Eliot Spitzer, onetime Wall Street crusader, New York State Attorney General and New York Governor in a first term that ended with his abrupt resignation on March 17, may be forced to release thousands of incriminating e-mails linked to his alleged smear campaign against Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno.
Although sources close to Albany County District Attorney David Soares say the D.A. may succeed in forcing Spitzer's successor, Gov. David Paterson, to release the e-mails, the New York Daily News cites sources as saying there is some push-back in the hallowed halls of Albany.
"Paterson aides are concerned the release of the e-mails would set a dangerous precedent that weakens executive privilege in perpetuity," writes columnist Elizabeth Benjamin in "Tale of Bruno, 2 Govs: Scandal e-Mails are Eyed". [Please also see MME "Troopergate Appears to be Widening," 11//19/07 and MME "Execs Glee in Steamrollers' Scadenfreude," 7/30/07.]
Meanwhile, other shady characters other than the customer No. 9's call girl and yet a second prostitution ring are emerging in this increasingly sordid gubernatorial tale.
It appears that so-called Republican "operative" Roger Stone, a go-to guy in such questionable affairs as the presidential election chad recount in Florida, had a role in the investigation into high-priced hookers being a staple among elected officials in Albany.
As Harvard law professor and appellate victor Alan Dershowitz said just last week, the incredibly personal and embarrassing reasons given to the public for the demise of the governor do not "pass the smell test." Speaking with the Daily News, the onetime O.J. Simpson and Claus von Bulow defense attorney said: "What others have done to Eliot Spitzer is far more serious than any crime Spitzer committed."
Spitzergate, evidently to be continued.
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