Spitzer's Fiscal Irresponsibility

It wasn't yesterday's contrived, meaningless apology that was the worst. No, that was expected. Nor was it the sight of Silda Spitzer standing there with her husband, dragged into the appearance and forced to face the cameras stoically, when she'd clearly rather be at home, downing Ambien with merlot and picking out the furniture she'll keep.

It wasn't the betrayal of moral, family values (Spitzer's a Democrat after all), or the hypocrisy of a man who once eagerly prosecuted pimps (even as the word "pimp" became a verb used by soccer moms). It wasn't even the fact that he slept around, with a hooker no less, which seems to be a prerequisite for politics not just in America, but around the world.

No, the true outrage, and the one that should ultimately drive Eliot Spitzer from Albany was the price he paid for the companionship of "Kristen," the petite brunette lady of the night who accompanied Gov. Spitzer that night at the Mayflower Hotel, and apparently other nights previous to that. For a man who built his career not only on prosecutions of corporate criminals, but on promises of fiscal responsibility and the need to curb the flagrant excess of Wall Street's spending, tossing down up to $4300 on the pleasures of the flesh seemed an appropriate way to spend his taxpayer earned dollars.

Let's take into account that Gov. Spitzer draws an annual salary of just $179,000 a year, and though his living costs are covered, he still has a family and a taste for nice suits. Yes, he has personal money as well, but as one of the few governors who draws a salary, much of that still comes from public coffers.

Emperor's Club ranked their ladies on a diamond scale, with more diamonds costing...well, more diamonds. It can be certain that as Gov. Spitzer shtupped his way through the catalogue, he hit upon the higher end of the pay scale. On the now defunct website (saved here by Huff Po), girls are listed as ranging from $1,000 to $3,100 an hour, and $10,000 to $31,000 per day. Without analyzing Gov. Spitzer's bedroom endurance, a man of his appetites, in possession of Pfizer's finest blue pill, could easily go into overtime and rack up the bills. Plus, I'm certain these weren't all inclusive packages. Hookers are like hotel mini-bars. Nothing's for free.

Now, assuming he was getting some sort of preferred rate at the Emperor's Club, and gaining the services of "Kristen" and other escorts on a regular basis, that'll eat into the discretionary spending pretty quickly. Tack onto that the $200 per night (and up) room rate at the Renaissance Mayflower Hotel, maybe $70 in champagne, $80 in room service, $30 for in-room porno, and you have quite an expensive night. I assume he also paid for "Kristen's" Amtrak ticket from New York to D.C., which is the heart of the crime, but also another couple hundred tossed onto the tab...and I doubt her commoditized ass traveled economy.

Most of the time, it appears that Spitzer indulged in these carnal pleasures in New York City, which would have easily doubled the above costs, minus the travel. Undoubtedly there were gifts, costumes (perhaps he dressed as Conrad Black and took a good flogging), and designer sex toys. He appears to have been familiar with the ladies of Emperor's Club, so much so that he was confused about what girl the service was sending. So that shows a frequency level, which means multiples of dates.

Add it all together and you get tens of thousands of dollars (if not more), of taxpayer funds spent recklessly with very little trickle down effects for the local economy (butt plugs are largely Chinese made). All this while the good Governor had it for free at home. Say what you will about Bill Clinton, but all his affair with Monica Lewinsky cost the country was a cigar and a dry cleaning bill. Spitzer's folly is so atrocious because he spent like a crooked hedge fund manager on a white truffle binge. He not only betrayed the confidence and trust of New Yorkers, but he pumped away their hard earned tax dollars on the oldest economic commodity known to man (one with no returns on investment), and indulged like the very creatures of corporate excess he so publicly reviled. It might be kosher for Jack Nicholson or Charlie Sheen to shill that much for sex, but for a public servant, it's simply fiscally irresponsible.

Comments

[onwatch]

David Sax: You should note that the Clinton Oval Office BJ cost this country 7 years of pain with George Bush, and the concompitent loss in fiscal strength, international influence, and moral strength. That is what that this cost us, despite the fact the the Republican greed machine is responsible for Blowing it out of proportion for 2 years or more.

[Romeover]

Spitzer is rich. His salary as governor is a drop in the bucket for him.

The problem is not that he spent taxpayers' money, but that we live in a society that believes obscene wealth is acceptable.

[cityartgrl4]

FISCAL IRRESPONSIBILITY MY 7DIAMOND a**!

