From adultery to a position of trust

Former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer began his political comeback attempt yesterday by campaigning in New York City’s staunchly Democratic Union Square. Happily, many greeted him with comments like, “Spitzer, you cheated on your wife!” and “You betrayed your constituents. You abandoned your wife. You betrayed everybody!”

Spitzer, who resigned five years ago after he was exposed for his use of prostitutes, is running for city comptroller—that is, the city’s money-handler. Appropriately, The Wall Street Journal blasted him, noting he “couldn’t be trusted to responsibly enforce or even to obey New York’s laws in the state’s highest offices.”

Unsurprisingly, Spitzer has also been a “pro-abortion zealot who would stop at nothing to serve the financial interests of the abortion industry,” as Redstate long ago documented. In 2002 Spitzer first became infamous for conducting, as New York’s attorney general, “a thuggish investigation designed to intimidate crisis pregnancy centers.” He of course has received strong support from NARAL Pro-Choice America and other abortion pressure groups.

The Wall Street Journal, examining money issues, opined, “What should disqualify Mr. Spitzer isn’t merely the prostitution, though he did commit a crime while he was the state’s chief law enforcement officer and could have been prosecuted. And it isn’t merely deceiving the public, though he did make himself vulnerable to blackmail. What ought to be disqualifying is the way he abused the AG’s office to punish people for his own selfish ends.”

The New York Daily News noted, “Silda Spitzer, who famously stood with her husband when he resigned as governor five years ago for patronizing prostitutes, was a notable no-show as he returned to the political. A friend confirmed to the Daily News that the couple has been living apart, and a relative said Silda’s family was taken by surprise by his candidacy.” Candidate Spitzer said, “She’s my wife. And we have three kids. … We’re going to be campaigning. And we’re going to make sure we win this thing.”

One thing Spitzer should be sure of: He’d be the poster boy example of how a person unfaithful to his wife is unlikely to be faithful to his constituents—except that he has so much competition.