While much of the U.S. media and various American law bloggers virtually fall over themselves to stretch for creative angles as to the various state and federal offenses New York Governor Elliot Spitzer could be overcharged with, after the explosive revelation of the Governor's liaisons with professional escorts, I have only one question:
Did he use any public money when he dunnit?
If not, this isn't much of a story at all.
It's just another political lynching by the Monica brigade.
....
UPDATE:
Predictably, Mr. Spitzer has now resigned as New York's Governor:
- Spitzer Resigns, Citing Personal Failings- N.Y. Times
UPDATE - March 14, 2008:
- ...And equally predictably, the 'other woman' now has her fifteen minutes of fame: Spitzer escort's fame fuels career prospects - CNN
- It took almost a week, but finally, the law blogs begin to ask the only important question: Did Spitzer Use Campaign Funds to Finance Prostitute Visits? - WSJ Law Blog
UPDATE - March 15, 2008:
- Hustler Magazine makes a ritual appearance, announcing it wants in on the action: Larry Flynt Offers Ashley Alexandra Dupre $1 Million For Nude Shoot - Wonkette
- "Kristen" lawyers up: "we feel constrained to put the media on notice that as counsel for Ms. Dupré we will take all steps that we deem necessary or appropriate to protect Ms. Dupré from any unwarranted exploitation of her name, picture, voice or likeness for purposes of profit.” - Lawyer for “Kristen” Scolds Media Over Photos - WSJ Law Blog
Update - March 16, 2008
- Tough questions for the Justice Department from lawyer Scoot Horton at Harper's Magazine: "...there is a second tier of questions that needs to be examined with respect to the Spitzer case. They go to prosecutorial motivation and direction. Note that this prosecution was managed with staffers from the Public Integrity Section at the Department of Justice. This section is now at the center of a major scandal concerning politically directed prosecutions... The Justice Department needs to submit to some questions about how this probe got launched, who launched it, and to what extent political appointees were involved in its direction. This has nothing to do with Spitzer’s guilt or innocence. But it has everything to do with the fading integrity of the Public Integrity Section." See: The Spitzer Sex Sting: A Few More Questions
Update - March 17, 2008
- I note that Walter Olson of Overlawyered has paid a visit to our comments area and remarked on this post at his blog. I've responded to his comments today with a follow-up post: Overlawyering Spitzer
- Shankar Vedantam of the Washington Post looks at the medial orbitofrontal cortex and the "price-placebo effect" in considering whether Governor Spitzer got his "money's worth." See: Eliot Spitzer and the Price-Placebo Effect
Update - March 19, 2008
- What do you know? "Kristen" has a revealing video history - as a GGW. See: Call girl linked to Spitzer already girl 'gone wild' - CTV News
- Garry J. Wise, Toronto
Visit our Toronto Law Firm website: www.wiselaw.net
EMPLOYMENT LAW • CIVIL LITIGATION • WILLS AND ESTATES • FAMILY LAW & DIVORCE
1 comment:
Let's see. Here you have a New York governor who crusaded for and signed into law "the toughest and most comprehensive anti-sex-trade law in the nation", which specifically raised the prison terms applicable to the workaday "johns" who patronize prostitutes. And you also have the most celebrated white-collar prosecutor of his era, charged with engaging in violations of the same money-laundering laws that he himself invoked in obtaining convictions. As NYC criminal defense attorney/blogger Scott Greenfield points out, "the government regularly prosecutes 'little people' for money laundering violations. It happens all the time":
http://blog.simplejustice.us/2008/03/13/spitzer-aftermath-what-to-expect.aspx
And the best you can think of is to call the revulsion that drove Spitzer from office a "political lynching by the Monica brigade"? I hope it does not pass for progressive thinking in your country to defend high officials who consider themselves above the laws with which they trample others; if anything such an attitude sounds to me more like the sort of royalist streak that I thought Canada had left behind.
Post a Comment