Aren't the headlines painful? New York's governor, Eliot Spitzer, implicated in a prostitution ring. The man who rode a reform agenda into office with a 70% approval rating...the guy who took on the corporate thieves...the guy with the happy family and everything to gain, at this writing, is about to lose it all.
Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.
How excruciating is his fall? Even his political nemesis, that scoundrel Joe Bruno, has thus far refused to pile on. The damage is just too horrific on its own. To toss in more criticism would be like throwing a match on an already raging house fire.
Don't put your trust in the princes of men the psalmist tells us. We are flawed creatures, we humans. It is not a morose downer to acknowledge a universal sinning nature. It is, rather, a more realistic assessment of life together. We're human. We sometimes miss the mark. Enlightened thinkers will admit this truth into life's equation.
To me, the greater crime in prostitution is committed by the pimp and the john. I assume at the prices they were charging, these particular women were not impoverished financially. But, typically, the pimp and john are in a predatory relationship with the prostitute. It is the rich stealing from the poor. It is the strong stepping on the weak. It is the comfortable abusing the desperate.
I had a friend in South Carolina who was a newspaper reporter and something of a deep thinker. During a similar scandal involving a university president and his "assistants," I asked him how this could happen to people with so much power and privilege. He answered by asking me if I had any flaws with which I sometimes struggled. When I acknowledged that I did, he said something that has stuck with me to this day:
"Now, Corey," he said. "Imagine you with your fatal flaw becoming evermore powerful. With power come resources to get whatever you want whenever you want it. But with power come isolation, fatigue, even loneliness. Power does not corrupt. Rather, power makes it all the harder to control the corruption we ourselves carried in with us."
I pray for Gov. Spitzer, his wife and children. I pray for New York. Albany is broken, that is true. But so are the rest of us.
Corey, an astute assessment of the situation. I would add that power is an aphrodisiac, and not only for those wishing to get close to it but for those that have it.
ReplyDeleteHow more interesting, in light of Governor Spitzer's situation, it is to consider Satan's temptation of Christ before the cruxifixion. Jesus may well be the most powerful being to walk among us. His resistance of the temptations before him, especially in light of his anxieties over his coming fate, provide perhaps the best available example of ethical integrity, personal responsibility, and especially faith in our God.
As far as poor Elliott goes, I read a blog diary today that wondered out loud how his indiscretions were discovered. Among the questions were why the IRS was monitoring monies coming OUT of the governor's personal accounts, and how they were able to track the destination of his cash transactions among the transactions coded by the escort service.
There were wiretaps involved in finally closing in on Spitzer. The question is, which preceded the other, the wiretaps or the account monitoring? The investigators say the transactions led to the taps, but the reverse may be true. It is very difficult to track cash transactions beyond initial withdrawals.
While Spitzer fell prey to his own weaknesses, there may be more ethical questions to be posed about how this was found out. Who knows if they'll ever be asked.
Can I jump in? I have to say, my first reaction was a huge sense of disappointment in a man that I thought was the guy who was going to clean up Albany. I know that he can distinquish right from wrong. He proved it when he was going after the corruption on Wall Street. But there is that freedom of choice again. He was free to give into temptation, or resist it. We are all human, we are all capable to giving into temptations. The only difference between Eliot and ourselves, is that we are not considered to be on this imaginary pedistal and in the limelight these politians are placed. I have never commited adultery, but I still have a log to take out of my eye, before I point out the sliver in Governor Spitzers.
ReplyDeleteRight now, I am just sad. Sad for his wife, for his children, for our state, and for his bad choices. The whole family needs our prayers. I can't imagine my dirty laundry hung out for all to see.
Kendall is on to something though. How did the IRS and the government get their information? Will we ever find out who ratted on the governor? Because I can't believe they legally went into his personal accounts without some having documented evidence of wrong doing. Someone is not a Spitzer fan!
Actually, it turns out Gov. Spitzer was foisted on his own petard, to use a phrase the kids are all nuts over these days. It was his intrepid pursuit of white collar criminals that inspired the creation of software for banks that monitors accounts and looks for patterns that might suggest questionable behavior. It ties into other measurements such as a person's income, job, geographical area- a comprehensive overview of each and every customer. Different types of profiles are rated differently- a banker's personal transactions attract more attention than a street cleaner's, for example. Turns out there is such a thing as a "PEP"- Politically-Exposed Person. They are among the nation's most scrutinized. Eliot Spitzer set this ball in motion just a few years ago. He may not have known the intricate mechanizations of it, but he knew what it does and basically how it does it. In so many ways, he should have known better.
ReplyDeleteThanks to NPR for the enlightening and educating piece on this software and its use.
Remember, Big Bro is definitely watching you, and you, and you, and you, and especially YOU.
It is sad that a man who should have "had it all" is left with little but rubble. As Kendall said, Eliot Spitzer in his "bulldozer" way set up the process and system that ultimately brought him down.
ReplyDeleteSome say an incredible ego; I have to say, a flawed sinner. As more details are made known, it seems he was working "both ends against the middle" for 6-10 years. As he was vowing to make johns as criminally responsible as the pimps, he was himself living that life.I worry about how quickly it was assumed that he was a victim of some witch-hunt and not that he was being held accountable for his choices.
How far this will go, we will have to wait and see. More and more allegations are flying around and who knows where the truth is to be found.
Only One was ever on this earth Who was pure and innocent. Thanks, Kendall, for reminding us that the example Jesus set for us is the one we should all aspire to.
We cannot and should not put our trust in men..
And then there is this 22-year-old girl who was abused as a child, left home at 17, knew the desperation and pain of hunger and homelessness, and was used as a play thing by the rich and powerful. Sure, she may end up making some money out of this. But how much has that money cost her? Once again the crusader turns out to be just another predator.
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