With Spitzer's resignation, the spotlight shifted to his lieutenant governor, David Paterson. A legally blind, popular State Senator from Harlem, Paterson was thrust into the spotlight and said at his inauguration, "I can believe we can weather the storm, I've worked for New Yorkers my whole life. I don't know the path yet because we haven't blazed the trail, and I think you all know I know a little something about finding my way in the dark."
Then, in apparent pre-emptive strikes against the media, he and his wife revealed they each had extra-marital affairs and Paterson admitted to using cocaine. The "accidental governor" warned about the state's economic situation months before the financial industry's collapse and offered his austere take on a budget, which proved unpopular. He even inspired SNL to satirize him, to his dismay.
The circus around the appointment of someone to fill Hillary Clinton's Senate seat, with a spectacular low point with Caroline Kennedy dropping out and Paterson's staff retaliating by spreading rumors. Now Pateron's future is in jeopardy, as his ratings are currently even lower that Spitzer's were during his hooker scandal.
A year ago today, the NY Times published a story on its website saying that Governor Eliot Spitzer, the crusading former NY State Attorney General who was elected with 69% of the vote in 2006, was "caught on a federal wiretap arranging to meet with a high-priced prostitute at a Washington hotel last month, according to a law enforcement official and a person briefed on the investigation." And that sent off a chain of events amongst a motley group of famous (in political circles) and suddenly infamous characters. Click through for trip down Memory Lane.






I still think that as morally reprehensible as Spitzer's conduct was, it shouldn't have ended his career as governor.
He was correct in resigning. He knew the jig was up. There was no way anyone could have takem him seriously as a leader of this state, much less a purveyor of justice. When you know that a dude keeps his socks on and likes to go bareback with a whore, you cannot possibly you can look at him with a straight face.
I can't look at that asshole Patterson with a straight face either-a cheating cokehead is now in office...
Gotta disagree. The executive simply can't have such a disrespect for the law. A simple affair would have been a completely different story.
He was facing federal charges when he resigned. Sending money across state lines for an illegal purpose is a federal felony. Staying in office could have meant years in prison. The smart thing to do was resign. The stupid thing to do is what ex-gov, future convict Blagojevich did.
It would have made Head Start ribbon-cutting ceremonies...awkward.