Eliot Spitzer, who resigned in disgrace as governor of New York after a sex scandal, is apparently trying to become the Democrats’ newest Comeback Kid. In a recent op-ed in The Washington Post, Spitzer had the audacity to pontificate about how to “save capitalism from its own excesses.” But taking the sanctimonious, integrity-challenged Spitzer’s advice on regulating financial markets is like asking him to be your marriage counselor. The same day his op-ed ran, Mother Jones’ Washington Bureau chief David Corn suggested that Spitzer’s sexual misconduct should not disqualify him from overseeing the federal government’s $8.5 trillion bailout of financial institutions. Talk about turning a blind eye: Spitzer should not be allowed anywhere near the public purse.
While the former attorney general of New York crusaded against the lack of transparency on Wall Street, he hypocritically used a shell company to hide his payments to the “Emperor’s Club,” a high-priced prostitution ring. The suspicious transfer of funds reported by his bank eventually triggered the federal investigation that led to his resignation. The so-called Sheriff of Wall Street also kept more than $400,000 in campaign contributions from attorneys with Milberg Weiss, a class-action lawsuit factory whose four senior partners were convicted of paying $11.4 million in kickbacks to plaintiffs.
The Examiner has repeatedly questioned Spitzer’s unearned reputation as a white knight, pointing out that most of his high-profile cases ended in settlements, not guilty verdicts, with very little of the $13 billion he essentially extorted from wealthy corporations and individuals ever making it back to the small investors he was supposedly defending.
Spitzer was on his way to testify before the House Financial Services Committee when he arranged to have a prostitute meet him at the Mayflower Hotel. The same committee members who want to know whether the FBI investigation of Spitzer was “politically motivated” failed, for political reasons, to investigate Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac – which were Ground Zero for the toxic mortgage-backed securities that triggered the financial meltdown in the first place.
Spitzer was right when he confessed that his conduct was “unworthy of an elected official” – or any public servant, for that matter. If President-elect Barack Obama really wants change, he will launch a major bipartisan investigation into the fraudulent behavior that triggered the trillion-dollar bailout – not only on Wall Street, but in Washington as well. But unlike Spitzer, the character of any individuals chosen to lead such an effort must be beyond reproach.
