SILDA SPITZER JOINS PISSED-OFF POLITICAL WIVES CLUB, plans Senate bid.
Meanwhile, it looks as if Spitzer’s real crimes were financial, not sexual. “Spitzer, who made his name by bringing high-profile cases against many of New York’s financial giants, is likely to be prosecuted under a relatively obscure statute called ‘structuring,’ according to a Justice Department official. Structuring involves creating a series of financial movements designed to obscure the true purpose of the payments.”
Meanwhile thoughts on the hypocrisy.
UPDATE: Stephen Green: “Cleaning up New York one prostitute at a time. Sometimes maybe even two at a time.”
ANOTHER UPDATE: Heh:
Discovering that the exclusive international ring of prostitutes known as the “Emperor’s Club” charged up to $5,500 an hour for their services, New York governor Eliot Spitzer vowed to put an end to this price gouging practice. . . . “That kind of excessive compensation is simply outrageous. Prostitution is allegedly a victimless crime,†Spitzer said in a press conference that took place only in our imaginations. “But now we see that its customers can become its victims.â€
Spitzer added it was especially shameful that one of the most trusted names in prostitution had engaged in this shocking betrayal and rank greed.
Read the whole thing.
MORE: Big roundup from Professor Bainbridge.
STILL MORE: Heh: “Prostitute Admits Link to Elliott Spitzer; Resigns From Escort Service in Disgrace.â€
Also: Clinton Declines Comment on Spitzer.
MORE STILL: “Maybe Vitter should have made things right – and changed his political affiliation before getting caught.”
FINALLY: A Wall Street reader doesn’t want Spitzer to resign: “He’s already dead as a politician. The longer he lingers, the longer the tax-raising Democrats in Albany are held up to ridicule. and the longer the national Democratic party is distracted by a scandal in the statehouse of one of its national candidates.”
And another game of Name That Party! at ABC.
Plus, a funny: “I guess I have disagreements with my own cobloggers. But on something like this, I really think that Glenn Greenwald, Rick Ellensberg, and Thomas Ellers should synthesize their positions so their joint blog isn’t so hopelessly schizophrenic.”
And, Governor Giuliani?