Categories
New York City Politics

Eliot Spitzer: Client #9?

[digg-reddit-me]I managed to get through the heavy traffic at The New York Times to get some information on their apparent exclusive scoop on Governor Eliot Spitzer’s “involvement” in a prostitution ring.

Some titillating details…

Emperors Club VIP apparently charged between $1,000 and $5,500 an hour for the services of it’s ladies of the night. It had offices in New York, Washington, London, Paris, and Miami.

The Web site [of the Emperors Club], which was disabled shortly after the arrests were announced, ranked the prostitutes on a scale of one to seven “diamonds.” A three-diamond woman, for example, could command a fee of $1,000 per hour. A seven-diamond woman cost more than $3,000 an hour.

From the Criminal Complaint – with the Times article identifying Spitzer as Client #9 – a record of a telephone conversation between “Rachelle” and “Kristen”, Kristen just having left Client #9’s hotel room:

Client #9 “would ask you to do things that, like, you might not think were safe – you know? I mean that…very basic things.”

No more details are given.

It is also suggested that Mr. Spitzer was a regular client. Shortly before he is about to meet “Kristen”, Mr. Spitzer asks “Rachelle” to remind him what “Kristen” looked like. “Rachelle” described “Kristen” as “an America, petite, very pretty brunette, 5 feet 5 inches, and 105 poinds.”

At the start of the incident described in the complaint February 11, 2008, Mr. Spitzer had an outstanding balance of $2,600 with the Emperor’s Club. This led to quite a number of phone calls and text messages back and forth trying to determine how he could pay appropriately. Eventually, he paid “Kristen” $4,100 according to the complaint.

Additional suggestive information: Mr. Spitzer’s liaison with “Kristen” was only revealed in the Complaint because he was soliciting across state lines – asking “Kristen” to travel from Manhattan down to Washington, where he was scheduled to appear before Congress the next day. This was how the Federal government got involved with the “interstate commerce”.

Possibly relevant information: the Lieutenant Governor of New York is David Paterson. Despite the fact that Mr. Spitzer did not choose to resign in his minute-and-a-half-long press conference – it’s hard to see how he avoids it if the Times is right about Mr. Spitzer being “Client #9”.

Update: I’m not that outraged by this. As a matter of public policy, it’s hard to see why high end prostitution should be illegal. (I differentiate between high end and normal prostitution, because normal prostitutes – because they are valued less – are at increased risk of drug dependence, physical abuse, exploitation, and sexually transmitted diseases. Normal prostitutes even suffer extremely high rates of post-traumatic stress disorder, comparable to soldiers in a war zone.) It does seem typical that Mr. Spitzer prosecuted a number of prostitution rings as attorney general – and now finds himself labeled as the client of one.

Update II: ((Post time edited to reflect this update.)) I don’t think there is anything wrong with going over the salacious details of the lives of public officials – especially if they come out in a criminal investigation. There is a natural interest – at least for me – in the celebrity-style gossip. I generally have little to no interest in news about celebrities. But the same type of news about politicians does interest me, although I am almost and sometimes ashamed to admit it.

But some disturbing questions are beginning to be raised about how Mr. Spitzer came to be the target of this investigation – questions which my interest in the salacious details distracted me from. Jane Hamsher at Firedoglake follows up the ABC New revelation that the operation to take down the prostitution ring apparently began when investigators noticed suspicious money transfers in Mr. Spitzer’s private accounts. Ms. Hamsher asks the logical question: Why was the federal government snooping around in Mr. Spitzer’s private financial records? How did this come to the government’s attention? Ms. Hamsher concludes:

There are all kinds of things about this that just don’t pass the smell test.

Scott Horton of Harper’s points out that this prosecution was under the little-used White-Slave Traffic Act of 1910.

Glenn Greenwald asks why it is only Mr. Spitzer’s name that has been leaked, suggesting that this entire prosecution might have been politically motivated.

Such a thought would not have occurred to most reasonable people just a few years ago – but the numerous revelations about directives to U.S. Attorneys to investigate Democratic officials that came out of the U.S. Attorneys’ scandal makes this seem plausible. There are certainly unanswered questions about how this investigation got started – and why.

ka1igu1a of the Freedom Democrats points out the similarities of this incident to HBO’s The Wire.  He shares a similar distaste for Mr. Spitzer that I have had.  I have always considered him to be somewhat of a bully – even if he shares a significant part of the agenda I espouse.  I am happy to have him as a governor – but the thought of him as president would concern me.

Emily Bazelton over at Slate gives probably the best public policy model and argument for making prostitution illegal, in contrast to my point above.

Categories
Election 2008 Giuliani New York City Politics

Giuliani: There is something deranged about you…

[digg-reddit-me]Worth revisiting as long as Giuliani is still in the presidential race is this bizarre rant against a ferret owner protesting the city’s ban on the pets. The clip is from 1999 when Rudy was mayor of New York and dropping fast in opinion polls.


In an unrelated note, here is the definition of the psychological term “projection”, which is related to the Orwellian technique of transference that George Soros attributed to Giuliani a few days ago.”Projection” is defined as a defense mechanism in which one attributes to others one’s own unacceptable or unwanted thoughts or/and emotions. Projection is commonly associated with paranoid personality disorder, narcissistic personality disorder, antisocial personality disorder, and psychopathy. It’s not as if Giuliani (TM) ((Yes, Giuliani has also trademarked his name.))has ever been described as a paranoid, narcissistic jerk though.

