Spitzer Swallowed?

ROCHESTER - Governor Spitzer has shown his fatal flaw. Many figured it could be his arrogance and or his temper that had the potential to bring down the charismatic crime fighter. Turns out he has a thing for the hookers. The biggest question is, will this quicksand pit swallow him and career?

This was a terrible act. He is married. He has kids. He is the Governor of the Empire State. This isn't some two bit Assemblyman getting caught fooling around with his intern (usually legal). This is prostitution (always illegal). Normally I would tell you this is an issue between him and his wife. That goes for 'normal' cheating. This crosses the line from moral issue to legal matter. That is where I leave him on his own. If he needed some side action, that is, like I said, between him and his wife. Not my place to say. Once he commits a crime to feed his desires, however, he has lost the public trust to govern. That is when he should resign and that is why he must resign.

This is also an amazingly arrogant behavior pattern. Why is a Harvard Law, ex-Attorney General, Governor of New York using a call girl service with a paper trail? He used to bust these things up, didn't he remember how those guys got caught? He must have figured he was smarter than that. Somehow he wouldn't get caught.

Former Comptroller Alan Hevesi put a major drag on the Democrats by fighting to stay in power. Spitzer can do no such thing. He screwed up and must fall on his sword. He is caught red handed and no excuses can save him now, unless he has an evil twin brother. At this point, nothing would surprise me.

If Spitzer has any decency in him, and I believe he does, he will resign and spend his time trying to repair his family. I feel terrible for Silda and their three teenage daughters. She should probably kick him to the curb, trust fund and all. Then again, that is not my place to say. That is between them. He crossed my line when the issue went from a private moral issue to a public legal matter. That is when the scandal swallowed him whole.

Lazy Media Gives Maggie Another Pass

ROCHESTER - I wish for just one day we could have the 'liberal' media we are always hearing about. I am sick of Republicans getting free passes for everything. They have to go to jail before the media brings it up. The latest example of this hit the fan when Governor Spitzer announced his budget proposal. As we all remember, Maggie Brooks' FAIR Plan TV ads mentioned that her school funding cuts would be made up by 'record state aid.' Not one week later Governor Spitzer warned that the state would not send extra money to fill budget shortfalls. Did the media turn back to Maggie and say, 'do you have assurance that the extra money is coming?' Of course not. She put out her press release first. So she knew, somehow, better than Spitzer what money Spitzer was going to give out.

Thankfully, Spitzer hung the schools out to dry. Not that I don't support public schools, but I was hoping that this would be the final nail in the FAIR Plan coffin. Once the state didn't step in and save the day, I figured Maggie would be exposed as a liar on all fronts. Not so. The lazy (and epically terrible) local media has somehow painted this as Spitzer going back on a promise. Did I miss something?! How can our media be so irresponsible? Maggie Brooks is the new 'Teflon Don,' I guess. Only John Gotti was much more trustworthy than our County Executive. She lied about public input for the FAIR Plan. She lied about schools being able to absorb their cuts. She lied about county taxes going down. She lied about the state giving extra education money. Can we impeach her? Is there a recall provision in our county charter?

(I saw it on Channel 13). Yet somehow this is It does not surprise me that Teflon Maggie lied. She is the compliant lapdog of Karl Rove/Prince of Darkness wanna-be Steve Minarik, who takes great pleasure in lying all the time. What surprises me to the point of being physically ill is that the media lets it go. Spitzer warned Maggie this would happen. On TV. Somehow this is Spitzer's fault when he was the only one that was honest in this whole mess. It is my hope that disgusted citizens demand their media hold public officials accountable for their words and actions. This is no 'he said/she said' scenario. It is all on tape. Maggie lied to our face, and we should be pissed.