What Spitzer Still Faces

Disgraced Democrat Eliot Spitzer may be governor no longer after March 17 after resigning over being named as a client of an international prostitution ring, but he still faces significant legal woes.

Most immediately, he faces a criminal probe. Prosecutors are still trying to figure out what to do with him, and he could face significant jail time if they decide to throw the book at him (HT: Jammie Wearing Fool):

Experts say "Client 9" could face the following charges:

* Money laundering for trying to conceal the source and recipient of financial transactions.
* Tax evasion, if he was a knowing party to an all-cash business that wasn't filing taxes.
* Violation of the Mann Act for paying for the trip from New York to D.C. by the call girl known as "Kristen."
* Misuse of state resources, if he used his state-issued credit card for hotels or meals with prostitutes as well as if he was being protected by State Troopers during his dalliances.
* And finally, soliciting prostitution.

There's also the question of whether Spitzer used campaign funds for these trysts, which opens up a whole other litany of charges from fraud to federal election violations.

I've been wondering whether state funds were used to pay for the trips between New York and Washington, DC, especially those trips when he appeared before Congress to testify and apparently also took time out of his schedule to have trysts at the Mayflower Hotel.

He could similarly face state charges on the use of state funds for personal use, which is what got former Comptroller Alan Hevesi in trouble and forced Hevesi to resign (recall that Spitzer had called for Hevesi to resign because of the findings that he violated state law).

There's also his family life, which he's pretty much destroyed by admitting to using call girls for at least the past six years and probably much longer than that. That's a private matter between him and his wife, but it may also end up in a very public and very messy and very nasty divorce, which is what happened when Dina McGreevey divorced former NJ Governor Jim McGreevey (D). They could resolve matters and stay together, despite this breach of trust and violation of their wedding vows, and the sting of hurt and pain right now could be overcome in time, but hell hath no fury as a woman scorned, and right now, Silda Spitzer is just that woman.

She's been standing at her husband's side through all this, though you have to wonder what she's thinking each time he utters a word. Silda had gone on the record previously when asked about President Clinton's infidelities and how Hillary Clinton stood at his side through it all and said that she wouldn't do it that way.

A decade ago, as she watched then-First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton humiliated by her intern-loving hubby, Silda Wall Spitzer made clear her intentions if Eliot ever cheated.

"That would never be me. I'd be gone," Silda told friends, a pal told The Post.

But Silda, for the second time in a week, donned a tailored designer skirt suit and appeared to be standing by her hooker-loving hubby yesterday, even as the fairy tale has soured behind closed doors.

Well, she has thus far. Whether that continues remains to be seen. As I have stated previously, she has every right to divorce Eliot and take him for every penny he's worth - which is considerable given that his family is in the real estate business and is worth millions. That she should have custody of their three daughters is a no-brainer as well.

Andrea Peyser has no sympathy for Silda, saying that she let herself fall into this mess by being a doormat. I don't agree. I have tremendous sympathy for her, and even more so for their three teenage daughters. Should she have known something was going on? From what we know so far, it's not clear how she should have known something was amiss.

Meanwhile, many of his staffers are angry at the way things went down, though I wonder about that given the way Spitzer hung some of their colleagues out to dry over Troopergate. Of course, they're also wondering what will happen to their jobs given they were expecting to stay on for a full four years and now have to wonder whether incoming Governor Paterson will keep them on. Paterson thus far has said that he would likely retain many of the agency heads to ease the transition, but as for staffers within the Second Floor itself, expect Paterson to bring in his own people.

Speaking of Paterson, the Albany elites are already doing their best to butter him up for the inevitable budget battles to come. They're correct in saying that he's a generally likable guy, tough but fair, and it comports well with my own experiences.

The Monday inauguration will be held in a joint session of the legislature in Albany. They say that it will be a low key affair, but any time you get a joint session, it is inevitably a circus as media and the public alike want to see this historic moment.

UPDATE:
As I stated from the outset of this mess, state residents are the ones who will end up being screwed most by Spitzer's screwing around on his wife. At least two major construction projects may be delayed because of his departure, and I'll have to find out what Gov. Paterson thinks of construction at Ground Zero, since the New York Governor has a say in who is involved at the Port Authority and LMDC.