Do any of these characteristics remind you of anyone? A selective list of some symptoms of these disorders ((I know there are going to be some who say all politicians have all of these characteristics. To some extent this is true, but most of these characteristics can be balanced in a healthy personality. Ambition and confidence can be good; a grandiose sense of self-importance ends up being destructive.)):

Paranoia

  • Is preoccupied with unjustified doubts about the loyalty or trustworthiness of friends or associates
  • Is reluctant to confide in others because of unwarranted fear that the information will be used maliciously against him or her
  • Persistently bears grudges, i.e., is unforgiving of insults, injuries, or slights
  • Perceives attacks on his or her character or reputation that are not apparent to others and is quick to react angrily or to counterattack

Narcissism

  • A grandiose sense of self-importance
  • Preoccupation with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love
  • Requires excessive admiration
  • A strong sense of entitlement
  • Arrogant behavior

Antisocial

  • Tendency to violate the rights and boundaries of others (property, physical, sexual, emotional, legal)
  • Aggressive, often violent behavior
  • Disregard for the safety of self or others
  • Lack of remorse for hurting others
  • Superficial charm
  • Impulsiveness
  • A sense of extreme entitlement

Psychopathy

  • Superficial charm and good “intelligence”.
  • Untruthfulness and insincerity.
  • Lack of remorse or shame.
  • Antisocial behavior without apparent compunction.
  • Poor judgment and failure to learn from experience.
  • Pathological egocentricity and incapacity to love.
Categories
Election 2008 Giuliani Humor New York City Politics

Sex on the City

Rudy’s scandal has now been named: “Sex on the City”.

Categories
Election 2008 Humor New York City Obama Politics

Chris Rock: “You’d be real embarrassed” if Obama Won and You Supported “That White Lady”

[digg-reddit-me]Barack Obama was in New York City last night and unfortunately I wasn’t able to make it as I did his Washington Square Park event in September. By most accounts, the event was a huge success as Obama continued to use the new stump speech he premiered at the Jefferson-Jackson Dinner in Iowa earlier this month to great acclaim. Over 1,500 were packed into the Apollo Theater including Dr. Cornell West, Chris Rock, and the Reverend Al Sharpton, who is still on the fence about the Clinton-Obama match-up. Barack has consistently had strong showings in the New York City area and as happened at the two other campaign events I attended in New York, Obama attracted overflow crowds.

Chris Rock introduced Barack to the audience just a few blocks away from Bill Clinton’s Harlem office, slipping in a reference to “that white lady” who happens to be Bill’s wife, and explaining how George Bush has actually met our expectations as a nation:


From Newsday:

“I want to stand up for those who still hunger for opportunity, who still thirst for justice. I don’t want to wake up four years from now to find that we missed the opportunity. We cannot wait.”

At this point, it is hard to deny the momentum is building for Obama as many take a second look at Clinton and a first serious look at the race.

A note on Chris Rock‘s performance: Evidently not at his best last night. The line he delivered fell flat, but I think this phrasing, stolen from FoxNews is an improvement.

Categories
Election 2008 New York City Obama Politics

Obama meeting with Mayor Bloomberg?

[digg-reddit-me]Here Matt Drudge goes again – a headline suggestive of something, but no one knows what. It’s just enough to get everyone talking. And chances are this is true – not because everything Drudge reports is true, but because, as this doesn’t fit into any Republican or Clinton agenda that I can think of, he has little reason to run it if it weren’t.

I can’t think of a reason Obama would be meeting with Bloomberg now – with the race so tight in Iowa and every moment precious – unless Bloomberg reached out in some way and wanted to discuss an endorsement. This is only my speculation, but nothing else seems to fit.

Categories
Humor New York City

Operation Lucky Bag, Part II

operation lucky bag

[digg-reddit-me] Now that the NYPD has handled the murder problem in New York City (2007 is on pace to have the lowest rate on record), they are turning to other issues.

The New York Times reports of a new police sting operation:

At first, an epidemic of absent-mindedness seemed to have broken out.

One purse was found just sitting on a display shelf in the shoe department at Macy’s. Another one turned up downstairs, in Macy’s Cellar. Yet another rested on a chair in a Midtown McDonald’s, left by a woman who had stepped into the restroom. In fact, all three items had been planted by police officers in plainclothes during the previous six weeks. And the three people who picked them up were arrested, and now face indictment on charges that could land them in state prison.

Nine months ago, a similar police decoy program called Operation Lucky Bag was effectively shut down by prosecutors and judges who were concerned that it was sweeping up the civic-minded alongside those bent on larceny. Shopping bags, backpacks and purses were left around the subway system, then stealthily watched by undercover officers. They arrested anyone who took the items and walked past a police officer in uniform without reporting the discovery.

Now, a new version of the operation has started to catch people in public places outside the subways, and at much higher stakes, Criminal Court records show. Unlike the initial program, in which the props were worth at most a few hundred dollars, the bags are now salted with real American Express cards, issued under pseudonyms to the Police Department. Because the theft of a credit card is grand larceny, a Class E felony, those convicted could face sentences of up to four years. The charges in the first round of Operation Lucky Bag were nearly all petty larceny, a misdemeanor, with a maximum penalty of one year in jail.

Christopher Orr over at The New Republic has this comment:

So after the original program was shut down for entrapping too many innocents, the police decided to widen its scope and increase the criminal penalties?

At least the NYPD hasn’t netted anyone in it’s bathroom sex sting operation.