Eliot Spitzer Resigns as N.Y. Governor

New York Governor, Eliot Laurence Spitzer, 48, announced his resignation, effective Monday, March 17, 2008, bringing an end to what might have been an illustrious political career. He became governor in Jan. 2007 after winning an impressive 69% of the popular vote. He previously held the post of New York State Attorney General, to which he was elected in 1998. It was in this capacity that he earned the reputation of being tough on white collar crime. He was the nemesis of Wall Street, prosecuting securities and internet fraud, investment banking stock price manipulation, a mutual fund scandal and even took on Richard Grasso, the then-chairman of the New York Stock Exchange over his $140 million compensation pay package. He earned the nicknames Sheriff of Wall Street, Mr. Clean, "Eliot Ness" Spitzer among others for his efforts to root out corruption.

His short term as governor was marred by political battles with Republican State Senate majority leader Joseph L. Bruno and others. He also proposed two controversial bills: 1. The legalization of same sex marriage in New York and 2. Allowing illegal aliens to obtain driving licenses.

Eliot Spitzer was forced to resign over allegations that he was involved with a prostitute and a prostitution ring called the Emperor's Club. He was caught on FBI wiretaps, identified as "Client 9", arranging and paying for the services of "Kristen" who was later identified as Ashley Alexandra Dupre a 22-year-old aspiring musician. Dupre briefly spoke to the Times about the Spitzer scandal. She told the newspaper she had slept very little since the allegations against Spitzer were revealed, and she declined to comment when asked by the Times when she first met him and how many times they had been together. She told the Times she was worried about paying her rent in a ninth-floor Manhattan apartment since her boyfriend recently left her. Records show that she currently lives in Manhattan, in a luxury rental skyscraper called The Chelsea Landmark on West 25th Street. Rents there start at $3500 a month for a small studio.

In his resignation speech Spitzer said:

“Over the course of my public life, I have insisted — I believe correctly — that people regardless of their position or power take responsibility for their conduct,” he said. “I can and will ask no less of myself. For this reason, I am resigning from the office of governor.”

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYUH7tSN8cU]

Eliot Spitzer will be replaced as governor by lieutenant governor David Alexander Paterson, 53, who will not only become New York's first Black governor but also New York's first legally blind governor. Previously, Mr. Paterson had served as the minority leader of the state Senate.

When he was elected Senate minority leader, Mr. Paterson recalled the discrimination he had suffered because he is disabled. “So I have had this desire my whole life to prove people wrong, to show them I could do things they didn’t think I could do,” he said. “This is just another.”

Comments

[sulochanosho]

The hypcratic, holy-pretending world always kills daring people. It's a tragedy as well as comedy that the world is using a toy weapon called 'sex' to mar and finish the daring persons like Eliot Laurence Spitzer

Sex is not a sin. Hypocritic morality is a sin.