I would say the same of Senator Vitter and his family.

I too have no pity for him. You do the crime, you do the time. But I will not condemn him for it. Most if not all of us have done something immoral at some time in our lives. At one point on a deployment to South America a buddy and I had a competition to see who could buy the most company in one night. I lost.

It is how and what we learn from these lapses in judgment that define who we are.

I am not worried about the sex, it is that he tried to hide money transfers from the feds (and wife no doubt). People who hide large money transfers are prosecuted in this country.

Spitzer's new campaign song: "I Fought The Law (And The Law Won)."

"and we're supposed to overlook this mans issues"

Who said that we are?

I am not worried about the sex, it is that he tried to hide money transfers from the feds (and wife no doubt). People who hide large money transfers are prosecuted in this country.

1) $5,000 is not a 'large money transfer'.

2) I have trouble understanding why someone should be penalized for the financial side of this. The money came from a legal source, and the appropriate taxes had been paid... so what is the government's interest?

Regarding the hookers, sure, give him the same penalty every other john gets- a fine, probation, and some public humiliation. But prosecuting him for trying to keep a hooker's fee off his credit card statement is absurd.

"and we're supposed to overlook this mans issues"

Who said that we are?

Care to deal with the comment in it's proper context Matt?

NO, too bad, here we go.

The law is the law, equal protection applies to governors, just as it applies to those who governors can grant clemency to. Prosecute, poor schmucks that couldn't get laid if they were an egg in a chickens butt get prosecuted for trying pay to get lucky with a $10 full service crack whore and we're supposed to overlook this mans issues BECAUSE he's the governor of New York, I'm sorry Mr. Prosecutor, fuck you, you have a job to do and it's clearly spelled out in writing, you've done it many times in the past, now do it again, IT'S JUST ANOTHER JOHN, get over it.

Equal protection and enforcement, Matt, when you grow up and grasp the concept come back and discuss it, until then devote your time to kissing ass for a 3.0 and finding a few years later you're mom and dad got screwed, and you have to live with it.

He was turned in to the IRS and FBI by his bank for doing something those who are bribed tend to do.
As they investigated, they found this.
BUT
He has been doing this for almost 10 years. . .
In those ten years, he prosecuted some other prostitution rings, and several persons were threatened with or prosecuted for the same kind of money transferring. So the question becomes, Did he bust those other rings for the owners of his preferred ring? A little tit for tat? (Pardon the pun) Also. By calling for the hooker to go to DC for assignations, he violated federal commerce laws. Tis a no no to transport folk across state lines for immoral purposes.
Take the hooker deal out of this, and he was still open to blackmail, and committed possible commerce crimes.

Rosignol, we're talking more than $5,000. The LA Times reports :

The liaisons between Spitzer and a number of different prostitutes occurred around the country, including in Washington, D.C., and Florida, the sources said. For each encounter, Spitzer paid several thousand dollars, the sources said; The Associated Press cited a source that said the total could be as high as $80,000.

Second, how do we know the money came from legal sources? Again, the LA Times:

Spitzer last year had wanted to wire transfer more than $10,000 from his branch to what turned out to be the front for the prostitution ring, QAT Consulting Group, which also uses a number of other names, in New Jersey, the sources said.

But Spitzer had the money broken down into several smaller amounts of less than $10,000 each, apparently to avoid federal regulations requiring the reporting of the transfer of $10,000 or more, the sources said. The regulations are aim to help spot possible illegal business activities, such as fraud or drug deals.

Apparently, having second thoughts about even sending the total amount in this manner, Spitzer then asked that the bank take his name off the wires, the sources said.

Bank officials declined, however, saying that it was improper to do so and in any event, it was too late to do so, because the money already had been sent, the sources said.

Right there, he is in trouble for attempting to evade banking regulations... it's called "structuring," and is illegal.

You wanna back up and try your statements again, Rosignol?

"Matt, when you grow up and grasp the concept come back and discuss it, until then devote your time to kissing ass for a 3.0 and finding a few years later you're mom and dad got screwed, and you have to live with it"

What the hell was this for? I only asked an honest question about a subject that I know little about. Go read the dammed responses again, and note what I said, and what others said.

Second, how do we know the money came from legal sources?

We don't, but there is no evidence to the contrary. Innocent until proven guilty is still the law of the land, and I'm not going to give that up just to nail a hypocrite.

Right there, he is in trouble for attempting to evade banking regulations... it's called "structuring," and is illegal.

...because it is something associated with laundering the proceeds of illegal activity. In my opinion- and yes, I am aware that it is only my opinion- in the absence of evidence that actual money laundering was going on, this should be a non-issue.

You wanna back up and try your statements again, Rosignol?

No, I'm fine with prosecuting actual crimes, letting innocent-until-proven-guilty remain the law of the land, and not throwing people in prison for trying to keep call-girl charges off the monthly visa statement.

I know Spitzer is a sanctimonious hypocrite, a bully, and many many other things. But the only actual criminal act I see here is hiring a prostitute. I would be content to just see him resign in disgrace, with his reputation and career ruined, and for him to be on the star of a well-publicized perp walk photo op, which will no doubt make the cover of the NY Post. But sending him to prison over this seems excessive.

If you feel otherwise, I'd be interested in hearing why.

Rosignol, I am speaking as a former employee of a bank. The act of deliberately splitting up a money transfer to evade banking regulations is itself a crime.

In fact, it's also a crime for a bank employee to suggest doing so to a customer... which is why I had to learn about it.

Please, try to gather more information before replying. Here is a good place to start reading.

Speaking as an auditor who's *almost* a Certified Fraud Examiner (just have to take the test), any transfers of cash like that literally SCREAM fraud. I would have been digging deeper after the first few transfers, just as I'm sure the bank's internal auditors did. Plus, if he actually did try to talk someone into 'taking his name off' and that person followed basic banking procedure, the internal guys would have been notified of it and started looking in at that point for certain.

I have trouble understanding why someone should be penalized for the financial side of this. The money came from a legal source, and the appropriate taxes had been paid... so what is the government's interest?

The money went to an organized crime ring. And he's in a position to know exactly what laws he was breaking. He's probably got some RICO exposure here to boot.

...because it is something associated with laundering the proceeds of illegal activity.

Right, like prostitution.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=atIPec6w5i0o&refer=home

Glad to see Spitzer went ahead and got out of the governorship because he knows what more is going to be coming out. Get out of the way and let the NY government get on with its business. His enemies are probably having a great big laugh on this development.