New York Governor tied to prostitution ring

Nick Juliano Published: Monday March 10, 2008 |
Print This  Email This

Spitzer apologizes to family while resignation speculation swirls

The New York Times is reporting that Gov. Eliot Spitzer (D-NY) has been involved in a prostitution ring.

Gov. Eliot Spitzer has been caught on a federal wiretap arranging to meet with a high-priced prostitute at a Washington hotel last month, according to a person briefed on the federal investigation.

The wiretap recording, made during an investigation of a prostitution ring called Emperors Club VIP, captured a man identified as Client 9 on a telephone call confirming plans to have a woman travel from New York to Washington, where he had reserved a room. The person briefed on the case identified Mr. Spitzer as Client 9.

"Kristen" said that she liked him, and that she did not think he was difficult. "Kristen" stated: 'I don't think he's difficult. I mean it's just kind of like . . . whatever. . . I'm here for a purpose. I know what my purpose is. I am not a . . . moron, you know what I mean. So maybe that's why girls maybe think they're difficult . . . . " "Kristen" continued: "That's what it is, because you're here for a [purpose]. Let's not get it twisted - I know what I do, you know." LEWIS responded: "You look at it very uniquely, because . . . no one .ever says it that way." LEWIS continued that from what she had been told "he" (believed to be a reference to Client-9) "would ask you to do things that, like, you might not think were safe - you know - I mean that . . . very basic things. . . . "Kristen" responded: "I have a way of dealing with that . . . I'd be like listen dude, you really want the sex? . . . You know what I mean."

In a brief news conference Monday afternoon, Spitzer apologized to his family and the people who elected him, although he did not specifically mention the prostitution allegations. Spitzer said he was going to take some time "to regain the trust of my family," but he did not announce his resignation and took no questions.

"We sought to bring real change to New York, and that will continue," he said. "Today I want to briefly address a private matter. I have acted in a way that violates my obligations to my family, and that violates my -- or any -- sense of right and wrong.

"I apologize first and most importantly to my family, I apologize to the public to whom I promised better," Spitzer continued. "I do not believe that politics in the long run is about individuals. It is about ideas, the public good and doing what is best for the state of New York. I have disappointed, and failed to live up to the standard I set for myself. I must now dedicate some time to regain the trust of my family. I will not be taking questions, thank you very much. I will be reporting back to you in short order."

Fox News earlier reported that Spitzer would resign, but there had been no confirmation of whether he planned to leave office as of Monday afternoon, and the governor rushed out of his press conference amid reporters' shouted questions as to whether he would.

Radar magazine followed up on the speculation.

Depending on who you're talking to in Albany and Washington this afternoon, Eliot Spitzer has either already resigned and slinked away to a fortified bunker in the Poconos, or he is going to spend a few days talking with his wife, children, and senior staffers, and then resign and slink away to a fortified bunker in the Poconos.

Radar also noted that Hillary Clinton had scrubbed her Web site of news that Spitzer had endorsed her within an hour of the story breaking Monday.

On its Web site, the Times cites an anonymous administration official as the source and says Spitzer was meeting with his top aides. The 48-year-old New York governor, and former state attorney general, is married and has three daughters. He learned about the connection to the prostitution probe from a federal official on Friday, according to the paper.

The New York Sun reports that Spitzer is suspected to be connected to a prostitution ring that charges up to $5,500 per hour. Earlier Friday, the Sun reported suggestions that a public official was suspected of having hired one of the expensive call girls.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan, Yusill Scribner, would not comment when asked whether a public official was among the clients of the Emperors Club. But the involvement of the public corruption unit raised eyebrows among the defense lawyers.

"When we first got the case, we were surprised that these were the assistants handling the case," said a defense attorney, David Gordon, who represents one of two women alleged to have booked engagements for prostitutes.

New York's local NBC affiliate reports that cell phone records may link the governor to the prostitution ring. The Times later reported that a source familiar with Spitzer's role in the prostitution ring believe he is identified in the Empire Club court papers.

The New York Observer reports that Times' reporters who broke the Spitzer story worked through the night Sunday and Monday morning before confirming enough details to post an initial report online around 2 p.m.

The Democratic governor of New York, who was elected by a wide margin in 2006. The AP reports:

Spitzer has built his political legacy on rooting out corruption, including several headline-making battles with Wall Street while serving as attorney general. He stormed into the governor's office in 2006 with a historic share of the vote, vowing to continue his no-nonsense approach to fixing one of the nation's worst governments.

Time magazine had named him "Crusader of the Year" when he was attorney general and the tabloids proclaimed him "Eliot Ness."

But his stint as governor has been marred by several problems, including an unpopular plan to grant driver's licenses to illegal immigrants and a plot by his aides to smear Spitzer's main Republican nemesis.

Spitzer also is a super-delegate for Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY), according to Marc Ambinder. Whether Monday's revelations about his alleged extra-curricular activities will affect the presidential race remains to be seen.

Commentators quickly pivoted to compare the emerging Spitzer scandal with last year's DC Madam controversy, in which Louisiana Sen. David Vitter admitted being a client of Debra Jean Palfrey's high-class call girl service. Vitter, a first-term Republican, defiantly refused to resign his seat; he is not up for re-election until 2010.

"He survived it," MSNBC analyst Dan Abrams said of the Vitter case. "So it's not that being accused of links to prostitution is an automatic death sentence in politics. But, when you're Eliot Spitzer, the standard is higher. When your entire political career has been based on [the perception that] you're a straight arrow."

Just last week, federal prosecutors arrested four people in connection with an expensive prostitution operation. Administration officials would not say that this was the ring with which the governor had become involved.

He had a difficult first year in office, rocked by a mix of scandal and legislative setbacks. In recent weeks, however, Mr. Spitzer seemed to have rebounded, with his Democratic party poised to perhaps gain control of the state Senate for the first time in four decades.

Mr. Spitzer gained national attention when he served as attorney general with his relentless pursuit of Wall Street wrongdoing. As attorney general, he also had prosecuted at least two prostitution rings as head of the state’s organized crime task force.

In one such case in 2004, Mr. Spitzer spoke with revulsion and anger after announcing the arrest of 16 people for operating a high-end prostitution ring out of Staten Island.

“”This was a sophisticated and lucrative operation with a multitiered management structure,” Mr. Spitzer said at the time. ”It was, however, nothing more than a prostitution ring.”

The full Times article is available here.

DEVELOPING...

This video is from CNN's Newsroom, broadcast March 10, 2008.

With wire reports