Scott Horton (Harper's): The Spitzer Sex Sting: A Few More Questions

[seafan]

The Spitzer Sex Sting: A Few More Questions

By Scott Horton
March 10, 2008

It looks like the Bush Justice Department just bagged themselves another Democratic Governor. Here’s the New York Times on the story: ....

.....

On the other hand, ABC News this evening offers a starkly different account of how the investigation got launched. According to ABC, the whole investigation of the prostitution ring itself was triggered by an investigation of Spitzer.

The federal investigation of a New York prostitution ring was triggered by Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s suspicious money transfers, initially leading agents to believe Spitzer was hiding bribes, according to federal officials. It was only months later that the IRS and the FBI determined that Spitzer wasn’t hiding bribes but payments to a company called QAT, what prosecutors say is a prostitution operation operating under the name of the Emperors Club. …

The suspicious financial activity was initially reported by a bank to the IRS which, under direction from the Justice Department, brought in the FBI’s Public Corruption Squad. “We had no interest at all in the prostitution ring until the thing with Spitzer led us to learn about it,” said one Justice Department official.

.....

However, there is a second tier of questions that needs to be examined with respect to the Spitzer case. They go to prosecutorial motivation and direction. Note that this prosecution was managed with staffers from the Public Integrity Section at the Department of Justice. This section is now at the center of a major scandal concerning politically directed prosecutions. During the Bush Administration, his Justice Department has opened 5.6 cases against Democrats for every one involving a Republican. Beyond this, a number of the cases seem to have been tied closely to election cycles. Indeed, a study of the cases out of Alabama shows clearly that even cases opened against Republicans are in fact only part of a broader pattern of going after Democrats. So here are the rather amazing facts that surface in the Spitzer case:

(1) The prosecutors handling the case came from the Public Integrity Section.

(2) The prosecution is opened under the White-Slave Traffic Act of 1910. You read that correctly. The statute itself is highly disreputable, and most of the high-profile cases brought under it were politically motivated and grossly abusive. Here are a few:

*

Heavyweight boxing champion Jack Johnson was the first man prosecuted under the act — for having an affair with Lucille Cameron, whom he later married. The prosecution was manifestly an effort “to get” Johnson, who at the time was the most famous African-American. (All of this is developed well in Ken Burns’s film “Unforgiveable Blackness”).
*

University of Chicago sociologist William I. Thomas was prosecuted for having an affair with an officer’s wife in France. Thomas was targeted because of his Bohemian social and his radical political views.
*

In 1944 Charles Chaplin was prosecuted for having an affair with actress Joan Barry. The prosecution again provided cover for a politically motivated effort to drive Chaplin out of the country.
*

Canadian author Elizabeth Smart was arrested and charged in 1940 while crossing the border with the British poet George Barker.

(3) The resources dedicated to the case in terms of prosecutors and investigators are extraordinary.

(4) How the investigation got started. The Justice Department has yet to give a full account of why they were looking into Spitzer’s payments, and indeed the suggestion in the ABC account is that it didn’t have anything to do with a prostitution ring. The suggestion that this was driven by an IRS inquiry and involved a bank might heighten, rather than allay, concerns of a politically motivated prosecution.


All of these facts are consistent with a process which is not the investigation of a crime, but rather an attempt to target and build a case against an individual.

There is something sinister underlying this case, and Horton will surely get to the bottom of it.

[joeybee12]

1. Yeah, it's probably politically motivate investigation, but Spitzer is toast...

...I can't imagine any Dem coming to his defense right now.

[youknowmenotdlc]

2. Horton hears a ho?

Whaddya think funny or no?

BTW Spitzer, even if he was unjustly targeted has demonstrated the height of hypocrisy by going after prostitution while engaging in it himself.

He went from my hero to a zero. Sucks, but it is what it is.

[Octafish]

3. FBI Public Corruption Squad?

Department of Justice Public Integrity Section?

Where in the heck have they been for the last seven years?

