Dave Patterson In

You can't spell his name, yet you're convinced that his inauguration as Governor would be a disaster for the state. Interesting. Maybe you just don't like, er, blind people.

Prospects is????? Spelling and grammar are both weak.
But then again, Paterson is not the usual spelling.
Hey, I'm totally thrilled with the possibility that at this very moment Spitzer is tearfully writing out his resignation speech while David P. is getting suited up for moving into the governor's manse.
All very interesting. Bloomberg must be chortling big-time.

Spitzer may just tough it out. Interestingly, the deciding pt might be the potential impact of him staying in on the Clinton campaign. There shouldn't be any but if there is....

I doubt Bloomberg is all that happy about this (he WAS a democrat after all), but maybe I'm wrong. I also don't see any sign of Spitzer resigning. It is a very sad day but I guess power can corrupt anyone, even the ones who claimed to be riding a moral high horse.

Hillary should really denounce it. . . .really sad but she is all about winning at all costs, so unlikely given this is one of her superdelegates.

Sad day??!!! Get a grip. A total A type personality is hoist on his own petard. David Paterson will be a FINE governor. Spitzer had his points, but oh my goodness. Bye-bye, Mr. Squeaky. Not so squeaky after all, or so say the masses and the spinmeisters.
Any this doesn't hurt the Democrats. Paterson will be in office for a long time . . . .

Can you imagine the party raging at Joe Bruno's office?

poorishlady: 70% of this state voted for him, so it IS a sad day. Also a sad day for his wife and 3 daughters. Maybe just my opinion, but I'm entitled to have it.
Yes, the party at Bruno's office must be epic. I suspect there are parties raging in several places.

khd, your response makes me want to put my post in perspective. No question, his kids are innocent victims, and I certainly feel for his wife, too. I voted for him, in one of the rare cases where I'm not just voting against the other guy. That said, the Bruno scandal was a letdown (not because I'm any fan of Bruno's - far from it), and now this is just sloppy, sloppy, sloppy. Who knows what the state of his personal life was, but any commitment to public service should demand discipline (not to mention common sense) beyond what Spitzer displayed.

I feel bad for spitzer. I dont think people's personal lives should matter. His job performance is good. It's not like McGreevy, who gave a government job to his boyfriend (costing the taxpayers money). I think morally spitzer is wrong, but he is a great governor and they shouldnt make him resign over this.

I don't care who he sleeps with, but there are realities involved with pursuing a life in pubic service, and one of them is that soliciting prostitutes will very possibly undermine the good that you've done and empower your enemies. I'm disappointed.

It is a federal crime (likely). . . .look up the Mann act (esp. as it was soliciting while crossing state lines). Anyway - unfortunately, this is the type of crime he prosecuted and sought out others for. . .He can't uphold laws which he himself violates. He also is seen as very self-righteous, so this is really hypocrital. But the bottom line, unfortunately as he knows himself, it is a crime currently to solicit prostitutes in the jurisdictions entailed. Hey - I don't think prostitution is the worst crime since it is somewhat victimless but it is way problematic from a guy who has purposefully sought out people with the same "crime" and is supposed to uphold the law. It's really all a shame. Besides Bruno - he also likely took a large loan from his family/dad and lied about that too until he was found out. So who knows what he would be up to next - it seems as though power corrupted the guy!

Get real girly girl. Yeah, technically it is a crime but so it is when poorishlady uses her bongs. Men use prostitutes all of the time. Still not sure why he felt he needed to bring one down from NYC (maybe he should apologize to the people of DC intimating that their prostitutes suck... or maybe not).

Anyway, is this New York, or Louisiana or Idaho? Oh, I forgot, the top Republican leaders in those states are embroiled in sex scandals. Let's not be so darn moralistic. Obviously the guy needed more of an outlet than he was getting so he called the prostitute. Great men/women have great flaws.

