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New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer recently became the 22nd governor in the
history of the United States to leave office under a cloud of scandal before
their term ended. He is the 12th governor to resign because of political or
legal problems. The other ten governors were either legally removed from
office or impeached. Spitzer was forced to resign after it was revealed that
he was “Client 9” who paid as much as $80,000 to a $1,000-an-hour call girl
under federal indictment in an Internet prostitution ring. Interestingly, six
other governors in modern times have survived “sex scandals” while in
office and managed to complete their terms.
Why Spitzer?
This statute, also known as the White-Slavery Act, would require the
government to establish that Spitzer’s payment of the prostitute’s travel
expenses to Washington, D.C. constituted a knowing intent to “transport”
her across state lines to “engage in prostitution.” A good defense attorney –
and Spitzer certainly has the money to hire the best – could mount a serious
challenge to that contention.
Two other possible laws under which Spitzer could be prosecuted are: 18
U.S.C. § 2422 [Coercion and Enticement) which provides:
§ 2422 is the statute the federal government generally utilizes when it goes
after child prostitution rings. It is not really an ideal statute under which to
prosecute Spitzer as part of an adult prostitution ring. The government
would be limited to using only the “knowingly persuades” component of the
statute premised on the theory that the former governor persuaded the
prostitute to meet him at a hotel in Washington, D.C. for criminal sexual
activity.
• 1994 - 97,600
• 1995 – 96,400
• 1996 - 97,700
• 1997 - 100,200
• 1998 - 92,600
• 1999 - 90, 900
• 2000 - 86,300
• 2001 - 79,400
• 2002 - 78,200
• 2003 - 73,800
• 2004 - 86,100
• 2005 – 84,891
The last six years indicate a significant downward trend in prostitution-
related arrests. The unspoken factor in these statistics is that they primarily
relate to “street level” prostitution – and most of the arrests were prostitutes
themselves. A relatively insignificant percentage involved “johns”
(customers of prostitutes) being arrested – and most the “johns” arrested
were caught in police “sting” operations using undercover agents as decoys.
This pattern of lack of law enforcement and prosecutorial interest in the
customers of the prostitution trade would surely create serious and legitimate
questions of fairness should the federal government unleash its awesome
prosecutorial forces against Eliot Spitzer.
“When such a time came around that Clinton admitted that he was busted,”
Blaney said, “people were [already] convinced that this was strictly a private
matter.”
Spitzer could not “spin” his scandal. He faced the reality that there is a price,
both personally and professionally, a politician must pay for becoming a
“scandal.” The question is: how much? Spitzer has already paid an
enormous price: shame and embarrassment to his family, loss of a
governorship, and personal humiliation that will impact all future
professional endeavors. Yes, he is a wealthy man, but wealth is a lonely
companion in social isolation.
The New York Republican power structure took particular satisfaction in the
downfall of Eliot Spitzer. But the following Republican-related scandals
discussed by the Baltimore Sun should prompt these New York Republicans
to say “but for the Grace of God, there go I:”
S. Robert Lichter, president of the Center for Media and Public Affairs in
Washington, D.C., was quoted in the Baltimore Sun article as saying: "In
terms of survival, it's tougher for governors than senators, because you are
exercising an executive function. A governor is running the state and dealing
with the political opposition. You can't manage in that kind of uproar."
Spitzer really didn’t have a chance to manage the “uproar” that followed the
“Client 9” revelations. The political firestorm consumed him quickly, and
savagely. But is the use of the services of a prostitute such a violation of the
public trust that demands personal disgrace and political destruction of our
office-holders? There is no easy answer to the question, primarily because
the general public knows every little about the prostitution trade.
“These findings compelled the authors to observe that ‘Las Vegas is the
symbolic center of the sex industry in the United States.’
Following the Eliot Spitzer revelations, a Las Vegas brothel owner during a
cable news interview instructed out-of-state politicians in need of the
services of a prostitute to contact a brothel owner in that city. He said the
client will be met at the airport, driven to a hotel in a limo with darkened
windows, escorted privately to a room, and provided with a prostitute who
will service whatever sexual need he/she may have.
It is rather amazing that high profile politicians like Spitzer and David Vitter
would engage the illegal services of a “prostitution ring” when they could
have gotten the same services legally in Nevada. What is equally amazing is
that while the nation faces an economy on the brink of collapse, a
devastating war, and a litany of global threats, the Spitzer “scandal” would
so dominate the news business for two weeks.