By VERENA DOBNIK and MICHAEL GORMLEY, Associated
Press Writers
March 12, 2008
NEW YORK - In a startlingly swift fall from grace, Gov. Eliot
Spitzer resigned Wednesday after getting caught in a call-girl
scandal that made a mockery of his straight-arrow image and
left him facing the prospect of criminal charges and perhaps
disbarment.
"I cannot allow my private failings to disrupt the people's
work," Spitzer said, his weary-looking wife, Silda, standing
at his side, again, as the corruption-fighting politician once
known as Mr. Clean answered for his actions for the second
time in three days.
He made the announcement without securing a plea bargain with
federal prosecutors, though a law enforcement official said
the former governor was still believed to be negotiating one.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the
sensitivity of the case.
Spitzer will be succeeded on Monday by Lt. Gov. David Paterson,
a fellow Democrat who becomes New York's first black governor
and the nation's first legally blind chief executive.
The resignation brought the curtain down on a riveting three-day
drama played out, sometimes, as farce that made Spitzer an
instant punchline on late-night TV and fascinated Americans
with the spectacle of a crusading politician exposed as a hypocrite.
His dizzying downfall was met with glee and the popping of
champagne corks among many on Wall Street, where Spitzer was
seen as a sanctimonious bully for attacking big salaries and
abusive practices in the financial industry when he was New
York attorney general. And his resignation brought relief at
the state Capitol in Albany after days of excruciating tension
and uncertainty.
"Some rules can't be broken, and when they are broken
there are consequences," said state Assemblyman John McEneny,
a Democrat. "In this case, one of the most promising careers
I've seen in a generation."
The scandal erupted Monday after federal law enforcement officials
disclosed that a wiretap had caught the 48-year-old father
of three teenage daughters spending thousands of dollars on
a call girl at a fancy Washington hotel on the night before
Valentine's Day.
Investigators said he had arranged for a prostitute named
Kristen to take the train down from New York while he was in
the nation's capital to testify before a congressional subcommittee
about the bond industry.
With every development, it became increasingly clear that
Spitzer, politically, was finished.
Law enforcement officials said the governor the millionaire
heir to a New York real estate fortune had hired prostitutes
several times before and had spent tens of thousands of dollars,
and perhaps as much as $80,000, on the high-priced escort service
Emperors Club VIP, whose women charge as much as $5,500 an
hour.
Senior Spitzer aides, speaking on condition of anonymity because
of the sensitivity of the matter, said Spitzer had been informed
Friday by federal prosecutors that he was linked to the prostitution
ring.
They said he had kept it to himself through Saturday night,
when he attended the annual dinner of the Gridiron Club in
Washington. That night a reporter kept calling cell phones
of Spitzer aides.
Spitzer first shared the news Sunday with his wife at their
Manhattan apartment, and after several excruciating hours they
told their daughters, the aides said. By Sunday evening Spitzer
had called top advisers, personal friends and loyalists. The
little band huddled in the apartment until midnight.
After making a watery-eyed, non-specific public apology Monday
with his wife by his side, Spitzer continued to talk to family
and advisers through Tuesday. By Wednesday morning, aides said,
he had decided to resign.
He and his wife rode in a black SUV from their Fifth Avenue
apartment to his New York City office to announce his resignation
a trip whose every move was captured by TV helicopters. During
the news conference, he and his wife stood inches apart, never
touching as they entered or left the room.
Speaking in a strong and steady voice, he apologized for his
actions and said: "Over the course of my public life,
I've insisted, I think correctly, that people regardless of
their position or power take responsibility for their conduct.
I can and will ask no less of myself."
He did not address the allegations in any detail in the less
than three-minute statement, and left without taking questions.
Officials said that Paterson asked for the Monday hand-over
because he needed more time to prepare and wanted Spitzer to
say the proper goodbye to his staff.
In a statement issued after Spitzer quit, U.S. Attorney Michael
Garcia, the chief federal prosecutor in New York, said: "There
is no agreement between this office and Gov. Eliot Spitzer
relating to his resignation or any other matter."
Among the possible charges that law enforcement authorities
said could be brought against the former governor: soliciting
and paying for sex; violating the Mann Act, the 1910 federal
law that makes it a crime to take someone across state lines
for immoral purposes; and illegally arranging cash transactions
to conceal their purpose.
Spitzer, a graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Law,
could also be disbarred. In New York, an attorney can lose
his license to practice law for failing to "conduct himself
both professionally and personally, in conformity with the
standards of conduct imposed upon members of the bar."
It was a spectacular collapse for a man who cultivated an
image as a hard-nosed politician hell-bent on cleansing the
state of corruption. He served two terms as New York attorney
general, earning the nickname "Sheriff of Wall Street," and
was elected governor with a record share of the vote in 2006.
The tall, athletic, square-jawed Spitzer was sometimes mentioned
as a potential candidate for president.
But he also made powerful enemies, many of whom complained
that he was abusive and self-righteous.
"I really don't feel vindicated," said John Faso,
the Republican who lost to Spitzer for governor. But he added: "One
of the many things I said was that Eliot Spitzer had one set
of rules for himself and one set for everyone else. I never
would have imagined it could be so glaring."
Traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange were transfixed
by TV monitors broadcasting Spitzer's resignation, and his
ruin drew scattered applause from traders as they went about
buying and selling stocks. One trader said some firms even
cracked champagne open a ritual usually reserved for when the
Dow hits a milestone.
Paterson said in a statement that he was saddened, but added: "It
is now time for Albany to get back to work as the people of
this state expect from us."
Barely known outside of his Harlem political base, Paterson,
53, has been in New York government since his election to the
state Senate in 1985.
Though legally blind, he has enough sight in his right eye
to walk unaided, recognize people at conversational distance
and even read if the text is placed close to his face.
While Spitzer was famously abrasive, uncompromising and even
insulting, Paterson has built a reputation as a conciliator,
and lawmakers quickly embraced the new order.
"The first thing he can and I think he will do is end
the era of accusation and contempt and ridicule," said
Democratic Assemblyman Richard Brodsky. "I think everyone
will be better off because of it."
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