Elliot Spitzer Indicted

ADDENDUM: I can’t tell if Spitzer was actually charged or just named as a client - it may be that only the members of the prostitution ring have been charged.

Relating to his patronage of the Emperor’s Club prostitution ring.

He has been identified as Client 9.

Here’s the complaint, courtesy of the NYT:

I have very ambivalent feelings about these sorts of laws generally, but in this case I believe it couldn’t have happened to a more deserving fellow.

What a tool.

Here’s a link to Spitzer’s statement:

http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NTdiNWFhYmQxMGNhNjJjNjNkMTY1MDY3MThhOTdiNWI=

Once again, it may be that he hasn’t been charged yet. But at any rate, this isn’t good for him. Reports are mixed as to whether he will resign.

I retract my statement.

I thought he was just being brought up on prostitution charges, didn’t know he’d admitted to it and the laundering.

I believe he’s a super delegate…in favor of Hilliary…just an observation…no real motive for pointing this out.

[quote]Beowolf wrote:
Errr… I don’t care?

Why exactly don’t you like him? He hasn’t really done anything of consequence yet…[/quote]

His drivers license thing was a fiasco. If he is involved in prostitution he is a hypocrite, after all he prosecuted prostitution rings in the past.

I would be surprised if he retired. Dem’s shrug this stuff off.

Pictures of said prostitutes?

He’s a Democrat, we need to keep this on the down low. Only Republican sex scandals are news worthy.

[quote]
Beowolf wrote:
Errr… I don’t care?

Why exactly don’t you like him? He hasn’t really done anything of consequence yet…

Zap Branigan wrote:
His drivers license thing was a fiasco. If he is involved in prostitution he is a hypocrite, after all he prosecuted prostitution rings in the past.

I would be surprised if he retired. Dem’s shrug this stuff off.[/quote]

In addition to the driver’s license fiasco, the attempt to take over the prosecution of the dot.bomb, brokerage and mutual-fund problems from the SEC was highly problematic and a major power grab. As attorney general of NY he was generally aggressive in trying to get regulation of the private sector via the courts, by filing suits against gun manufacturers, for example. The highly aggressive position on collection of state taxes on internet sales that he is trying to get in place now is even moreso.

And from what I’ve read he’s a bully, using the power of the government as prosecutor to force concessions from those who couldn’t afford to fight.

I heard that he tried to prepay his account via cash in the mail.

If he actually sent cash in the mail for illegal activities, he should get nailed with a federal mail fraud charge.

But like you said, BB - couldn’t have happened to a more deserving person.

Says he resigning?

http://wcbstv.com/breakingnewsalerts/spitzer.prostitution.ring.2.673848.html

bye-bye…

Hillary scrubbed her website of all references to this once-prominent super delegate:

That was fast…

Just an observation, but how long do you think it would have taken for the NYT to mention Spitzer’s party affiliation if he had been a Republican?

They get around to it in the 3rd paragraph, knowing, of course, the majority of people read only the headline and the first paragraph or two…

Didn’t the NYT endorse him for Gov.?

[quote]BostonBarrister wrote:
Hillary scrubbed her website of all references to this once-prominent super delegate:

That was fast…

Just an observation, but how long do you think it would have taken for the NYT to mention Spitzer’s party affiliation if he had been a Republican?

They get around to it in the 3rd paragraph, knowing, of course, the majority of people read only the headline and the first paragraph or two…

Spitzer Is Linked to Prostitution Ring - The New York Times [/quote]

resignation is one less superdelegate for Hilldog…
so Obama’s “terrible” week picks him up oh a 15 delegate advantage for the week?

Please, just a few more “good” weeks for Hillary…

as to your point, it’s the NYT and he’s the gov. of NY. I think they know what party he’s in.

Excerpts from the FBI affidavit:

[quote]
BostonBarrister wrote:
Hillary scrubbed her website of all references to this once-prominent super delegate:

That was fast…

Just an observation, but how long do you think it would have taken for the NYT to mention Spitzer’s party affiliation if he had been a Republican?

They get around to it in the 3rd paragraph, knowing, of course, the majority of people read only the headline and the first paragraph or two…

100meters wrote:
resignation is one less superdelegate for Hilldog…
so Obama’s “terrible” week picks him up oh a 15 delegate advantage for the week?

Please, just a few more “good” weeks for Hillary…

as to your point, it’s the NYT and he’s the gov. of NY. I think they know what party he’s in.[/quote]

Of course they know what party he’s in - the point is that it’s not being as highly publicized as it would be if he were a Republican.

And to preempt another possible interpretation of your statement, they still mentioned it - apparently they thought it needed pointing out, just in the 3rd paragraph, not in the headline or the lede…

As for good or bad weeks for Hill-dog, I don’t care one way or the other as long as she’s still in it to win it at the DNC this summer - and Obama too. I’ve already stocked up on the popcorn…

[quote]BostonBarrister wrote:

Of course they know what party he’s in - the point is that it’s not being as highly publicized as it would be if he were a Republican.

