New York governor apologizes in wake of link to prostitution ring

NEW YORK-Amid news reports that he patronized an international prostitution ring, Gov. Eliot Spitzer, who made his name as a straight-arrow, corruption-busting prosecutor, apologized to his family and the people of New York state Monday.Declining to take questions, the first-term Democrat did not specify the reason for the apology nor raise the possibility of resignation.

Silda Wall Spitzer, eyes downcast and looking drawn, stood beside her husband of 20 years and the father of their three teenaged daughters as he spoke at a brief news conference in Manhattan's City Hall. The conference was hastily arranged in response to inquiries by The New York Times, which said it had learned from an anonymous source that Spitzer had told senior aides he was involved with a prostitution ring.

"I have acted in a way that violates my obligation to my family and violates my or any sense of right or wrong," said Spitzer, 48, who swept into the governor's office in January 2007 on pledges to restore ethics to state government.

"I apologize first and most importantly to my family. I apologize to the public to whom I promised better. I have disappointed and failed to live up to the standard I expected of myself. I must now dedicate some time to regain the trust of my family," said Spitzer, who made many enemies on Wall Street for his hard-charging ways and relentless investigations during his two terms as state attorney general.

Spitzer, who ended his remarks with a promise to "report back to you in short order," did not make any reference to a prostitution ring in his comments.

However, the New York Times and other news outlets linked Spitzer to a high-priced international prostitution ring, four of whose operators were arrested by federal prosecutors last week.

Nine alleged clients, identified only by number, are listed in a complaint filed in Manhattan federal court against the Emperors Club. According to the filing, the club employed some 50 female prostitutes between December 2004 and March 2008. The prostitutes, who commanded between $1,000 and $5,500 per hour, worked in a variety of cities, including New York, Los Angeles, Miami, London and Paris. The complaint indicates the club also was used for money laundering.

Court documents, citing the results of federal wiretaps and interception of e-mail and text messages, allege that "Client-9"-reportedly Spitzer-arranged for a prostitute, "Kristen," to travel from New York to Washington, D.C., on the night of Feb. 13, 2008. He met her at a hotel and paid her $4,300, part of which represented payment for past and future dealings with the Emperors Club.

The Times reported that Spitzer's travel records show he was in Washington that night and that he testified before a congressional committee the next morning.

News of Spitzer's alleged involvement with a prostitution ring and vague apology were particularly stunning coming from a man who so associated himself with moral rectitude and integrity that New York tabloids dubbed him "Eliot Ness" after the famed Chicago lawman portrayed in "The Untouchables." Time magazine named him "Crusader of the Year" in 2002 while he was routing white-collar wrong-doers on Wall Street as the state attorney general. At the time, as he investigated cases of fraud and bid-rigging among iconic financial houses, he said their leaders "had lost their moral compass."

Although Spitzer pledged that his governorship would uphold the highest of ethical standards, Spitzer's 14 months in office already had been rocked by scandal before Monday. There were ethical questions raised about Spitzer nominees to public offices and the behavior of other appointees.

The most prominent scandal concerned reports that the Spitzer administration improperly used the state police to undermine a political rival. The state Ethics Commission began a review last summer of the situation after a report by state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo found the governor's staff had used State Police personnel to track Joseph Bruno, the Republican Senate majority leader, in an effort to catch him violating rules regarding travel.

Born in the Bronx to a real estate developer and his wife, Eliot Laurence Spitzer was an extremely precocious and ambitious boy, according to "Spoiling for a Fight: The Rise of Eliot Spitzer," a 2006 biography by Brooke Masters. After attending Horace Mann, a rigorous private school in the Bronx, Spitzer went on to Princeton University and then to Harvard Law School, where he met his future wife Silda.

After law school, he clerked for a U.S. District Court judge, then worked for the white-shoe New York law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison before joining the Manhattan district attorney's office. After another stint in private practice, he eventually was elected state attorney general in 1998.

As governor, Spitzer has had a rough time in Albany to date, but many thought he might have a bright political future ahead of him. If he's found to have been involved in a criminal enterprise, that well could change.

But, at this point, the details of Spitzer's situation have not been officially confirmed. "We don't know what his role was," said Frank Mauro, director of the Fiscal Policy Institute and veteran of Albany politics. "Is this the most shocking thing we could have heard about him?" he said, referring to the prostitution ring allegation. "I'd say `No.' I'd be more shocked if he was involved in some kind of corruption."

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