Elliott Spitzer and Hillary Clinton
I'm heading to the Hillary Clinton rally in Harrisburg today with my younger daughter, who got special dispensation to miss school for what will beyond argument be an educational event.
Yesterday when I decided to do this, I had no idea that Democratic Gov. Elliott Spitzer of New York, a major supporter of New York Sen. Hillary Clinton in her quest for the presidency, would be revealed as a user of a high-class call girl ring charging clients between $1,000 and $5,000 per hour. Spitzer is a personally wealthy man. So far there is no hint that he used public funds to pay for his trysts with what are described as young and beautiful women working for the service.
There have already been jokes that this proved Spitzer was secretly a Republican, given the GOP's recent predilection for sex scandals. Spitzer hasn't said whether he will resign. I think he will have to, because his effectiveness as a reformer is now gone, and that was the best thing about him. As New York Attorney General during the first five years of the Bush Administration, he did what U.S. Attorney Generals John Ashcroft and Alberto Gonzalez wouldn't do: go after the titans of Wall Street for financial crimes. If you want to know how many enemies that made him, just look at some of the gloating public comments on the news stories about Spitzer yesterday and I'm sure continuing into today.
It will be interesting to hear what Clinton has to say about Spitzer at her Harrisburg appearance today. Will there be any political ramifications for her? Not directly. But there could be both positive and negative indirect impacts. She, of course, was once in the position of Spitzer's wife, married to a man who had a dalliance with a young, beautiful (grant me this one) woman. Clinton could get some sympathy support here.
But the downside of the Spitzer sandal could be that it will remind voters about what they didn't like about the last Clinton Administrations. They might decide they want a clean beginning with Barack Obama who, at least so far, has not been linkd to any woman except his wife. I'll report later on the Clinton rally and what, if anything, she has to say about the Spitzer scandal.