One good thing about all this. The media can now ignore the crashing economy so maybe it will have a chance to recover. Of course, the media circus around Gary Condit was probably a major reason those in the media that should have been focusing on Al Qeda missed the boat.

I honestly dont think he should resign because I think hes a great governor and I dont think personal things should matter unless your job performance is comprimised. But it seems like the people on the stock market wanted to nail him (he went after them for corruption) so this is their way of taking him down.

Its like if all else fails, go for the sex. It was the same thing with Bill Clinton. With Governor McGreevy though I thought he should have stepped down because he got his unqualified boyfriend a govt job, so he was actually costing the taxpayers money (and possiblty their security as he made the guy head of homeland security for jersey).

I dont think people should be judged by their sex lives, cuz you know all of those politicians have mistresses/hos/strange sex lives.

I agree that personal lives should not be the focus of our attention. Having said that, it showed a horrible lack of judgment (whether it was Clinton, Spitzer, etc) and it was very hypocritical of Spitzer considering he was a vociferous arbiter of morals, virtue, honesty, justice, etc. Like tenemental said, he was someone a lot of us voted for because we actually liked the guy.
Anyway, it will be interesting to see if he sticks it out (will he still be effective?) or if he steps down.

My prediction: he won't be prosecuted for the Mann Act. That's really to get organized crime people and pimps--not the Johns. This wasn't a kidnapped teen from a Peruvian village forced into prostitution through human trafficking. What Spitzer has to worry about is prosecution for monetary crimes like attempting to hide transfers that ordinarily are large enough that they have to be reported and any financial fruad. It doesn't sound very major, and it wouldn't be for Joe Public, but governors really shouldn't be shuttling money between phoney account to pay a prostitute. He'll use resignation from his office as a condition of limited or no prosecution in bargaining with the fed. And yes. He'll have to resign. It isn't the mere patronizing a prostitute, which is icky enough, but people do lots of icky things and stay in office. It is the hypocracy of a prosecutor committing the same crimes he once sent people to jail for. It's the coffers emptied of the political capital you need to survive and be effective in Albany. It is the ceding of any moral high ground from which he once preached to Joe Bruno and Sheldon Silver. It is the resulting pointlessness of his governorship that will cause him to resign. And after the rush of bad press this week, some salacious facts will continue to come out in drips and drabs for months. It will be impossible for him to put this behind him.

And as for Paterson, he is an utterly unproven, unvetted Lt. Governor. Spitzer road such a wave of support to Albany that no one even looked at who this guy on his ticket was. He may be okay, he may be a disaster. Truth is no one knows. He certainly hasn't done anything in his career even approximating the demands he'll now face as executive of an enormously complex state entering grave economic times. This isn't exactly the guy anyone would have actually selected to be at the helm now. Interestingly, if he can't or won't serve, Joe Bruno is next in line. Guess his obituary was a little premature.

I voted for Spitzer and I like Spitzer, but clearly his judgment and arrogance are both problematic. I mean, good god, he's so stupid that he wire-transferred big money to get nookie AND he violated the Mann act AND he's a john. Those are three separate legal problems. And he's SUPPOSED to be squeaky-clean in that he was always going after others. It's not like how Bill was hounded for his semi-affair with the gal in the blue dress.
He should just go ahead and resign. I think it will be cool to have David Paterson as governor.
I'm sure the Clinton and Obama campaigns are both saying to themselves: just resign already, Eliot.
I've been accused on these posts of engaging in hippie-esque drug-use, but these are merely unsubstantiated allegations. But this reminds me: Did y'all know that Spitzer had crafted a plan to charge taxes for marijuana sales --- starting ASAP? Really and truly! Google it if you don't believe me.

ps: This is clearly all very good for NYC real estate!!!

Don't know about that. But this should be good for NYC real estate and the economy in general:

http://www.cnbc.com/id/23573249

Spitzer won't resign..this is New York, not Utah. He'll make a deal with the feds and all will be forgiven. No one knows this guy Patterson and the public will want Spitzer to hang on.

