First of all, let me clearly state Eliot Spitzer is responsible for his crimes (that likely won’t be prosecuted). Had he not committed them, he would not be stepping down as Governor of New York. However, the timing of this sting in conjunction with other recent news stories is most interesting. Recall the Republican operative who asserted she’d been ordered by Karl Rove to get pictures of the Governor of Alabama having an affair?Jill Simpson said then-White House political strategist Karl Rove asked her in 2001 to find evidence that Democratic Governor Siegelman was cheating on his wife. Simpson said it wasn't the first time that Rove ' who was active in Alabama politics before going to the White House ' had asked her to find damaging information about opposing campaigns.
Mr. Rove denied the assertions. However Karl’s political dirty tricks are legendary, with denials being one blunt tool in his bag of nasty moves. Nearly as clear to the discerning public was the political nature of the Justice blade wielded by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. The investigation of Eliot Spitzer began on loyal Quasiberto’s shift. The NYT reported:
The federal officials sought to emphasize that Mr. Spitzer, a Democrat, had not been singled out by the Republican administration, although allegations of political interference dogged the Justice Department during the tenure of the former attorney general, Alberto R. Gonzales, who left office last year after lawmakers in both parties called for his removal. The Spitzer investigation began in July and Mr. Gonzales resigned in August last year; it is not clear whether he knew about it.
On the night of February 13th Governor Spitzer somehow evaded his security detail to tap the services of a high priced call girl in the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C. The next day, the venerable Washington Post ran an op-ed column by that same Mr. Spitzer, “Predatory Lenders' Partner in Crime: How the Bush Administration Stopped the States From Stepping In to Help Consumers.” It excoriated the Bush administration for its role in the subprime credit debacle and the suffering of many Americans at the hands of predatory lenders.
Is this all a tawdry coincidence or is an intelligent designer behind it all? Rove left the same time as Gonzales, two months after the ball began rolling on the Spitzer investigation. Did they give it a good nudge on their way out?
