Eliot Spitzer: Why Some Stay and Why Some Gotta Go

I've been asked this question a number of times in the past 48 hours: Why do some politicians caught in a scandal get to stay in office and why do some have to leave in disgrace? Why, for example, does a Bill Clinton remain and watch his numbers actually go up and why does a David Vitter end up in the U.S. Senate and why does Eliot Spitzer have to go?

There are three distinct elements that answer that question. The first is hypocrisy. Voters just don't like people who say one thing and then completely do another. That has brought down everyone from Richard Nixon ("I am not a crook," but he was) to the garden-variety Christian televangelists (who live by the sword but had a hard time keeping the sword in its sheath). On the other hand, Sens. David Vitter and Larry Craig have kept their political positions. It's true that they have, but Craig will step down at the end of his term and Vitter has most certainly given his last family values speech. In Spitzer's case, the hypocrisy has been palpable, a moral and ethical crusader, who by all accounts refused to laugh at dirty jokes, and described himself as an "f__g steamroller." Spitzer never suffered the foibles of those who got caught in his crosshairs. Once he decided on his targets, he preyed upon them and never relented. Small reason why there are few people on Wall Street who feel sorry. Spitzer was not in any position to beg forgiveness because he never, ever forgave.

Number two is illegality. There has to be a clear violation of the law. And let's face it, we're not talking about parking and traffic scofflaws. Bill Clinton was getting nailed on perjury because Americans believed, according to my polls, that even presidents are entitled to some privacy. Vitter saw a prostitute. That's between himself and his wife. Craig stood wide before the law, but the law was only a misdemeanor and a pretty stupid law at that. In Spitzer's case, the tawdry sex aspects are salacious, but this is the crusader against white-collar crime acting like a thug, setting up shell corporations, transferring money. All that's missing is the visor and the rubber gloves. The activity seems pathological and the irony of an attorney general acting as a criminal can't be avoided, especially acting like the very kind of criminal that Spitzer himself would have nailed to the wall.

Finally, there's political expendability. With New York Democrats one seat away from taking over the state Senate and a Republican party starting to rebound after the 2006 debacle, the party simply could not afford to have Spitzer at the helm. His popularity was already low, his behavior to friends and foes alike perplexing, it begged the question: What to do with a mortally wounded governor? This is a key difference. Republicans in Idaho know that they're going to win the Senate seat in the next election. Louisiana Republicans could not afford a special election at the time (there was then a Democratic governor). Congressman Jefferson would probably win re-election, but on top of the hypocrisy, the illegality, the campaign to punish Democratic friends as well as Republican enemies, Spitzer had no one to go to and nowhere to go.

A number of reporters have called and asked about the potential impact of all this on Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign. There may be some reminders of the impeachment months, but I think the real impact will be felt on the Obama campaign. New York's new Governor, David Patterson, is a young and dynamic African-American, a legislator who frequently and comfortably crosses the aisle to work with the opposition. If he is able to restore vision, common-purpose, and create a bi-partisan agenda in the next few months, he will not only succeed in getting New York state back on the right track, but could be just the metaphor that Barack Obama needs as he approaches the Democratic National Convention in August.

Comments

[RuthAlice]

what's so sad is that people see only Spitzer's criminality in this and miss the glaring honesty that's at the core. This is a politician who paid for his own hookers - how often does that happen? Consider Abramoff, Ney, Dukester and on and on and on... politicians just don't pay for hookers, but Spitzer was so honest he didn't have investment bankers lined up to pay for his hookers.

[Peddler]

I have a solution for Hillary:
Divorce Bill.
Vote for McCain
Resign her Senate seat
Write a book

[davy]

Exactly ! O America what on earth has happened to you. Here's a quote from that Scot's poet Robbie Burns. ""Oh would some god the giftie gie us, to see oorselves as others see us"

An X pat you man not see it America but the rest of the world does.

[Google]

There is one element about Spitzers character that I will always remember.

During the summer of 1998 on his initial campaign for Attorney General, he was the ONLY candidate to campaign in Black neighborhoods or go to Black events.

This is interesting because that was a major campaign year
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C07E2DF1F3FF937A35752C1A96E958260

Later, I discovered Spitzer had a Black campaign manager who realized the void.

This strategy helped give him the extremely narrow victory over his opponent

[whatever2]

And some go because it is convenient to the republican party to get rid of them and the democrats are so busy congratulating themselves on their superior morality that they haven't yet noticed that the republicans have openly stated they get along with Spitzer's replacement better; maybe because he's not as tough as Spitzer and is easier to manipulate than Spitzer was? Your notion that crossing the aisle is good only if both parties give up something. Over the last 8 years republicans haven't given up anything and democratic legislators have been a major disappointment in their lack of attempts to stop what's being done to the American public or to take corrective actions. And then there's the convenience of a future democratic candidate (Spitzer) gone before he became a threat to the republicans in a future election?

That's not taking away from the part Spitzer played in his downfall. He knew better. I'm just saying that there are other things to sort through and consider.

[westwind]

I doubt the reaction on Wall Street had much to do with his unwillingness to forgive. These are not sensitive souls who got their feelings hurt by the mean, insensitive AG. He enforced the law like few before him, and everyone there knew that if they were caught they would pay the price. Their response is that of mice when cats go away. They had grown so used to lax enforcement of white-collar crime, that even though he hadn't been AG for a while, they still harbored resentment towards him because he had dared to apply the law to "their" domain.

[nypoet22]

i think obama has learned enough from hillary's MLK comments to treat this issue as 100% hands-off.

[JosephHorgan]

O'Bama doesn't need to comment. The event speaks for itself: some, like Spitzer, admit their faults and resign for the good of the many. For Republicans, like Vitter, Craig and Bill Clinton, honor is more important than party and country and family.

[JohnFromCensornati]

LOL.
Did you read Zogby's analysis?
It's quite a stretch to believe that Spitzer resigned "for the good" of anybody.
He resigned only after getting caught.
He was forced to leave.

[rmabelis]

In order to survive a scandal like this a politician needs a great deal of political capital. Spitzer has been spending his like a drunken sailor. He lost much political capital when his nominee for comptroller was defeated and he lashed out at the legislature for appointing one of its own to the position. Much of the rest was lost during the controversy over driver licenses for illegals. If the Republicans move to impeach, and they have made it clear they would, the bill quickly passes the Democratically controlled Assembly. Conviction by the Republican controlled Senate is certain. In short Spitzer has resigned so quickly because he has no other reasonable alternative. Bill Clinton, Larry Craig, and David Vitter did.