Monday, March 10, 2008

a rising star, extinguished

shocking news today, as it's revealed that new york governor eliot spitzer is resigning after revelations that he'd utlized the services of a prostitution ring.

spitzer had gained a following on the blogosphere thanks to his victories as an ethics crusader: most notably for his work busting the major labels for payola. i'd written of him approvingly on this blog several times. this makes his sudden scandalous downfall all the more surprising:

Mr. Spitzer gained national attention when he served as attorney general with his relentless pursuit of Wall Street wrongdoing. As attorney general, he also had prosecuted at least two prostitution rings as head of the state's organized crime task force.

In one such case in 2004, Mr. Spitzer spoke with revulsion and anger after announcing the arrest of 16 people for operating a high-end prostitution ring out of Staten Island.

"This was a sophisticated and lucrative operation with a multitiered management structure," Mr. Spitzer said at the time. "It was, however, nothing more than a prostitution ring."

truly bizarre. as josh marshall said, "how exactly is it that someone who makes it his business to bust the chops of big wall street titans uses prostitutes?" this is ironically poor judgment.

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