New York Governor Eliot Spitzer faced growing pressure to resign yesterday after becoming entangled in a sex scandal linking him to a high-priced prostitute.
Investigators said he was clearly a repeat customer who spent tens of thousands of dollars -- perhaps as much as US$80,000 -- on the service over an extended period of time.
Spitzer and his family, meanwhile, remained secluded on Tuesday in their Fifth Avenue apartment, while Republicans began talking impeachment, and few if any fellow Democrats came forward to defend him.
The scandal raises the possibility of criminal charges and the end of the political career of a man once considered a rising star in his party.
Several local media cited sources saying that Spitzer, 48, who is married and has three daughters, would resign as early as yesterday. Un-identified aides told the New York Times his wife, Silda Spitzer, was urging him not to step down.
Public opinion was heavily in favor of the governor leaving office, a WNBC/Marist poll showed, finding 70 percent of registered New York voters wanted Spitzer to quit.
"It's a big thumbs-down from New York voters," said Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion in Poughkeepsie, New York. "He's in a politically untenable position as far as public opinion is concerned."
Legal observers speculated Spitzer, the state's former chief prosecutor who built a reputation fighting white-collar crime on Wall Street, hoped to reach a deal with prosecutors over possible criminal charges before leaving his post.
Although clients of prostitutes typically are not charged with crimes under state laws, the Spitzer case is in the hands of federal authorities.
He could face charges of structuring, which entails payments of money made in such a way as to conceal their purpose and source.
The scandal erupted after the New York Times said Spitzer hired a US$1,000-an-hour prostitute and was caught on a federal wiretap arranging to meet her at a Washington hotel.
Spitzer apologized on Monday for what he called a "private matter." He said nothing about resigning nor did he confirm or deny the report.
He retreated to his Manhattan apartment building and has not appeared in public since.
Spitzer was elected with nearly 70 percent of the vote in 2006 following a stint as state attorney general, when his high-profile financial probes attracted publicity but also resentment on Wall Street.
New Yorkers were split on what should happen to Spitzer, with roughly half saying he should face criminal charges and half saying he should not, the WNBC/Marist poll said.
If Spitzer does not resign, 66 percent said the state legislature should impeach him, the poll said.
On Tuesday, James Tedisco, head of the Republicans in the legislature, said if Spitzer did not resign in 24 to 48 hours, they would prepare articles of impeachment.
At the heart of the scandal is a criminal complaint unveiled last week charging four people with running a prostitution ring dubbed The Emperors Club.
Spitzer was identified as Client 9 in court papers in that case, according to the Times. Client 9 arranged to meet with "Kristen," a prostitute who charged US$1,000 an hour, on Feb. 13 in a Washington hotel and paid her US$4,300, the papers said.
Unidentified sources told New York's Newsday that Spitzer had as many as eight liaisons over the past several years with prostitutes supplied by an international ring based in New Jersey. Spitzer paid several thousand dollars each time, the sources said.
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
RSS