CNN

Being a New Yorker transplanted to Georgia via military service, I am disgusted with our soon-to-be former governer.

He has betrayed the trust that the people of New York have put into him, as well as the trust of his family, and of his staff, of who are the forgotten victims.

With the obvious prayers going to his wife and family, I also offer my prayers to Mr. Spitzer's staff, whom he has just put out of a job. Mr. Spitzer's staff is now working with Lieutenant Governor David A. Paterson's staff to condust the transfer of authority, and therefore they are no longer needed.

Anylists on CNN have called this a victimless crime. I see it otherwise.

We should also be praying for the staff member and their familys who are forced to deal with the consequences of a selfish man.

He has not done anything different than most of the politicians in Washington...he just happened to get caught. Bill Clinton, JFK, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington. From the most recent presidencies to the earliest of our country's history...they all get a little side tracked by a short skirt and lipstick. Its hard not to let all the power go to your head. Obviously not an excuse, but in my opinion and accurate observation.

Why does the press and congress put so much on sex scandles ?when the president of the US has said that he is responsible for ten of thousands of Iraqi death and the squandering of hundred of billions of tax money in Iraq and the press and congress hardly make a peep about it or to remove him from office or insist that he resign

Cash is king and always has been. Eliot should have known this instead of leaving a paper trail.

This is probably the tip of the iceberg.

Big deal–unless he used public money. It's between his family and him.

Why do most, not all, politicians think the laws only apply to the 'common folks' and not to them? To take it further, why do some police officers speed in marked cars when there is no emergency–as if speed limit laws don't apply to police vehicles?
Because they are all alike - they think they are ABOVE THE LAW.

I am one American who celebrates when these hypocrites get caught!

Where ego and power meet, there they find tragedy.

He is not sorry for what he did, he is sorry he got caught. If he was sorry for what he did he wouldn't have been doing this for 6 years. He would have stopped after one time and told his wife.

this is so sad that this man has done this.....i feel so sorry for his family......but what does worry me is that the government knew this was going on for some time.....they knew this was about hiring prostitutes.......why are they wasting tax payer dollars? big brother is watching all of us........looking at your bank account and listening to your phone calls and saying its in the interest of fighting terrorism...bs they ve been doing this s___ for a long time... are we really free? let me see control your money and control what you say!!!!!!!!!

Ferraro is a has been, who won't be!

She is trying to get some of Barrack Obama's light.

She is fuming as a white woman because he has gone so much further than she ever did, oh I mean ever will.

Sad, very sad

Almost forgot about this one, see CNN , this constant awaiting moderation thing is over moderating my comments!! If he,s was that bored with his job as Governor he should of taken up metal detecting, this way he could of gotten his whole family involved as well as learning to save and FIND money.That would of been good for New York and New Yorkers.Too Bad Spitzs!!!!

Caught by his own laws. Well, we know the system works.

Governor Spitzer's refusal to ' walk the walk ' is what makes his alleged actions so abhorrent.
If the allegations are true,Spitzer brought all of this on himself, though it is unfortunate that his family will suffer as much, if not more than he will.
That said, there are a lot of questions which need answers.
Governor Spitzer, in the course of his investigations turned over a lot of rocks and made a lot of enemies.
If the stories are true Governor Spitzer's actions were despicable, but it would be foolish not to examine all aspects of the matter
All of the 'hows' and 'whys' need to be thoroughly examined

Who are the other clients in this mess? Do you think they should be named as well? Give it up!!!

Why only client no.9 is expose, who is number 1-8 ? 10-....Prostitution made a lot of money and they never paid a single tax revenue. why we don't legalize it and put this business into a hefty tax!

some people do misuse the power, they think they can do it all without being punished.
He is obviously not devoted husband and father. His animal needs overpowered him........and to pay that much for that? Speaking about selfishness....he should of give the money to the poor.....

I must be causing great agony to some staffer over there.Lets try again shall we.Like I said, what an idiot for someone like Mr Spitzers position.All these years and he still doesn,t understand the Adult Entertainment Industry,{ Escort Services are part of the Industry for those of you who haven,t a clue}.Payments are still made the old fashion way, up front by hand before service is rendered.The up to $80,000 is WAY OFF if he was doing this for at least 6 or more years, it should be more close to probably $500,000, if you include the gifts that usually these rich customers give these girls, like lingerie,fur coats,perfume, etc,etc..Most of these guys would like to do this before a holiday, not just on Valentines Day or a few days before.Plus he was hanging out with that service to long which was probably tagged for a break down the raid its the police while catching everyone naked.Hope he doesn,t get a deal for this sorry RICH kid and the judge gives him the MAX.Just feel sorry for the New Yorkers who are losing jobs and homes while your corrupt RICH Governor had a good time with whose????? money.

who else are the clients???? by any chance any client # 15 named BC
we want to know

what was he thinking?