I think Spitzer will resign or otherwise impeachment is imminent. . . He has so many enemies and more and more is coming out. He would lack political clout if he remains. Yes I also believe he is stubborn so it may not be as quick as expected. His arrogance and lack of judgment give me that info.

Julia -- The public clearly DOES NOT want Spitzer to "hang on," and yes, in fact we DO know David Paterson (Paterson is the correct spelling) and he is an excellent potential governor.
Spitzer can't resign until he works out his get-out-of-charges card with the feds and after he does the few last "favors" to people he owes before he steps down. That could take another couple days, but the john is toast. Of course, I could be wrong in this weird world of ours, but I really doubt it.
Spitzer's problematic personality (arrogant a-hole who thinks he walks on water) is the basic problem. Good riddance.

I mean, I voted for Spitzer (what choice did we have at that point?), but NY state politics needs David Paterson at this point far more than it needs Spitzer.

Paterson.
Paterson.
Paterson.
Just to reinforce the correct spelling.

New York needs David Paterson??? Who is this guy...comes from a political family and so what.

The issue is not we need the other guy, so much as Spitzer will have his hands tied and will not be seen as legitimate by the republican led state senate/congres. Check it out - they are calling for impeachment if he doesn't resign. . .get real!

Julia and Will--your pronostication skills need some retooling. For everyone else, get used to spelling the new Governor's name with one "T".

I don't even know what pronostication means so I can't possibly have the skills.

I think he means prognostication. . .your guesses were off.

I think it was the right thing for the Spitz to resign, only b/c he has lost so much credibility among the public and his fellow politicos. The man was caught doing something he so agressively went after as AG. Which, btw wasn't just soliciting prostitutes but also wiring money to a suspicious company (after 9/11 banks are required to track these things, esp for accounts of politicians). that's how he got snagged, when the bank filed a suspicious activity report with the federal authorities.

If it were common knowledge that he was a philanderer or he had a different professional track record then I don't think this would've been such a shock.

Regarding McGreevey, the former NJ Gov didn't resign because he's gay. That was common knowledge in the NJ political scene for years and many NJ voters cared less. He resigned to avoid links to major corruption charges.

Interesting look at Paterson'e past regarding development and eminient domain. Activate snark filter, or go straight to Sun article.

http://curbed.com/archives/2008/03/14/eminent_domain_opponents_ready_dear_gov_patterson.php#reader_comments

http://www.nysun.com/article/72905

Did anyone see Sharpton's comments yesterday that Paterson would "step up" and be the next Dinkins? If that's to be true, and if any of his policy-making affects NYC, then we are doomed and Manhattan housing would probably revert to the early 90s. Scary thought and scarier that someone actually "thinks" Dinkins contributed ANYTHING positive to this city. But then again, look who made the comment.

Looking2Buy: I certainly am no fan of either Dinkins or Sharpton, and I do not think that Dinkins was a very good mayor. However, Dinkins did do some good things! For example, after years of crime going up under the Koch administration, crime was actually lower in the city when Dinkins left office than when he started. In addition, the US Open and its beautiful facilities are in New York because of Dinkins. Dinkins did some good things, just like rudy did a lot of dumb and bad things, and neither compares at all favorably to Mayor Bloomberg (one of the best mayor's in the city's history). We really did dodge a bullet by not having rudy as our President!!!!!!!!!

You think we dodged a bullet by not having Rudy be President? How about Spitzer in 2016!?

FWIW, lots of nice things are getting said in the hallways up in Albany about Paterson, and many people in city government say similarly nice things. But having only served in the Senate minority in the past and as Lt. Governor, no one really knows what he stands for and believes in when the chips are down. He has a wonderful opportunity to offer leadership at a time the state needs it as we enter these challenging fiscal times. I hope he rises to the occasion and the office.