I’ll be truthfully honest and say that the whole Eliot Spitzer hiring a prostitute thing doesn’t really phase me all that much. He’s certainly not the first man in a position of power to hire a high priced call girl to take care of his needs, and he certainly won’t be the last. These elite “VIP” style escort services pretty much exist to cater to wealthy powerful men who want some and view obtaining it as a business proposal. Maybe that’s not a very kind way to look at this thing, but I’m not these men and I can’t speak to why they view things this way. This is an issue between the man and his wife, because in regards to the actual act of having sex with the call girl, the only real trust broken is between the husband and wife. This doesn’t appear to be a case of a woman who was brought here against her will and forced to act as a prostitute to stay in this country or something. Like it or not, a lot of women who do this for a living are proud of what they do and they know that they’re in a lucrative field. That we make such a witch hunt out of this is just another testament to our society’s weird obsession with sex.
What really peeves me, however, is the way in which Spitzer paid for these services. Essentially, he laundered the money into a series of accounts that caught the eye of the IRS not because it looked like he was paying for sex, but because it looked like he was conducting political corruption. I admit it, I care more about that he broke the law to pay for sex than the fact that he paid for sex in the first place. I guess it’s because it stings. Eliot Spitzer had that reputation for years as New York State’s District Attorney as the white knight, the guy who went after corporate fraud with impunity and without reserve. It was a refreshing change of pace for governments that more and more routinely act at the whim’s of business, not the people. Spitzer provided that bit of hope that change could happen. Instead, he decided to do the kinds of things he campaigned against and broke the damn law just to scratch some personal itch. That’s why I’ll be happy to see him resign and that’s why I’m so angry about this. Call me misguided all you want, but that’s where I stand.
Coincidentally, you can’t ignore all the parallels with another recent governor’s scandal, can you? Similar tale of sorts, from the illicit sex, to doing something stupid to reveal the secret (seriously, why do you give your gay lover a $110,000 a year job that he’s nowhere near qualified for and expect people not to ask questions?), to the awkward press conference, to the shell-shocked wife at the man’s side. That’s just amazing to me.