"He's got a screw loose" – Ed Koch

I think his wife and daughters should split immediately and avoid
furhter emotional trauma.

I AM FROM CINCINNATI, AND I DON'T KNOW HOW MANY OF YOU REMEMBER OUR FINE MAYOR JERRY SPRINGER WHO PAID FOR A PROSTITUTE WITH A CHECK (NO ELECTRONIC TRANSFERS THEN) AND LOOK WHERE HE IS NOW BY HECK. SPITZER HASN'T GOT WHAT IT TAKES TO BE A SPRINGER BUT MAYBE HE COULD OPEN UP HIS OWN CLUB NOW, SURE IT MAY BE SLOW AT FIRST BUT IT CAN BE RUN BY HAND UNTIL THE CROWD SHOWS UP.

Who voted for him? We have to hold Mr. Spitzer responsible.
We have to hold the voters responsible.We must do our homework. Can't we detect this kind of Character before we vote???????????????

I am Catholic. My church TOLD us to vote for Bush. I will never
have my religion control my vote. NEVER.

Retired Professional w/woman of 63 was decided on Obama
from Day 1.

Stay tune hillary is next don't be surprsied for it is written all the Evil and Evil doers will be exposed.

"Why is Ferraros' ticker still on top??? Race still the topic of the day?"

You know, as far as I'm concerned, I don't care what Ferraro has to say now, she kind of disappointed me. And to say it was a fact is not what I'm looking for. She should take it slow because it could bite her back.....

Power corrupts! Eliot Spitzer thought that he was above the law and his brains were below the belt.

spitzer did this not because he did not know better. This is written in bible some day the evil will be exposed. Remember Bill Clinton was the most powerful man in the planet, but he got exposed and lied under oath. My friends do not be supprised by this the is more coming. stay too next is hillary'w turn.

What a hypocrite, poor guy. I don't think many people , other than his family, care about the sex; it's the hypocrisy stupid.

Boy..... I can't think of a better reason to vote for HILLARY!
A WOMAN would never do this!

Race seems to be the meal of today. CNN pushed this topic to the top of the tickler.

I think the media created this mess with breaking down the demographics of the elections and by emphasing the black/white issue with their commentary. The media must take some resonsibility for this spilling over. They point to Miss. with the black votes but just 2 days ago they explained this will be due to the amount of new young voters but today it's all black and white.

Ratings must be a great thing for the media huh?

I reject and denounce this type of reporting, and I reject and denounce HIllary.

Need to lay down CASH for hookers. Everyone knows this.

I have read a lot of the blogs today about Spitzer and I cannot believe how insensitive some people are
Who cares about his feelings or charges that may come up over his indiscretions but we really need to be cognizant of the feelings of his wife and 3 young teen daughters who have to try and resume a normal life amid all this sleazy controversy and it must be so humiliating for them in the process
God bless his wife and daughters and help them thru this trying time!

Another Politician bites the dust!!!!! I think the Politicians should really look into their ethics, because we have NOT been given those that take the "high road" or listen to their people!!!!

As of today I will make sure I will no longer fill up my tank with the same amount of money....

With my bank, the CIA, the FBI, Homeland Security and my wife watching my daily payments of $ 15.00 the might think I am doing something suspicious!!!!

Isn't it beautiful that I and everybody else is watched minute by minute by BIG BROTHER???

P.S.: CNN: would you please S.T.O.P. interfering with my attepts to post this message??

They should keep on digging into this invesitgation. You never know how many other politicians are involved in this racket. Kind of makes one wonder why the NY governing body was quick to sweep this under the rug and move on beyond this.

We all have to forgive others who make mistakes. We need to find somewhere in our hearts to believe that. Find some type of good in someone.

DO NOT MODERATE!

Dear Southerner....Eliot wasn't thinking...that's why he got caught. He should have gone out on the street and picked up a cheaper call girl...one that takes cash only like most "JOHNs do. He should have realized that even using an alias..that his bank account would be under scrutiny...DUH !

As long as people continue to find fault with someone or have some sort of saint finding in their hearts they will be disappointed from time to time. Let all of us find some type of goodness in all of us.

Who are Clients 1 – 8?? And Client 10, etc. Who are these people?? Let's put it all on the table.

I am a New York State resident and have held two fundraisers at my establishment to help elect Eliot Spitzer. Needless to say my disappointment in all that has transpired. I support his decision today to resign and let the State of NY move forward. There is no doubt in my mind that he will once again rise up and do good for the people, especially with his incredible wife by his side.

I am not making excuses for him but there have been many male politicians, republican and democrat alike in the history of our country to display similar despicable behavior. This only convinces me more so then ever, as it should all other Americans when making a choice of who should be our next president. Women have and will continue to make much wiser decisions by not letting their sexual appetites interfere with their political aspirations.

