March 11, 2008
Gov. Eliot Spitzer is an addict. He could not break his addiction without outside help, and the nature of the addiction. socially speaking, precludes help. It's not like alcoholism, which has been re-defined as a medical affliction, which it becomes in its late stages. An AA member can call another member and ask him to come over because he's about to fall off the wagon.
Who does a sexual addict call? A pimp. Excuse me: an escort service. "Hello. Whores for rich guys. How can we help you?"
Spitzer paid $4,300 for one-night stand, plus a trip to Washington, plus a hotel room. This was not the first time.
The outfit charged as much as $5,500 per hour. I guess he hired one of the 5-diamond girls, not a 7.
He is independently wealthy. He could afford these women. The Feds thought he must have been paying bribes or doing something else that was illegal. (By the way, our financial privacy is long gone.)
Money is digital. It leaves records. As Attorney General, he won cases based on digital money.
He sent e-mails. Yes, the man who once said the following: "Never talk when you can nod, and never nod when you can wink, and never write an e-mail because it's death. You're giving prosecutors all the evidence we need,"
He could go to jail. Why? Because of a law written to aid prosecutors: the law against structuring. If you structure a financial transaction to conceal something illegal, it's a felony. Example: withdrawing currency above $10,000 in two $5,500 withdrawals, so as not to report it.
This is ironic. They got him on a legal technicality.
Now he will get to pay lawyers. Ah, the justness of all this! A corrupt lawyer getting his comeuppance. A ruthless Attorney General who made his reputation by harassing men for crimes far less serious than adultery in the eyes of God.
The big loser is his wife. She stood there, a middle-aged lady, expressionless, in front of the cameras, silent, watching her world disintegrate, and being watched by tens of millions of viewers on prime-time news. In full public view, she has been betrayed by the man she trusted. She will be the wife of a publicly disgraced ex-governor.
His three daughters are also humiliated.
Power attracts good-looking young women. He had his pick for free in Albany. But that was not enough excitement for him. He is an addict. He wanted the thrill of living dangerously. He paid big money for women who did not respect him because of his power. They had contempt for him because of his weakness.
His addiction will now be put under control. This is good. Better late than never.
If you have an addiction, deal with it while you still can. He didn't. Now he will be forced to deal with it.
Jim Bakker, Jimmy Swaggart, Bill Clinton: some got away with it, some didn't, but all of them will be remembered more for their addition than for their hard work and lost dreams. I think of the second whore who was caught with Swaggart in California. Her comment to the press served as the epitaph for his ministry: "I guess God wanted me off the streets and Jimmy off the air." Yet he had a good ministry. It fed a lot of children.
Spitzer was just another ambitious politician. More of them should be off the streets and off the air.
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