin was the only Christian doctrine you could prove by simply opening the newspaper?"
What's original about the Spitzer story? Everybody has already listed innumerable precedents, though nobody else has mentioned John Profumo, who really did seem to have spent a great deal of his later life atoning for his episodes of sleaze with Christine Keeler.
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