Eliott Spitzer and a groug of legislators tried to stop the Bush Adm from allowing the mess we're in now.
The Washington Post carried his letter detailing his efforts on Feb 14th, 2008, but this has been totally ignored in the press. That was the day after his assignation with the ("poor, abused woman", "yeah right"). So the man was a freak, who on this planet isn't some sort of freak.

Give me a break and give the devil his due. He saw this crash coming, and since we wasn't your typical butt kissing politician, they decided they had had enough of him, and cashed in his chips for him.

[dustyoh]

Well, maybe the cost of Clinton's tryst was a cigar and a dry cleaning bill - but if you believe this Frontline report:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/wallstreet/weill/demise.html

and note that Glass - Steagall was act was "coincidentally" pushed through the day after Kenneth Starr stepped down as special prosecutor, you have to wonder. Because now the mortgage and housing debacle is going to worm its way through to other financial markets - laying the groundwork for an all out depression in this down cycle. Oh, but it were only the cost of a cigar and a dry cleaning bill, because America has not seen the likes of which Clinton's actions have laid in store for us just over the horizon.

[mae692]

meanwhile in the real news - the treasurer for the RNC disappears with close to a million dollars in funds. Interesting how they can track 4000 of Spitzer's own money but couldn't find 990,000 in stolen funds.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/03/13/gop-group-extreasurer-d_n_91482.html

And on another point, Kristen knew she was trading sex for money. Monica thought she was trading sex for emotional commitment (or something). Kristen and Eliot both got what they expected that night. At least Eliot was honest enough to pay for what he wanted.

[NicoleAnonymous]

What country are you living in? We don't have the right to tell a politician how to spend HIS money from HIS salary. That is HIS money and Spitzer doesn't decide the salary for governor - he has the right to spend HIS money any way HE wants. He can buy his wife fancy diamond rings or buy his children expensive clothes or he can use HIS money on prostitutes - that is HIS choice. And the fact is he used money from his own personal accounts.

They went after Spitzer because they're worried Clinton will win and might make him AG and also because they knew the mortgage problems are getting worse. Why is that so hard for you to figure out? He was human and all humans need sex or they will go crazy - would you prefer the governor spends all his time at bars looking for women instead of actually working? He had a busy job and a family and HE can spend HIS money how HE wants. And spending $10,000 a year on sex isn't exactly the same as spending a few million on your own birthday party or paying $100,000 a year for your own personal chef.

[outnow]

David,

In your "morality tale" you forgot to identify the real villains. We know who might have given his wife AIDS - it was OK for Magic Johnson apparently - but who polluted the international financial system?

Spitzer stood in the way of Countrywide, Bank of America, Citibank and others in the subprime mess, getting a "clever bailout" of these institutions that made the subprime loans to poor Blacks and others who could not resist the teaser rates or didn't understand the ARMS, etc., made it easier to create, bundle and rate the mortgage-backed securities which now pollute the world market. The disclosure by the banks to the investigating agencies, investigating Spitzer, not the institutions, caught Spitzer just in time for the "indirect bailout" - securing more loans by - are you ready - mortgage-backed securities!

There's your long arm of the law! The banks walk and Spitzer goes down. Hurrah! Wall Street takes care of its own. You can still hear the cheering on Wall Street.

Well, Dave, you bit - hook, line, and sinker! Do you have proof that the hooker bill came from campaign funds? Even if it did, according to Paul Krugman, the biggest assumption of risk by a central bank of a major country in all recorded history just whizzed past your eyes. You did catch the glamor and scandal - just the wrong one - deregulation. Remember the Savings and Loan scandal? Some of the same names, too. Slightly different MO - same guys though.

Dave, you missed the big picture. You are seeing trees when there is a huge forest right before your eyes. Pound wise and penny foolish in reverse. And how did the Feds get the info? From the banks. Duh.

[outnow]

Dave,

I will refer you to Eliot Spitzer's article published in the Washington Post on 2-14-08. He calls the Bush Administration willing accomplices to the lenders who went to great lengths in their quests for profits. So willing, in fact, that it used the power of the federal government in an unprecedented assault on state attorneys general and anyone else on the side of consumers (Using the "OCC" Office of the Currency Comptroller - out of existence since the Civil War) and the OCC was used against consumers!!!!!! with the help of the administration.

