Was Government Out To Get Eliot Spitzer? Congressional Panel To Investigate

New York Times:

ALBANY - Eight months after a federal investigation into a prostitution ring brought about the downfall of Gov. Eliot Spitzer, the question still persists in some circles: Was the federal government out to get Mr. Spitzer?

No evidence has surfaced to support such an assertion, and investigators have said that politics played no role in their pursuit of Mr. Spitzer. But that has not put to rest suspicions, expressed on left wing blogs, that Mr. Spitzer, a zealous pursuer of Wall Street wrongdoing who some thought could one day be president, had been singled out.

Read the whole story: New York Times

Comments

[tomas0808]

Of course they were out to get him. And there has been no proof he used tax dollars to pay for it. He made an enemy somewhere, probably by standing up to some Guiliani type thug and they decided to get him. It stinks. Just because a guy wanted to make it with a young woman does not mean he can't make good decisions in office. America needs to catch up with the rest of the world about this, it's not a big deal. This thing about demanding ridiculously strict behavior in our public servants private lives needs to stop. Essentially it's asking them to be robots like Bush. And we all see how well that worked out

[guajiro]

http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0915/p01s02-usju.html

[tomas0808]

Wow. Thanks for the link. That's pretty depressing, he stands up against Wall St and that was when they probably started following him, looking for the slightest thing they could sink him on. Seriously depressing. Get anywhere near reality at your own peril, that's the message that sends

[PaceSetter]

Spitzer had become increasingly public in blaming the Bush administration for the subprime crisis. He testified in mid-February before the US House of Representatives Financial Services subcommittee and later that day, in a national CNBC interview, laid blame squarely on the administration for creating an environment ripe for predatory lenders.

On February 14, the Washington Post published an editorial by Spitzer titled, “Predatory Lenders’ Partner in Crime: How the Bush Administration Stopped the States From Stepping In to Help Consumers,” which charged, “Not only did the Bush administration do nothing to protect consumers, it embarked on an aggressive and unprecedented campaign to prevent states from protecting their residents from the very problems to which the federal government was turning a blind eye.”

[ljc]

this is the first comment that is spot on to what actually happened. I also dug in when this happened and found out the truth like you. The sheeple only hear the part about the hooker. The media also only report the sex. That is all they care about. Doesn't matter that their country is run by a bunch of fools and crooks with vendettas.

[lj9283]

Of course Spitzer was a target of the administration. He was an "up and comer" in the democratic party, so it should be expected that the Bush/Cheney administration would target him, just as they targeted anyone who posed any type of threat to their strangle hold on their definition of democracy. I imagine anyone in the "opposition" who floated above anonymity have had their records examined. Spitzer was walking on the wild side, so he got taken down.

I believe what will be found in the not to distant future, when "freedom of information" is able to loose the corruption of democracy of the Bush/Cheney reign we will be amazed that Democracy survived. I believe we will find that surveillance, and dossiers have been kept on ordinary citizens, and especially anyone who opposed or spoke out against Bush/Cheney. I expect the scandal will make the files kept by J. Edgar Hoover, and Mr. Nixon look like child's play.

[micmac]

He was breaking the law and he got owned. Goodbye Eliott, we need men of honor in that position.

[Obama4Life]

Spitzer was a hypocrite plain and simple.

I'm not going to support a hypocrite just because he has a D next to his name, like some of the clowns on here.

You guys are just as bad as the h.acks like Sean Hannity on Faux News.

He broke the law and ch.eated on his s.t.upid wife. Not that I care about his s.t.upid wife but I don't want some clown using my tax dollars to do u.g.ly h.o.okers. And if you guys think he didn't brake the law, you need to go sit down and be quiet.

Also its from the NY Times, I'm not so far to the left that I refuse to act like they don't hold a left wing bias.

Then again, I consider myself an Obamacrat, not a Democrat.

[guajiro]

He didn't use tax dollars. He used his own money. Spitzer didn't go after prostitutes, he went after the big fish, the corrupt bankers and investment firms. Corrupt institutions that cheat the taxpayer out of their money. The current scandal and financial disaster this country is in was something Spitzer was trying to stop by preventing these firms from playing a house of cards off on us.

" Spitzer's office has almost single-handedly forced Wall Street firms to change the way they work. At his prompting, other states, as well as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), began investigating other firms, and the process finally culminated in a "global settlement" in December 2002, in which 12 investment houses agreed to pay $1.4 billion in fines.

Just this month, Spitzer also brought charges against the hedge fund Canary Capital Partners, accusing it of "late trading" mutual funds with Bank One, Bank of America, and two other firms. He likened late trading, an illegal practice, to "betting today on yesterday's horse races."

All of this, say many market watchers, has been extremely embarrassing to the SEC, the federal agency charged with regulating the financial industry. So why was it Spitzer, and not federal regulators, to lay bare the backroom connivings?"