Laurie Landstrom
Upstate NY Resident

What a idiot!!

I hope Mrs. Spitzer loses the name and the jerk! She deserves better!

Charlotte wrote March 12th, 2008 12:21 pm ET

"Why is Ferraros' ticker still on top??? Race still the topic of the day?"

Race is the topic of this campaign !!

How many times Hillary supporter have mentioned Obama "Black", but you do not see Obama supporters talking about Hillary being "White" or "Women". I see a trend here, Ferraro is just a tip of the iceberg !!

I am deeply saddened by Spitzer's fiasco. He COULD have been a really good governor. Good luck and God Bless the Lt. Governor, Patterson, as he becomes NY's new Governor.

One would think that cash is an acceptable payment method to a prostitute???

Given his background as a DA, he should have known about the tracing of funds

He definitely was using the wrong head in planning out this scheme!

this guy was not too smart... if he did it once, he did it Too Much

I wonder what the connection is between Gov. Spitzer and Hilary; after all he is one of the people in her inner circle of good friends, supporters, superdelagates and financial supporters. She dumped him as one of her superdelagtes within in 1hr. Of the news breaking of the Spitzer charges. And the Feds. actually were investigating him for money laundering. And everybody has been wondering where she obtained the 5 million she loaned to her campaign???

Charlotte March 12th, 2008 12:21 pm ET

CHARLOTTE: I AGREE 100%. THE MEDIA IS TO BLAME FOR CONTINUOUSLY FEEDING THE RACIST MONSTER. BESIDES OBAMA HIMSELF NEVER SAID SHE WAS RACIST AND CLINTON "DISAGREED".

ENOUGH ALREADY

Lobbyist ties to McCain, Admiral Fallon resigning,

WHERE ARE YOU CNN, WHERE IS THE IMPORTANT STORY?

WHERE ARE YOU CNN?

STOP CALLING YOURSELF A NEWS COMPANY,
ALL YOU ARE IS A FANCY TABLOID.

This is terrible for everyone involved, but I am more concerned that this looks like a lynching unless they reveal ALL the high powered men who used their services. Take down the prostitution ring, but you have to reveal their clients, otherwise it is a double standard. I think all the wives of these "johns" should know what their husbands were doing.

Meanwhile……

Admiral Fallon has resigned as a CENTCOM commander bringing us one step closer to WAR with IRAN.

DID HE USE HIS MONEY OR "STATE" MONEY?

IF IT IS HIS MONEY - THEN FORGET ABOUT IT!

IF IT IS "STATE" MONEY - THEN PROSECUTE HIM!

Meanwhile......

The lobbyist who represented Ahmet Chalabi, please google this guy, is RUNNING John McCain's campaign.

Three Airbus lobbyists are a part of the McCain campaign, and one of them is his finance chair.

Oh yeah, an American company called Boeing, we know this company don't we, just lost out a huge contract to Airbus, a European company, and John McCain is bragging about this.

...and John McInsane says he wouldn't be affected by lobbyists.

How many of you who will be laid off because of this injustice alone will be laid off, and how many of you are actually going to vote for McCain?

WHERE ARE YOU CNN, WHERE IS THIS STORY?
WHERE IS THE REAL JOURNALISM? WHERE IS THE JUSTICE?
GET TO WORK CNN?
EXPOSE THIS CREEP FOR WHAT HE IS.

BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING...

not just transactions over $10,000 that MUST be reported in our "Global War on Terror", but apparently those sneaky ones that try to come in under the radar as well...

and if your party affiliation doesn't jive with the current administration, Big Brother won't be looking the other way!!!

Per New York attorney Scott Heron, the US Department of Justice has prosecuted 5.2 Democrats for every Republican.

Oddly enough, those prosecutions always spike near electoral cycles too.

TIMING IS EVERYTHING...

PAUL V CLINTON this shows you what a liar Billary is. Go to Google, print in Paul V Clinton. Go down to "Truth Boating Hillary", there is also "What Hillary does not want you to know" and other vidio's. After reading this how can she run for President??????,dirty tactics, liar, and just plain greedy. There Ferraro read the report on this and I want to hear your comment.

So many of the Clinton supporters are criminals or are lacking in morals. Racist, cheaters, what else? Clinton will destroy this country.

Anyone who'd pay $5000 an hour on a prostitute shouldn't either go to jail or the looney bin.

. . .The Clintons?

Let me get this straight, everytime Geraldine Ferraro says that a black man has been privileged because he is black she means something that has nothing to do with race or skin color. And everytime she says that a wasp is priveleged because he's a wasp it has nothing to do with his religion? I take it she brought the matter up because she wants to discredit herself because there is certainly no logic in her statements.
"Methinks the lady doth protest too much," if I may quote Shakespeare without being over-educated. And no, I am neither sexist nor educationalist.

