One day into his term as governor of New York State, David A. Paterson, in a kind of preemptive act, disclosed his past marital infidelities.

The man sworn in today as New York’s 55th governor may be virtually unknown to non-New Yorkers, but he is a seasoned political player and the scion of a legendary political clubhouse that has been a lever of black political power in the state.

Eliot Spitzer is out of a job as of tomorrow.

But even though the soon-to-be-former New York governor has suffered an astonishing fall because of his alleged involvement with prostitutes, he hasn’t yet been charged with a crime.

It’s not only talk-show hosts who feed off of politicians’ sex scandals

The KGB had a slogan: “Show me the man, and I’ll find you his crime.”

Which is to say that just because New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer hung himself by becoming Client 9 in the federal complaint against an alleged prostitution ring doesn’t mean that a Republican-controlled Justice Department wasn’t out to get him.

Playing out the final scene of an almost Shakespearean drama, New York Governor Eliot Spitzer resigned in disgrace today after revelations that he had been caught on wiretaps arranging to meet a high-priced call girl in a Washington hotel.

History will be made Monday when the resignation of Gov. Eliot Spitzer takes effect and Lt. Gov. David A. Paterson becomes the first African-American governor in the state’s history.

Gov. Eliot Spitzer and his wife Silda
Photo credit: Office of the Governor

His persona was Dudley Do-Right, the squeaky-clean politician who championed ethics reform, and who was unrelenting as New York Attorney General in going after Wall Street executives - and a prostitution ring or two.

But today, that reputation was in tatters and calls for his resignation mounted after New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer made a brief public statement in his Manhattan office, with his wife, Silda, by his side, apologizing for having “acted in a way that violated the obligations to my family and that violates my - or any -sense of right and wrong.”

 

New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer, plagued by scandal and political missteps, is tapping the expertise of several seasoned political and financial leaders.

The New York Times reports that Spitzer has consulted with real estate developer Jerry I. Speyer, former Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin, and Abraham M. Lackman, a Republican who served as aide to Senate majority leader, Joseph L. Bruno.