And to preempt another possible interpretation of your statement, they still mentioned it - apparently they thought it needed pointing out, just in the 3rd paragraph, not in the headline or the lede…

As for good or bad weeks for Hill-dog, I don’t care one way or the other as long as she’s still in it to win it at the DNC this summer - and Obama too. I’ve already stocked up on the popcorn…

[/quote]

This would make a better story if he were a family-values republican or if his hoes were being paid for by companies in the financial services industry, etc… I loathe crusader types and he definitely had it coming but it’s not as exciting when the hypocrisy of the issue is only on medium rather than max.

I guess my point is that Democrats don’t really try to set the bar that high in terms of public expectations of their personal conduct, and that makes it less remarkable when they fail even that. This is the party of Marion Barry, after all.

More Israeli “sexpionage”?

Israeli at center of Spitzer scandal
The alleged procurer in the prostitution scandal surrounding New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer has an Israeli passport.

A federal magistrate in New York ordered Mark “Michael” Brener held without bail after his arrest last Thursday related to allegations that he headed the Emperors VIP Club, described by police as a high-priced prostitution ring.

The Associated Press reported that $600,000 in cash and an Israeli passport were elements in the denial of bail to Brener, 62. Brener’s lawyer said he has been a U.S. citizen for 20 years.

The New York Times has reported that Spitzer is the “Client 9” described in the search warrant that led to the arrests of Brener and four alleged colleagues.

Spitzer, a Jewish lawyer whose office investigated two Jewish organizations when he was state attorney general, made a brief statement to the media Monday admitting he had let down his family and his public. He did not offer any details.
http://www.jta.org/cgi-bin/iowa/breaking/107452.html

Sounds a little familiar…

McGreevey’s reclusive Israeli aide steps down
http://www.nj.com/statehouse/ledger/index.ssf?/news/mcgreevey/stories/20020815mcg_cipel.html

The McGreevey Scandal
Here we go again. Another political bombshell hits the American people and there is yet another connection to the subterranean labyrinth of possible Israeli intelligence activities…

What is not readily apparent is the fact that a number of Israeli off-the-books intelligence operatives are active inside the United States and they do not have U.S. national interests in mind. In particular, the Israeli-Russian mobsters and their allies within the Sharon government have adopted one of the most successful intelligence ploys used by the former KGB and East German Stasi–the use of prostitutes or “swallows” to gain intimate access to high Western politicians, so-called “sexpionage.”
http://www.counterpunch.org/madsen08142004.html

Falwell Confirms Lewinsky Affair Linked To Israeli Lobby Intrigue
http://www.rense.com/general69/col.htm

FBI Probes Espionage at Clinton White House - suspected telecommunications espionage
A foreign spy service appears to have penetrated secret telecommunications in the Clinton administration, which long has discounted security and intelligence threats.

The FBI is probing an explosive foreign-espionage operation that could dwarf the other spy scandals plaguing the U.S. government. Insight has learned that FBI counterintelligence is tracking a daring operation to spy on high-level U.S. officials by hacking into supposedly secure telephone networks. The espionage was facilitated, federal officials say, by lax telephone-security procedures at the White House, State Department and other high-level government offices and by a Justice Department unwillingness to seek an indictment against a suspect.

The espionage operation may have serious ramifications because the FBI has identified Israel as the culprit. It risks undermining U.S. public support for the Jewish state at a time Israel is seeking billions of tax dollars for the return of land to Syria. It certainly will add to perceptions that the Clinton-Gore administration is not serious about national security. Most important, it could further erode international confidence in the ability of the United States to keep secrets and effectively lead as the world’s only superpower.

More than two dozen U.S. intelligence, counterintelligence, law-enforcement and other officials have told Insight that the FBI believes Israel has intercepted telephone and modem communications on some of the most sensitive lines of the U.S. government on an ongoing basis. The worst penetrations are believed to be in the State Department. But others say the supposedly secure telephone systems in the White House, Defense Department and Justice Department may have been compromised as well…
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1571/is_20_16/ai_62401780/print

[quote]etaco wrote:

This would make a better story if he were a family-values republican or if his hoes were being paid for by companies in the financial services industry, etc… I loathe crusader types and he definitely had it coming but it’s not as exciting when the hypocrisy of the issue is only on medium rather than max.

I guess my point is that Democrats don’t really try to set the bar that high in terms of public expectations of their personal conduct, and that makes it less remarkable when they fail even that. This is the party of Marion Barry, after all.[/quote]

True generally, but in this case Spitzer as AG of NY had prosecuted at least two prostitution rings, announcing his convictions with much pomp and circumstance, so there may be a few more expectations here.

Is it wrong to expect a bit more from a husband, father, and a holder of political office? Even if no laws had been broken, he should resign.