The entire Bush "administration" has been one long, uninterrupted trail of corruption.

From the OP:

The suggestion that this was driven by an IRS inquiry and involved a bank might heighten, rather than allay, concerns of a politically motivated prosecution.

That's the key: Bush and his cronies laid down their usual red herring for the sake of plausible deniability.

Gee. Two popular Democratic Governors destroyed by Bush Just-Us. What a coincidence.

Thanks for the heads-up, seafan.

[Usrename]

4. I don't think they have the goods on Spitzer.

I think they got some evidence that they cannot use in court. Otherwise, why the rush to impeach him in 48 hrs, before any indictment?

They got nuthin on Spitzer except a good sex story. That's my guess.

[seafan]

7. That puzzles me too....why the *rush to impeach* within 24 hours since this broke?

There is certainly more going on here than what's been made public.

[AnnieBW]

5. Why didn't he use hookers from DC?

I mean, buy local! What's the matter, Spitz? Are our DC escorts not good enough for you? You're taking money out of some DC whore's pocket and giving it to some New York whore? Sheesh!

I wonder if he did carbon offsets for the cost of his ho's trip down on the MetroLiner from NYC to DC?

[snot]

6. Entrapment? Remember the Gannon/Guckert thing?

Inquiring minds want to know.

[struggle4progress]

8. Was Spitzer targeted? (Campos / Rocky Mtn News)

Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Paul Campos

... Be that as it may, it's far more probable that what happened was something like this: An IRS office is tipped off by officials at various banks that Spitzer is depositing a few thousand dollars in different accounts within a day or two. Realizing it has a potential political tiger by the tail, the IRS then contacts the Department of Justice and the FBI.

At the DOJ, the Public Integrity Section launches an investigation. This unit itself has come under intense criticism during the Bush administration for investigating nearly six times more Democratic politicians than Republicans. Furthermore, many of the section's investigations have seemed timed to coincide with elections and the like.

With a little digging, the feds soon establish that Spitzer is seeing high-priced call girls. This is a petty misdemeanor in most jurisdictions, but the DOJ goes ahead and constructs an elaborate and costly sting operation, for the express purpose of catching one of the country's most powerful Democratic politicians committing a petty crime ...

In sum, this whole sordid business smells bad. One need have no sympathy for Spitzer to recognize that there's a real chance what we're dealing with is a classic abuse of the criminal justice system, designed to take down a powerful political enemy ...

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/mar/12/campos-was-spitzer-targeted/

[seafan]

10. Thanks for that link. Scott Horton is thinking along those lines as well. n/t

[bluesmail]

9. political assassinations

going back to J Edgar Hoover and let's not forget tricky dick and his little black book of dirty tricks. HA!

[JackRiddler]

11. The Bushies didn't bring down Spitzer - a "large New York bank" did.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2995172

[lostnfound]

12. Thanks. Political prosecutions need to be exposed for the sake of others.

Dang Eliot for hypocrisy... But the Bush administration wasted a great deal of money on this case; and their goal isn't just taking out a high profile governor (D) but also sending a message to all other opponents of Bush and his corrupt cronies. Turn the spotlight around to shine on the individuals and department who went after him. The public needs to know that its money is being used once again to intimidate, blackmail and punish those who dare to go after the big thieves.

[seafan]

13. Spitzer should resign. AND, what's the origin of this wiretap?

If this is one of Bush's unwarranted wiretaps, looking to find any dirt he could on a powerful political opponent, and in the meantime, unexpectedly uncovered this prostitution *windfall*, there is now enough smoke to hide the political reason for the original wiretap on Spitzer.

The circumstances and origin of the original wiretap against Spitzer REALLY need to be investigated. This is the reason Bush is hot to obtain retroactive immunity for the telecoms, and therefore, HIMSELF, for his crimes against our Constitutional privacy.


And in the meantime, Spitzer should resign and deal with the consequences of his own behavior.