Letters to the Editor
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As if the Albany Legislature wasn't screwed up enough.
I would have to guess that most of you don't know this but the State Legislature of NY is one of the most screwed up dysfunctional bodies in the world. Driven by local patronage and partisan hackery it has an unparalleled ability to get nothing done. It hasn't passed a budget on time in decades, it has a unique ability to stall or kill almost all legislation. Incumbents are returned year after year after year after year with no track record and no agenda going forward. This is why the governor of NY, any of them, has to rule like a dictator. I hope Dave Paterson is up for that.
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Good
I'm glad Spitzer is out. He needed to hold himself accountable since he has done the same to others.
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How about when they use their private behavior as the excuse for the corruption?
In the argument about whether we care about private behavior...what about when they use it as the excuse for their corruption. That's what Patty Rowland did when John Rowland was in trouble in CT.
I don't think anyone really knew or cared about his marital history, at the time. But she brought it up, as a point of sympathy, to try and make excuses for him. The Rowlands were both on their second marriages. They had met, again, at a class reunion, started an affair and dumped their respective spouses for one another. Ususally, not something most people in CT would care about anymore. Certainly, it didn't hurt Rowland when he ran for public office - nor would I expect it to, I might not have voted for him, but that wouldn't have factored into it.
However, Patty Rowland tried to use the divorce and his alimony and child support payments as an excuse for his corruption, writing in the paper and going on radio shows to say that because of his monetary obligations to his TWO families, his salary as a public official wasn't enough to allow him to cover those obligations and let them live the kind of lifestyle they DESERVED and, well, what were they supposed to do except get HELP where they could get it?
In that case, stay in private industry where you can earn more - or live a more simple life in public service, if you want to be there, I say. But, it never occurred to them.
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@ SueNJ97
I'm sorry, I couldn't quite get past your idea that people should constrain consumption to match income. Are you mad? Don't you know that the terrorists win if we don't spend? It's the obligation of every right-thinking public servant to be on the take!
I don't know about your locale, but on that basis the most patriotic local civil servants hereabouts would have to be the DC government employees who were caught last year having defrauded the city of ~$40 million in fraudulent tax returns. Patriots are everywhere!
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@haggismold
I was more entertained than anything else that she felt free to blame his corruption on his divorce, alimony and child support payments et al, which all went back to the fact that they left their spouses for one another - which nobody cared about until she brought it up but she was very unhappy when people then pointed out to her, well, he has the alimony and child support payments because the two of you had an affair and left your respective spouses for one another. That didn't go over well but she had no clue that people found it unseemly to blame the corruption on that.
I am currently from NJ - so we know all about corruption. However, my parents still live in CT so I got regular updates on the situation at the time.
If you want to spend, spend, spend, you can run up insane amounts of credit card debt like all other Americans to protect yourselves from the terrorists. =) However, perhaps I should give her props for being creative, if nothing else.
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What's especially disgusting
According to the wiretaped conversation, he repeatedly tried to talk prostitutes into having unprotected sex.
That's not a private failing at all. That's a sociopathic way to treat sex workers and a disgusting thing for a married man to do to his wife.
Good thing the call girls he hired weren't as easily swayed by him as his (few remaining) supporters are here.
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Oh, the media loves it's sex stories!
I'll admit it, I knew nothing about Spitzer's money-laundering tactics. But then, where did I read about it? Not here at Salon. I certainly didn't see it on the evening news. Maybe it was considered too local a story for national coverage? But I knew about Spitzer caught in a prostitution scandal I guess from the minute it broke because it's on all the networks and gets a big headliner spread here.
At any rate, thank you fellow letter-writers for doing the job news organizations are supposed to be doing. Once again, the internet proves its worth in terms of public reportage. I was sypathetic to Spitzer up to this point. Not now. No thanks to Salon. Or CNN. Or CBS. Or...aw, forget it.
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And and and
If he honestly believes that having sex with prostitutes is merely a "private failing," then how do we explain the huge public case he made out of prostitution when he was AG?
When was time for Spitzer to score political points, prostitution was a very public matter -- public enough for some major prosecutions and changes to the laws.
He's not remorseful at all, and he still has done nothing to close the ginormous gap between where he led the public and where he led himself.
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Mixed feelings about this whole thing...
On one hand, I understand the public outrage toward Spitzer on account of his hypocrisy. He relentlessly pursued anyone he suspected of wrongdoing and did everything he could to make those people pay for their crimes. Obviously, there is nothing wrong with that in and of itself. It was his air of moral superiority and his general arrogance that proved to be so problematic. He campaigned as Mr. Squeaky Clean, and then was caught doing something he had previously prosecuted others for. Spitzer is rumored to be a particularly impatient, intolerant fellow regarding the behavior of others. This is why much of the public has zero sympathy and patience for him now.
However, let's try to ignore the hypocrisy factor for a minute. I think many of us agree that his offense, however slimeball-esque, probably shouldn't cost him his job. Folks in the US are still a little freaked out by sex, and I think that the outrage directed toward Spitzer's behavior is a little overboard. The biggest 'moral' issues of our time have to do with sex. The folks claiming the moral high ground seem far more concerned with whether someone else is kissing men or women than they are about whether people have adequate housing, healthcare and education. A public figure is far more likely to lose face over sexual indescretions than over gross incompetence. Consider how former President Clinton was put through the ringer on account of the Lewinsky scandal, whereas other people who are known to have committed perjury just got a slap on the wrist - for outing an undercover CIA agent. Hmmm...which is more damaging...? affair with an intern or ... outing an agent..? "Clearly the affair!" say those on their moral high horses. Our Puritan roots are still quite evident.
I am baffled by the fact that so many people are chomping at the bits to oust Spitzer while they give a free pass to an administration that started a war under false pretenses and has been directly or indirectly responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths. Irresponsible war and loss of human life are somehow not as shocking and appalling as boinking a call girl?! Oh, for crying out loud! Also, I'm not sure I buy the argument that bad behavior in private necessarily equals an inability to be effective at one's job. Many people are able to compartmentalize very well.
For the record, I absolutely think that Governor Spitzer's behavior wronged his wife and family very deeply. In no way am I saying that violating his marriage vows is ok. I won't have any sympathy for the guy at all if this scandal costs him his marriage. But should it cost him his job...? I'm not convinced that it should.