Wow. I was shocked by this, and apparently so was everyone else. The popular Governor of New York resigned today after it was uncovered that the man who made his career as a tough crime fighting district attorney had been involved in soliciting a high priced prostitution ring. (Story here and just about everywhere else in the media.)It is unclear whether or not he will be prosecuted for a crime, but the public shame and humiliation were too much for him to continue, which brings up a number of questions:
Americans have become very used to politicians "shading the truth" and "spinning news stories" for their benefit, but Americans have little patience for politicians who claim to be just, moral, and dedicated to upholding the law, only to have a shadowy dark side that they hide from everyone else.
What have you read/heard/seen about this case that makes you think about the bond of trust between citizens and the government officials they elect to represent them? Should Spitzer have resigned? What does this case say about the line between public and private morality? In the case of President Bill Clinton, people were outraged at his immoral (though not illegal) relationship with Monica Lewinsky, but ultimately didn't support his being tossed out of office.
(It should be noted that the crime Clinton was guilty of was lying about the relationship with Lewinsky under oath in a deposition for a civil case being brought against him by another woman, Paula Jones, for alleged sexual harassment. Clinton was suspended from practicing law for five years, but he wasn't going to be getting back into the field of law anyway.)
I think Spitzer did the right thing by resigning - there was no way he was going to be an effective governor for N.Y State with this controversy and legal investigation swirling about him. He disappointed a lot of people who saw him as a true "law and order" guy that wanted to clean up corruption in government.
The guy who will be replacing him is someone I've only read a little about in the last day or two, but is an interesting person, David Paterson. You can read or listen to a story about him here and here.
2 comments:
well... from what i have heard the past couple of days about Spitzer was that he was doin a really good jobas a governor, and well after hearing about what happened i think that does anything like that should be ashamed of themselfs not only because he did his wife and family wrong, but also because he did his whole state wrong as governor... and the best things that he he did to this point was the fact that he appoligized as well as resigning.
This is Hellen Barakel....
Actually coraggio im going to have to disagree and agree at what your saying. I mean there is always that part inside of th at thinks he should no doubt resign, but at the same time, isn't he human. I mean for alot of what you talked about under your blog on how he really made people think he was a "law and order" guy that wanted to clean up corruption. I mean what makes people think that this issue he was going through was something he realizedwhat wrong, and he could get past this, but it all depends on the media greatly. The media determines if he is "worthy" or not. The only reason he wouldn't it seems is because of all of this "controversy and legal investigation swirling around him". Sometimes i dont think we should follow the laws completely if it will effect us in horrible ways. And for all we know, we could of lost the greatest governor that New York would ever have, or maybe not. I just feel that Americas society gets so nosy and annoying and judgemental and sometimes people dont even know what they are saying only what they hear from newslines and people.... I think he made a good decision to resign, but for the wrong reasons. But thats only my opinion but I feel like "the people" had a great amount of reason to why he did, and more on the negative side. And i totally understand the whole if your getting into politics this is what you have to face and you should expect it but whatever sometimes its just...im leading to nothing thats the end of mine! :)
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