Soon to be former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer has been compared several times on TV news to James “Jim” McGreevey, the former governor of New Jersey. However, this is not a good analogy.
It is generally reported that Jim McGreevey left office three months after admitting that he had had an extramarital affair with a male employee. This is probably because McGreevey announced at a press conference, “My truth is that I am a gay American.” He also said that he “…engaged in an adult consensual affair with another man” (Golan Cipel). If this was the extent of the issue, it would truly be a private affair and would not have caused him to resign as governor of New Jersey.
The issue behind the issue was that Jim McGreevey used his power as governor to appoint Golan Cipel, the other man with whom he had an extramarital homosexual relationship, to the post of Homeland Security Adviser. Golan Cipel is not a US citizen and could not gain security clearance from the US federal government. Did Golan Cipel blackmail the governor? Did the governor simply want to provide an inappropriate favor? There are many inappropriate reasons that could have caused the governor to give the post to Golan Cipel.
On the other hand, Governor Eliot Spitzer did not abuse his office. Governor Spitzer had a private sexual encounter with an escort. Unfortunately for the governor, paying for a private sexual encounter with an escort is a crime and a crime for which he so publicly prosecuted two escort services. This is why many people think that he’s just getting what he deserved. Paying for a sexual act with an escort is a minor crime which is rarely prosecuted. Even this may not have been enough to cause Governor Spitzer to resign.
Governor Spitzer also tried to hide the transfer of money by wiring money from his bank account to three shell corporations. Governor Spitzer probably thought that no one would ever look at his bank account, because he was the author of a law providing increased reporting requirements by banks for potentially suspicious money transactions.
Governor Spitzer relentlessly pursued many powerful people. It is entirely possible that one of them requested the bank to look at his account to see if there were any interesting transactions that could be reported. While it was the suspicious transaction that brought this entire episode to light, charging the governor with a crime with relation to hiding payments to a prostitute is an abuse of the legal system. Even though some people seem to think that Governor Spitzer accused the legal system when he was the Attorney General, that does not mean that the system should be abused to prosecute the soon-to-be former Governor for what was really a minor sex crime.
A sex crime lawyer lawyer should normally be able to plea bargain an encounter with an escort down to a violation with a fine.
