Oddly, Eliot Spitzer Just Became a Libertarian

I don't much care, obviously, which woman (or man) any guy picks for a little roll in the hay. I also don't care if it's a transaction for money, and I don't see why the state needs to get involved. Consenting adults, and all that.

But damn, it's the most delicious time of all — Schadenfreude time! — when some holier-than-thou a-hole gets caught doing the same supposedly sinful and/or criminal things for which he's castigated others.

And it's especially sweet if said a-hole is one of the country's foremost (former) prosecutors who's put people behind bars for selling the illegal wares he can't wait to secretly purchase.

Gov. Eliot Spitzer, who gained national prominence relentlessly pursuing Wall Street wrongdoing, has been caught on a federal wiretap arranging to meet with a high-priced prostitute at a Washington hotel last month, according to a law enforcement official and a person briefed on the investigation.

Oh — Washington hookers weren't good enough for Spitzer. He had to get some New York sugar while visiting the capital. It's nice to see a politician so dedicated to giving his home state every conceivable economic advantage.

The wiretap 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, according to an affidavit filed in federal court in Manhattan. The person briefed on the case and the law enforcement official identified Mr. Spitzer as Client 9.

Spitzer mostly earned a reputation for being tough on Wall Street shenanigans, but as a prosecutor, he occasionally went after prostitution rings too, and condemned them in rousing tones.

The mandatory charade of public shame and professed regret came today when the governor appeared at a news conference to run the gauntlet. He had tears in his eyes, the poor guy — echoes of Jim Bakker from two decades ago.

Mr. Spitzer, a first-term Democrat, today made a brief public appearance during which he apologized for his behavior, and described it as a “private matter.” He did not address his political future. ... The governor learned that he had been implicated in the prostitution inquiry when a federal official contacted his staff Friday, according to the person briefed on the case.

Yeah, that's the usual kind of contrition in politics — the kind that for some reason doesn't hit the conscience until the questionable behavior becomes public.

Spitzer's right though: it is a private matter. His only problem is that it may be a little late now to claim the libertarian position on prostitution, considering that his chosen career consisted in part of railing against the evils of paid consensual sex. His sudden insight that sex is a private affair isn't so much a revelation as it is the standard hypocrisy and whitewash of a politician who got caught with his pants around his ankles.

And again I ask (as I did when Louisiana Senator David Vitter was found to have frequented prostitutes last year): will this high-profile john go to jail? Or is jailtime reserved predominantly for low-income brown and black people who are guilty of the exact same 'crime'?

[thanks, Anita!]

Comments

[Martin Owens]

A charge of patronizing prostitution is the least of St. Eliot's problems, and he knows it.

Federal law, to wit Title 18 U.S. Code Section 1956, makes it a Federal felony " with the intent to promote the carrying on of specified unlawful activity.... to conceal or disguise the nature, the location, the source, the ownership, or the control of the proceeds of specified unlawful activity; or
.... to avoid a transaction reporting requirement under State or Federal law..."

which seems to be a pretty good description of how he was funneling the money to that high grade whorehouse. Using cash payments in small amounts, by the way, precisely to avoid detection.

But since Spitzer gleefully used this law and a dozen others like it to the screaming maximum, in order to rake the likes of Citigroup and Paypal over the coals as " money launderers" or aiders and abettors of illegal activity and screw huge settlements out of them, the banks have been most attentive to reporting requirements. Which is how he got caught.

He dug a cruel pit for others, as the Bible says, and fell into it himself.

The penalty for money laundering is half a million dollar fine and twenty years in the iron motel. BEFORE they add on little refinements like RICO. Gang lords die in jail from sixty and seventy year RICO sentences. Spitzer ought to know, he used to chase wise guys himself.

OF course perhaps he can make a deal. As a superdelegate in Hilary's pocket, he might know something useful. Like how all these Chinese immigrants making minimum wage could still kick in the maximum allowable contribution to her campaign....

Spitzer has gained and held for years the reputation of a five star arrogant bastard and out of control tyrant, abusing a prosecutor's and later a governor's power wholesale. It would be lovely to see him led to the stake, and as many of his orcs as can be reached.

The US attorney's office of the Southern District of New York seems to be full of Spitzer wannabes. Perhaps Jaws will get thrown to the piranhas?

[David]

"It's a private matter when it's me (or my family)" is pretty much the public official's battle cry. "Those pesky laws are for you people" is on the first page of the handbook.

[Hermes Ten]

At first I was surprised that a sex scandal had erupted and the politician isn't a Republican. OK, I get it now, it's apparetely vanilla hetero sex, not sweaty man-on-man or man-on-boy sex, and so far as we know at this point, no whips, diapers, wet-suits, or public restrooms are involved.

What's funny though, really funny, is to see all these articles where our lapdog media refers to this guy as "Mr. Clean." Tyranny and abuse of power are "clean," it's just the sex that's "dirty." Oh yeah, and he's a "political ally" of Hillary --what a surprise.

[George Arndt]

Prostitution cannot be defended on moral grounds. Neither can getting drunk every night, having sex with a new person every week, and other activities which are legal, but might strike many people as immoral and reckless. Some people find guns immoral. Does that mean we should ban all guns? Do the members of PETA have the right to ban eating meat?
Indeed, its perfectly legal for a person to have unprotected sex with an unlimited number of people. Yet, if so much as a cent exchanges hands, that person has now committed a crime!
Outlawing a vice is not the only way to discourage it. Tobacco, for instance, is legal, but we tax and regulate the hell out of it. Legalize prostitution, but get rid of the pimps, ban street walking, tax it a lot, and require prostitutes to get checked for sex diseases every month and educate them in safer sex practices. At the same time, the government could encourage women (and men) to find another line of work.