Politics & Funk

“Listen, I’m a fucking steamroller and I’ll roll over you and anybody else,” New York Governor Elliot Spitzer angrily yelled at New York Assembly Minority Leader James Tedisco (R-Schenectaday) outside the state capitol in early February. The crusading ex- prosecutor, known for his ruthless attacks on Wall Street corruption, price fixing, and insurance fraud, had a 30% approval rate at the time and was in the midst of a rough first term as Governor.

He’s likely dreaming for such difficulties right now.

Spitzer was named today as a client of the Emperor’s Club, a high-end prostitution ring that charged clients up to $5,000 per hour. According to the complaint, Spitzer retained the services of a prostitute while visiting Washington D.C. on the eve of Valentines day 2008. The next day he testified at a House Financial Services Committee hearing in D.C.

Because Spitzer actively coordinated the transportation of the prostitute across state lines–from New York to D.C.–he could potentially be tried under the Mann Act, a federal law that makes “transporting a female across state lines for ‘immoral’ purposes punishable by up to twenty years in prison.”

Want a sweetener?

Mr. Spitzer twice prosecuted prostitution rings while employed as Attorney General.

I think Keith Oblermann put things best when he declared the Governor’s downfall to be “a small scale Shakespearian tragedy.”