Letters to the Editor
Elephantman
Published Letters: 1087 Editor's Choice: 15
-
Trust in the law has been vindicated.
[Read the article: Report: Spitzer was starting point for prostitution ring investigation]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]We must put our trust in ideas and laws, not individuals.
I thought one day Spitzer would run for president. I was so pleased with the way he took on giants in Wall Street and the insurance industry. Now I am reminded that it is the laws and ideas that remain, not the man. These are the things of a just society that endure, the individuals come and go. I hope he and his family find peace, he worked hard for us in his short time on stage.
-- GregoryG
Having suffered through the depredations of Eliot Spitzer's hateful turn as Attorney General of New York and then Governor, it is deeply satisfying to pile on at this point. I imagine that Dick Grasso and Hank Greenberg are happily enjoying a martini and some fine jokes together at Spitzer's expense, as they should. With good fortune and the fair application of law, the positions and good names of Grasso and Greenberg will be secured, and Spitzer's will be forever tainted by illegality. I hope Spitzer and his family are forced to endure precisely the same kind of discomfort that Spitzer inflicted on Grasso and Greenberg, and that he finds no peace until he faces justice.
-
I don't like the fact that this story is beginning to be spun as, "A really great Governor and former Attorney General who had a terrible lapse in judgment."
[Read the article: The tragic fall of Eliot Spitzer]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]When in fact Spitzer was an exceptionally dubious prosecutor, a grandstanding thug who has done much harm.
This recent act of arrogant personal intemperence is not an aberration; it is in keeping with Spitzer's professional record. I hope he does some jail time and that his law license is suspended.
-
Republican "set-up"? No. Here's why.
[Read the article: More reports that Spitzer resignation will come soon]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]By most accounts, the Spitzer investigation began because the bank noticed suspicious money transfers. The kind of transfers they suspected were "structuring" transfers in which a subject attempts to move more than $10,000 in cash without reporting it, and instead "sturctures" the transfer in smaller amounts to avoid detection/reporting.
In fact, it does appear that Spitezer, who would have learned about structuring in Prosecutions 101, probably knew what he was doing, and deliberately avoided all means possible by which his money transfers could be made secretly, without detection... and illegally.
The bank had good reason to report to investigative authorities. They thought that suspicious cash transfers, to a suspicious entity, might be reflective of bribery or other public corruption. That is why the Public Corruption division of the Justice Department would have gotten involved.
Prostitution is illegal in New York and even in Washington DC. Conspiracy to engage in prostitution across state lines becomes a federal-jurisdiction matter. Money-laundering is illegal. The Governor of New York was committing a crime, and doing so with some degree of elaborate preparation and conspiracy with others. He got caught. He has prosecuted these kinds of crimes himself. He would not, presumably, expect anyone in the New York state AG's office to ignore such an offense.
As for Spitzer's record of "public service", it is dubious bordering on the outrageous. This man is a public thug who should be forced out of public life.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118532553512477025-search.html?KEYWORDS=Spitzer&COLLECTION=wsjie/6month
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120519359147125705.html?mod=opinion_main_review_and_outlooks
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120518551881925271.html?mod=opinion_main_review_and_outlooks