To put the matter in perspective look at the counties in western Virginia, eastern Mississippi and eastern Ohio where Hillary did well. Not a lot of racists in this areas, I wouldn't suppose.

They should keep on digging into this scandal, see what else they can come up with and who else they can uncover.

Why Charlotte, so you can spread more of your racist remarks about Obama and his supporters on the internet? Go hide!

What Ferraro said and how she said it is completely wrong. The fact that she still continues to defend her comments reveals something unpleasant about her Character.
She is trying to defend herself and then turnaround and play the Victim role that Hillary has been playing during her campaign. It is true that some people (older white female) are voting for Hillary just because she’s a white older female. Likewise it is also true that some people (black) are voting for Barack because he is Black. It is even more true that a lot of people(white) choose not to vote for Barack simply because he is Black. In addition, some people (white) vote for White male candidates just because these male candidates are White men. So what is Geraldine’s point here? It’s senseless that she will say what she said. People tend to vote first for people they can identify with. Then many people(if they are not prejudice) will vote merely on the basis of the Candidates’ Character, personality, and what they have to offer the voters. This is the point that she missed and did not mention in her comments. White men/women, Hispanics, Asians, etc. are not voting for Barack because he is black. Also a lot of Blacks are not voting for Barack simply because he is black. If Barack was a boring black man who did not have something that stood out, he would not make it this far. People, including the Clinton’s campaign are trying to undermine the fact that Barack has something to offer (great personality, unity, inspiration, etc.) that makes him stand out in the crowd. This has absolutely nothing to do with his race. We also tend to forget that Barack is half white & half black. So why are people trying to mention race? Barack is for bringing the country together. Never once in his speeches did he say I am running for blacks, or a certain group of people. He is running for All Americans!!!!!

Hillary needs to make herself stand out in the crowd and stop trying to attack Barack. What does she have to offer?? Let he show her Juice!!!

I couldn't care less what was going on in the Mayflower Hotel, I care more about what's going on in the White House. The man in the WH has done a lot worse in seven years.

Let's move on...there are other, more important issues.

Okay, America, we have other things to think about, like the bum in the Oval Office. We are about to pay $4. a gallon for gas, and you want to talk about Spitzer, a rich man? Let's move on, America is going down the toilet.

I agree Charlotte. This mess is far from being over. The Emperor's Club is facing prosecution, so you can believe the little black book will be handed over. There is much more to be told regarding this story. I agree that he should step down because this is not the only scandal he is involved in and it creates a major distraction for the people of NY. But my guess is that the names of other clients, not just client 9, will follow.

The bum is leaving, move on. Don't hold the rest of the country hostage, we have other things to think about.

The guy is rich, he and his family will be fine. He has to learn the lesson that his deeds will ruin the reputation of his family. He may be rich, but no amount of money will buy integrity.

Congrats to Mr. Paterson, and it's time to get on with our lives.

Move on–we have a national election right now.

Yea, but your comments are divisive and counter-productive. You are using facts and race for political expedience of one very divisive and polarizing candidate, who clearly and selfishly will sacrifice all for her power grab. I say Racist, you say Tomato, let's call the whole candidacy off. Go away HRC, you are bad for America and the World.

$80,000 for hookers? I wonder how much of that money belonged to New York State?

I am very tired of priveleged white women disguising racist views, and then hiding behind it. We have a hopeful presidential candidate doing the same thing as Geraldine. It disgusts me!

Another Democrat –espousing the high road, but privately traveling the low road.

Wonder how many other Democratic party members are in the "Emperor's Club"?

I bet Bill Clinton is a charter member!

Just a general request here:
Please either lower the volume on Tony Harris' microphone, or ask him to lower his voice. Why does he appear to be "yelling at the top of his lungs?" (Does he have a hearing problem?)
Thank you.
B
Connecticut

Many people are asking, "how can Silda stand next to Spitzer during this crisis?" My thinking on this issue is that she is modeling behavior for her daughters and Americans everywhere. When someone you love does something that hurts or brings shame on you and your family, it doesn't mean that you abandon them. You show that your love and support is present even in the most difficult circumstances.

Your decision to continue in the relationship or leave the relationship will be determined after you have time to deal with the consequences. That is yet to be seen. Silda, however, is a strong women who is sending a message that is powerful and loving rather than vindictive and destructive.

Why is Ferraros' ticker still on top??? Race still the topic of the day?

this ninny is only sorry about being caught. he should be disbarred. my father was right...."never steal more than you can run with"

So was the club that ran the ring shut down?No?I guess it is legal as long as it was run for the elites and politicos.

What happened eight months ago to start this mess? Who are the other clients? Lets name them as well. Why should they not be named?

Not only was he dishonest, he's apparently not too bright. Why would he pay with electronic transfers, when those are 100% tracable? As an ex prosecutor, he should have known that. I wonder what he was thinking?