Popcorn Futures: Client No. 9 Versus Manhattan Madam in NY Comptroller Race
![[photo: Vegan Feast Catering via Flickr]](http://www.emptywheel.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Popcorn_VeganFeastCatering-Flickr.jpg)
[photo: Vegan Feast Catering via Flickr]
Former New York State governor Eliot Spitzer (D) has thrown his hat in the ring for state comptroller. He will be running against Kristin Davis (R) for the same seat, along with other less well-known candidates.
Spitzer, you may recall, resigned in 2008 as governor after it was revealed he was Client No. 9 [PDF] in a federal case in which four defendants (not named Spitzer) were charged in regards to prostitution enterprise over state lines.
Davis, you will further recall, was the so-called “Manhattan Madam” arrested and prosecuted in the sweep of the prostitution ring related to the Spitzer scandal.
The popcorn is done, you may serve yourselves and make yourselves comfortable.
When you’re done laughing, that is.
When you’ve finished wiping the tears from laughing so hard, you may also want to revisit the case that caused Spitzer to resign.
Further, you may also want to take careful note of these key dates and events:
14-FEB-2008 — An op-ed written by Eliot Spitzer, Predatory Lenders’ Partner in Crime, was published in the Washington Post. It called out the White House about its actions which thwarted efforts of states’ attorneys general to prosecute predatory lending.
14-FEB-2008 — Spitzer gave testimony this same date to the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services.
10-MAR-2008 — It was first revealed to the public that Spitzer was linked to a prostitution ring.
12-MAR-2008 — Then-governor Spitzer resigned.
14-MAR-2008 — The Fed Reserve initially agrees to loan Bear Stearns at least $25 billion; within two days, Bear Stearns is sold to J. P. Morgan for only $2/share, a mere fraction of its worth a month earlier when it traded for well over $100/share.
The 2008 financial crisis was set in motion by the cascading pressure for liquidity after Bear Stearns collapsed.
A number of folks near and dear to us looked into the origins of the investigation that caught up Spitzer; it’s been said Spitzer’s bank turned over suspicious activity to the IRS. However, in light of recent disclosures about domestic spying and datamining, it might be worth asking again whether some other surveillance tripped up Spitzer — especially after the hinky extension on the original wiretap that snagged a call related to Spitzer.
Perhaps this is why Spitzer feels comfortable attempting a political comeback.
And perhaps he knows why the rest of the prostitution ring’s clients — a substantive number of them employed by Too-Big-To-Fail financial institutions — weren’t disclosed as he was.
In any event, the New York comptroller’s race ought to be highly entertaining if not informative. Stock up on popcorn, kids, and buy some popcorn futures.
Hey gang, there’s a lot of link rot out there, many of the original stories and documents related to Spitzer’s work on predatory lending and the prostitution ring scandal have phase-changed to vapor.
If you know of a key document/article we should have as the comptroller’s race marches on, please share it here. Thanks much!
I would caution Mr. Spitzer not to travel by helicopter for the time being.
I think you are doing a good job revisiting the whack on Spitzer. Good for you! I hope you keep it up, and I hope that Spitzer himself makes it an issue in his campaign. Bradley Manning was entrapped by that cute little Colombian kid, too. Colombia is about the CIA’s strongest remaining redoubt in South America, isn;t it? This is what the NSA/CIA/TIA are really about.
I remember Cardinal Richelieu saying … right, like I was there … that a page of any man’s writing was enough to hang him.
Think what the contents of your gmail.com account can do.
Or, if you’re like me and and said – wtf, are you kidding me !?! – to google when they so ‘generously’ offered everyone free email and bragged that they were going to read it all and keep it forever … but nonetheless still communicated with ‘friends’ – up until recently – who just couldn’t miss out on the bling of a gmail.com account, who turned over all my email to google too … they’ve got my noose ready for you and I as well, Thanks to ‘friends’ of yours and mine. And they’re still using gmail – make that blackmail.com!
Check out lavabit.com. I opened an account and they seem to be on the up-and-up. Who knows? They’re ssl to and fro and claim they don’t rummage around in their customers email … google guarantees that they do! … and for $8 or $16/year they’ll encrypt all your mail on their servers using your key.
There’re bound to more lavabit dot com’s coming down the pike. I’d be glad to hear of them.
I don’t know, have you been following news in this area lately? This is mild compared to some of the shit going on in the NYC metro area.
Spitzer is better than most of the crooks. I’m saving my popcorn for when Petraeus comes back onto the political scene. I’ll take Spitzer over the rest almost any day. He’s one of the few who called out the banksters.
@joanneleon: Oh, Spitzer’s extramarital conduct is no biggie with me, it’s between him and his wife. Fucking the entire global economy, though? Yeah, not a perp walk yet, and the continuing near-crisis years later begs for prosecutions. Spitzer was spot-on calling out the White House. I really think they went looking for him so that he wouldn’t cut into whatever game the masters of the universe were playing–buying the world, or betting on the downside, whatever.
@Rayne: Oh, Spitzer’s extramarital conduct is no biggie with me, it’s between him and his wife.
I know it’s gross saying this but how many men(meaning Senators and Reps) in D.C. are faithful to their partners? My guess is not many. So if you’re worried about that, you’d have to vote almost everyone out every 2, or 6, years.
@Phil Perspective: I see no reason for that to apply only to men with power in DC.
@Phil Perspective: As I said, it’s between Spitzer and his wife, it’s a marital problem.
One of my extended family members worked in DC back in the 1970s, young staffer. Fled home, has refused to discuss who/what propelled them back to flyover country; we’ve always assumed it was some dirtbag congress critter’s “overreach.” Now this does bother me, but sexual harassment not punishable at the time.
@Jim White: Yup, exactly…example, the other Clients 1-8 were likely banksters who owned the guys in DC.
OMG! I didn’t know you were going to go ahead and post last night. I’m alost 20 hours behind.
Good reporting, Rayne!
I’m tweeting the hell out of this!
@peasantparty: LOL! I could see I needed to get this out of the way; Marcy, Jim and bmaz all had stuff coming down the pipeline today of much higher priority.
Tweet away, and thanks!