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

[SCG]

Spitzer for SEC.

Wall Street hates him , so I love him. ; )

[sunzen]

They had to move Spitzer out of the way to get their way with this Derivatives Crisis. They did not want a guy that would hold them accountable.

[kellygrrrl]

Bingo!

[Sarahjan]

What business does the public has if Eliot Spitzer was sleeping with a call girls or not? That is totally a private matter. The US is clearly cultural backward nation and that is why the real crook are able to loot the nation when good men such as Eliot Spitzer's careers's ruined. The US public gets the leaders it deserves such as GWB. The US public has no reason to complain they elect cruel, greedy idiots. In the rest of the developed world, people are not obsessed with the sex lives of their public officials. If Eliot Spitzer was a Canadian or a European official, this would have been an issue.

[Durango]

I agree 100%.

Spitzer's sex life is none of my business. Or yours. Or yours either.

Meanwhile the real crooks have Golden Parachutes.

Goldman Sachs gave out $60 BILLION in bonuses LAST YEAR.

Give me a break.

[ChristianEcon.com]

"What business does the public has if Eliot Spitzer was sleeping with a call girls or not? That is totally a private matter. The US is clearly cultural backward nation and that is why the real crook are able to loot the nation when good men such as Eliot Spitzer's careers's ruined."

Worth repeating.

[23000Days]

Spitzer was building a huge case against health insurance companies hiring their own to tell them how much they should pay per incident. What ever happened to the case? An investigation is certainly in order.

[DaisyDooks]

My goodness, Spitzer is NOT an attractive fellow. He kinda looks alienish.

[viflyer]

Of course this was a political prosecution!

Spitzer was making NOISE about the mortage scam on Wallstreet and he HAD to be shut up.

Read this, it says it ALL:

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

[redsongia]

Duh, of course they were. That guy made more enemies than an enemy factory. That's why frequenting prostitutes was doubly stupid.

[viflyer]

I agree completely. They were out to get Bill Clinton before he was ever President, and he KNEW it. Didn't stop him from giving them the ammunition they needed! Same thing with Spitzer. These guys just can't control themselves EVEN when they know it is going to be trouble down the road.

In the end, I blame Clinton for where we are today. AND I lost all respect for him for being so friggin DUMB. Don't get me wrong, what he did was NEVER an impeachable offense, but his persecution served the right's purposes, to set us up for Geoge Bush.

[roshni]

Yup, we gave Clinton the honor of our vote and he couldn't even zip his pants until he was out of office.
these guys can't "control" themselves? And we are supposed to feel sorry for them?

[NationalTreasure]

hell yeah the crooks on Wall Street spurred on their friends in the government to go after Spitzer

Spitzer was the only one in NY warning of the economic mess that was going to unfold and Sptzer was the only one trying to hold these Wall Street crooks accountable for the Ponzi scheme they have perpetuated on our nation

regrettably Spitzers peccadillos undermined his creditibility and put an end to investigations of malfeasance on Wall Street

[satyriasis]

Spitzer made the lives of Bush's Wall Street buddies difficult . If the SEC wasn't gonna do their job he would. His crimes were not anywhere close to the severity or the scale of crimes committed by the crooks he went after or their GOP masters.

[justobserve]

Does it really matter if the fed was out to get Spitzer? If he did something wrong then he was investigated and convicted whether the fed was out to get him or not. Why does the congressional panel ask the question? Doesn't it have anything worthwhile to do than to investigate such thing?

[CC1]

Good point. This reminds me of the Lewinsky mess....

[bolivare]

Yes, it does. If that were allowed, you would see many innocent people being put in jail or being blackmailed because of their political affiliations. Whether guilty or not, we are allowed some privacy and he was doing the peoples work. If the man wants to get laid by a hooker, what business is that of yours?

[Durango]

Political prosecutions are against the law.

And how was the evidence obtained? There are very stict laws against illegal wire tapping etc.

[Sarahjan]

One more thing, he should get his job back.

[harriettubman]

I hate to say it but I agree. I was spit fire mad at him at first but I've been following his career for quite a while and the man made great business decsions and went after people who normally got away with crime. Another chance.

[Sarahjan]

I believe he was and still is a good man. Wall Street was out to get him and they did.

[JD2774]

If he was meeting prostitutes in DC, it's unlikely that it would not have surfaced if he had been a serious candidate for president.

[BigHeadTodd]

Yes. And THEY placed thousands of dollars in his hands and forced him to solicit a call-girl service.

And there's a bridge in Brooklyn that is for sale, too.

[mcfried]

Who cares - the man got caught with his pants down. While I don't care about his sexual needs - HE BROKE THE LAW. The man is a hypocrite and should have the decency to fade into obscurity. I may be a liberal Democrat but I don't see a right wing conspiracy around every corner and feel compelled to use it as an excuse for the bad behavior in my own party.

[PaHairO]

Law and order type, eh ? Know another criminal, as defined by the law you apparently love as is ?

"Sitting" Senator Larry Craig.
.

It is interesting that Spitzer made it his business to go after the powerful. Does that mean he should be exonerated ? Of course not. But it's worth looking into whether or not there's a payback angle.

( I love this "I may be a liberal democrat, but ... " Or maybe you're not. Provide proof - and I'll take your word for it. Otherwise, "I may be a skeptic, and I know it's equal odds you're full of it".)

Happy Thanksgiving there, Pilgrim.

[MrsHaskell]

Politically motivated prosecution is also illegal. Given the nature of this particular probe and the apparent lack of viable prosecutions that emerged from it, I suspect that you (along with all the citizenry and democracy itself) are a victim. I hope you find that as disturbing as you do the commission of the victimless crime of solicitation of prostitution.

[mcfried]

Read the article - NO EVIDENCE after the investigation. All I am saying is enough. These people should be spending their time investigating other things given the numerous people who should be in jail