eliot spitzer

so it turns out eliot spitzer will not be prosecuted.

do you remember eliot spitzer? he is the former new york state attorney general who became governor only to resign in scandal after his solicitation of a prostitution ring became public. well, when spitzer went down there was plenty of speculation in the blogosphere about whether the case was as it appeared or if in fact, spitzer was being threatened with prosecution for political reasons. (here is a great timeline of the events.)

so why is he not being prosecuted? according to the us attorney in manhattan who had been pursuing the case, michael garcia, it is not federal prosecutor policy to prosecute clients in prostitution cases. still, spitzer was threatened with prosecution not just for solicitation but also for violation of the mann act, which was designed to address prostitution, immorality and human trafficking. it is unlikely spitzer would have been convicted under the mann act, but its use as a political tool has been the norm.

garcia originally suspected spitzer of using campaign funds or his governor's budget to pay for his sexual encounters and used that idea as his rationale for continued and further pursuit of spitzer. apparently, he has since discovered the absence of illegal activity.

it is interesting that this story broke on the day after the election. it is as if spitzer was on lockdown, perhaps informed by garcia, rove, the bush administration or whoever else was pissed off about his wapo article, (linked above in the header,) to stay out of the public sphere and to keep his mouth shut until after the election at which point charges against him would be dropped. this is pure speculation but the linked article above, written by spitzer for the washington post on february 14th, 2008, reveals spitzer as a lone voice spearheading the effort to stop predatory leanding practices, (and leading other state's attorneys general to push the bush administration to halt these practices.) in response, the administration used the office of the comptroller of currency, (occ,) to attack and ultimately stop spitzer.

the occ made new rules to prohibit states from enacting their own laws against predatory lending practices, then filed a federal lawsuit to stop spitzer from investigating the banks.

please read spitzer's article, (linked in the header.) in our day and age there are too few protectors of the people's interest and too many who cater to the interests of the few, the corporate and the wealthy. it is important to see this case in the correct light. it would be entirely reasonable to argue that what spitzer did, solicitation of a prostitute, is not immoral or should not be illegal.

what is more important, however, is the criminal behavior of thwarting a protector of the people. spitzer saw our current financial crisis back in february and tried to take action to help curb or limit its impact. not unlike joe wilson, he was stopped in his tracks. this is the kind of behavior we should be most hopeful will end when the obama administration takes power in january.