Spitzer Resigns Amid Prostitution Scandal

Who is Eliot Spitzer??

Early life and family

Spitzer was born to Austrian Jewish parents, and raised in the affluent Riverdale section of The Bronx in New York City. His family was not particularly religious and Spitzer did not have a bar mitzvah.^[2] He is a graduate of Horace Mann School. With a score of 1590 on the SAT exam,^[2] Spitzer attended Princeton University and majored in the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. At Princeton, he was elected chairman of the undergraduate student government, and graduated in 1981. He scored a perfect score on the LSAT,^[3] and went on to Harvard Law School, where he met and married Silda Wall. They married on October 17, 1987 and together they have three daughters: Elyssa (b. December 12, 1989), Sarabeth (b. July 23, 1992), and Jenna (b. May 23, 1994).^[4] Spitzer was an editor of the Harvard Law Review. One of Spitzer's classmates at Harvard Law School was Jim Cramer, host of CNBC's Mad Money, on which Spitzer has appeared or called in on three occasions.

Upon receiving his Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree, Spitzer clerked for Judge Robert W. Sweet in Manhattan, then joined the law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison. He stayed there for less than two years before leaving to join the Manhattan district attorney's office.

Scandal and resignation

Gov. Eliot Spitzer resigned in disgrace Wednesday after getting caught in a call-girl scandal that shattered his corruption-fighting, straight-arrow image, saying: "I cannot allow my private failings to disrupt the people's work."

With his wife Silda Wall at his side, New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer announces his resignation at a press conference Wednesday. The move comes just days after news broke that he had been implicated in a prostitution ring. His resignation will take effect on Monday. He's the latest in a long line of politicians disgraced in sex scandals.
Spitzer will be replaced by Lt. Gov. David Paterson, who becomes New York's first black governor, effective Monday. Spitzer's minute-long statement made no mention of whether he had reached a deal with federal prosecutors to avoid charges.

"I go forward with the belief as others have said that as human beings our greatest glory consists not in never falling but in rising every time we fall," Spitzer said at a Manhattan news conference with his wife, Silda, at his side. He left without answering questions.

The scandal erupted Monday when allegations surfaced that the 48-year-old Spitzer spent thousands of dollars on a call girl at a swanky Washington hotel on the night before Valentine's Day.

Spitzer was more composed than he was earlier in the week, when he apologized for an undisclosed personal failing and looked pale, drawn and glassy-eyed. His wife took deep breaths as hundreds of photos were taken at close range. Each of Spitzer's words was accompanied by a rush of camera clicks

Calls for his resignation came immediately. Republicans began talking impeachment if he didn't step aside. Meanwhile, Spitzer stayed holed up in his Manhattan apartment, where he was reportedly weighing his options, including waiting to use resignation as a bargaining chip with federal prosecutors to avoid indictment.

The case involving Spitzer started when banks noticed frequent cash transfers from several accounts and filed suspicious activity reports with the Internal Revenue Service, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press. The accounts were traced back to Spitzer , leading public corruption investigators to open an inquiry.

A law enforcement official said Tuesday that Spitzer had spent tens of thousands of dollars with the call-girl service Emperors Club VIP. Another official said the amount could be as high as $80,000.

Still another law enforcement official said investigators found that during the tryst with Kristen, Spitzer used two rooms at Washington's Mayflower Hotel _ one for himself, the other for the prostitute. Sometime around 10 p.m., Spitzer sneaked away from his security detail and made his way to her room, the official said.

According to an affidavit, a federal judge approved wiretaps on the escort service's telephone in January and February. FBI agents in Washington had the Mayflower under surveillance when Spitzer was in town, a senior law enforcement official said.

The officials spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case.

Spitzer , a first-term Democrat, built his political reputation on rooting out government corruption, and made a name for himself as attorney general as crusader against shady practices and overly generous compensation. He also cracked down on prostitution.

He was known as the "Sheriff of Wall Street." Time magazine named him "Crusader of the Year," and the tabloids proclaimed him "Eliot Ness." The square-jawed graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Law was sometimes mentioned as a potential candidate for president.

He rode into the governor's office with a historic margin of victory on Jan. 1, 2007, vowing to stamp out corruption in New York government in the same way that he took on Wall Street executives with a vengeance while state attorney general.
His term as governor has been fraught with problems, including an unpopular plan to grant driver's licenses to illegal immigrants and a plot by his aides to smear his main Republican nemesis. The prostitution scandal, some said, was too much to overcome.

Freshman Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand became the first Democratic member of New York's congressional delegation to mention resignation on Tuesday. "This is very grave and sad news," she said. "If these serious allegations are true, the governor will have no choice but to resign."