Eliot Spitzer Is A Jerk And A Hypocrite, But He Should Not Be Prosecuted

Unless you have somehow managed to avoid any and all news media for the last 3 days you no doubt are aware that Eliot Spitzer resigned his position as Governor of New York today, brought down by revelations that he had engaged the services of a prostitute while traveling on government business in Washington, D.C. Since the story first broke on Monday, additional allegations have surfaced concerning the frequency of Spitzer’s dalliances, the amount of money that he spent on high end call girls, and the span of years over which he has indulged his particular sweet tooth. All of this is rather unseemly, most will stipulate, and I heartily agree that resigning from office was the right thing for Spitzer to do. Engaging in the sort of conduct for which he had prosecuted others in the past reveals Spitzer as a hypocrite who sees himself as above the law, and robbed him of the moral authority to exercise authority and to wield governmental power over the citizens of New York. Unless there is much more to the story than has come to light, however, prosecuting Spitzer would be a colossal waste of governmental resources.