FYI, prosecutors and cops often DON'T bring charges to individuals they deem small players or that helped them prosecute bigger fish. You lack a sense of balance in justice.

[CalliDem]

Yes ... he was doing good work, agreed. But he got CAUGHT lying, cheating, and fu.king
a hooker ... end of story. If his wife can't trust him then neither should the American public.

[mommamia526]

I just logged in to say something similar and then I found your response guajiro. That says it all. Those who are so concerned about *their* taxdollars* should also be concerned about *their* economy and *their *jobs* and *their* home, as well as *their future taxation that is caused by the financial marketfailure. *Their* taxdollars were not involved, but now these taxdollars will be involved, and for some time to come.

[guajiro]

http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0915/p01s02-usju.html

[farmerdeedee]

I'm not defending his actions, but why do you refer to his wife as stupid?

[slowhand0728]

Hard to go after somone who is GUILTY and a hypocrite isnt it? You have to be kidding me. Guilty, resigned move on.

[All57States]

Right. It looks like the Feds are after Charlie Rangel too. Conspiracies under every rock.

[NYC07]

Of course he was. Spitzer was closing in on Wall Street corruption and had to be silenced.

[guajiro]

Correct.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0915/p01s02-usju.html

[SwingVoter]

The only reason I thought Eliot Spitzer should have resigned was because he made a career going after people who were doing what he himself got caught doing.

[CostaDelBarto]

Exactly. If you're going to present yourself as a paragon of virtue... maybe don't chase hookers.

[guajiro]

He never personally ever went after any prostitutes. As governor, Spitzer doesn't have personal control over the police dept. That's left up to the police departments. He couldn't make any directives not to prosecute prostitutes either, since the conservative, holier than thou republicans would have his hide.

[LemonMeringue]

Of course Spitzer was targeted, because he was about to close in on some very powerful crooks.

I'd like to hope this will result in something more than a whitewash.

[roshni]

Who cares??? Mr. Sanctimonious was out with hookers, wasn't he?

[chronic]

So what?

Prostitution is the oldest profession known to mankind. Legalize it to certain districts n certain areas of the country and tax the heck out of it!!!

[DC]

This old "oldest profession known..." is tired and old and ill-logical. If that were a reason to legalize it, let's re-legalize slavery while we are at it. It is hand and hand with prostitution as for being around for thousands and thousands of years.

BTW, in countries where it is legal there is a BIG re-thinking going on. Too many legalized prostitution parlors with young girls who have to do at least 20 men a day, too much keeping these girls and women drugged and high and out of control of their own self, too many beatings, and too many deaths related to their condition of legalized work. This is something the customers do not see. But we do when they arrive at the steps of the emergency ward. All tragic and dehumanizing. No different than slavery.

Believe me, Spitzer's prostitute was headed down the same path. She knows it.

Think about it next time you visit a bordello.

[guajiro]

Paying for a service. Sounds like business to me. Something wrong with that?

[Internaut]

What if . . . Spitzer didn't really do all those hookers? What if he was conducting his own investigation into right-wing investigations on him? Whose foot is on the other shoe now?

[dadw5boys]

Who cares about the hookers, well his wife, but we don't .

[guajiro]

That would've worked since they didn't have any video of them together, except the prostitute acknowledged having sex with him. Good try though.

[dadw5boys]

Spitzer was too good at keeping the Wall Street Gang in line so Bush and the Republicans got him elected Governor.

They cleared the way to make this Economic Crash happen !!!!!!!!!!

[kellygrrrl]

yup

[AKJM]

Yup, two.
Or....someone would be doing jail time.

[TooLooseLeTrek]

Spitzer was planning on a full investigation into the predator mortgage sharks AND the White House interference in trying to protect citizens against it.

Spitzer wrote this article, which appeared in the Washington Post on 13 Feb 07.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/13/AR2008021302783.html

[WorkingClass]

Thanks for the link. I hope the Spitzer story gets out. It puts the Bush Administration right in the cross hairs.

[guajiro]

Great link. thanks. I personally think that the bailouts will not work. The wealthy? They'll skip town. They own million acre ranches and villas all over the world. They won't be here when our new owners come to town telling us we're all working for a dollar, hopefully two, a day, while their own citizens in either Russia, China, or who knows, will see their middle class boom with all the amenities of life they used to be missing. That's why the prosecution of such a man as Spitzer, despite his faults, is a blow against us, the citizens.

[lizr]

sorry. It is SO CLE AR that he was targetted.

Imagine what he'd be saying about the bailouts etc if he were not effectively silenced....

POL ITI CAL prosecution. the end.

[AndSoItGoes]

Who cares! Why is the Congress wasting tax money "probing" this.
Spitzer broke the law. The FEDs did what they are supposed to do.