Predatory lending is an old story: misrepresenting the terms of loans, making loans without regard to consumers' ability to repay, making loans with deceptive teaser rates that later ballooned, packing loans with undisclosed charges and fees, and paying illegal kickbacks. automatically as well as other misdeeds and frauds.

The timing of the scandal and the way the information about Spitzer's financial records appeared is very suspect considering that it resembles the outing of Valerie Plame affair in Plame/Gate and the recent conviction of Don Siegelman, former governor of Alabama.

I have never experienced the active participation of the federal government in defeating consumer protection to the extent that this administration has done. This "silent tort reform" disables the federal and the state governments from protecting consumers and insuring integrity in financial markets.

History will judge Spitzer as a hero, albeit an unfaithful one. The predatory lenders' partner in crime is the Bush administration which stopped the states from stepping in to help consumers.

This should not be a Democratic vs. Republican issue. Nor should it be about sex - it's about some of the biggest theft of our times. This is what happens to whistleblowers.

[NABNYC]

Okay, the joke's on us. The governor got a blow job, but the rest of the public got royally screwed.

Is it likely that Spitzer was brought down this week precisely because the major financial institutions are ready to fold like a cardhouse? Spitzer -- Tuesday? Bear Stearns Thursday night, the midnight calls between the people who run the country (JP Morgan and the big boys on Wall Street) and the federal government that does their bidding. And who will fold next week?

Check out the insider trading information for Bear Stearns during the last 6 months, and look at the number of sales vs. buys by insiders. Then check out the insider compensation paid to the --insiders. They've looted the company, tried to cash out, then leave their creditors and investors holding the bag. Well, that's not really true, it appears that the public is going to go in and pay off the obligations of the insiders from Bear Stearns.

Who will go after the insiders and attach their assets, tie everything up so it can be liquidated and sold? Wouldn't that be the right thing to do? To tell all the big boys on wall street that if they keep looting the businesses, the feds will come and seize all their assets to pay off the company's obligations? Wouldn't that be the right thing to do? Luckily for them, Spitzer is out of the picture and Mukasey has made clear he will never prosecute anyone associated with the Bush Regime even for murder, so I doubt he's going to be worried about a little financial fraud. Thanks again to Diane Feinstein and Chuck Schumer for supporting Mukasey.

I briefly caught some Congressional hearing this week chastising the big boys for paying themselves such obscene amounts of money. Yawn. One -- just one insider at Bear Stearns last year was paid $38 million plus, and there were lots more insiders feeding at that trough. If Congress wants to stop insiders from looting businesses and screwing the public, they can simply change the tax laws.

Tax all compensation over $250,000 at 90%, just to begin. And make it illegal for a business to write off (as a business expense) compensation in excess of $250,000. If Congress wanted to stop it, they could. But these same insiders who loot the companies also pay a percentage off the top to our politicians to get them to look the other way. So our politicians are equally responsible for what's happening.

So maybe we've heard enough about Spitzer hiring a hooker. Maybe we should be more concerned about Spitzer being taken down at this precise moment right before major financial institutions start to fail, and the truth about their fraud and corruption, and our government's sanctioning of it, is revealed.

[OrangeSam]

Hey, David! No crying "taxpayer funds." You haven't shown where Eliiot spent anything other than his salary to the escort service. Once paid to him in the form of salary, they are Spitzer's funds to be spent any way he chooses. Too bad he made some foolish choices.

[thebohemiangrooves]

meanwhile in the real news, the Centcom head, Fallon, who was against an Iran attack was kicked out the door, so expect an Iran war soon. Soliders died in Iraq as attacks are picking up and Petraeus himself declares the surge is not making progress. The head of the Sunni "Awakening Council", who we are funneling money to was murdered. We found out the Iraq war will probobly top $3 trillion. The economy got worse. Oil neared $110 per barrel. Gas prices reached new highs. 2 White house officials had contempt charges filed against them. A report came out stating there are pharmeceuticals in our water supply. Another report came out saying 1 in 4 teenage girls had a sexually transmitted disease. Oh well, at least we caught this guy and we can all feel smug that someone who was righteous and was doing something unrightreous was caught. God bless amerika and the blessed patriot act that allowed the banks and the elite to monitor Spitzer, report him to the IRS, have the IRS alert the FBI. Have a poltical decision, assuredly from the white house, friends of big banks, to monitor him and leak the information to the press. What a great country! welcome to fascism.