The most recent shame of New York, soon-to-be former Governor Eliot Spitzer, resigned from office today, with the official transfer of power to Lieutenant Governor David Paterson to take place on Monday. Spitzer has been linked to a worldwide prostitution ring, and may have spent as much as $80,000 on hookers. The federal government figured out what he was up during the course of investigating the Emperor’s Club, which specializes in high class hookers. Apparently Spitzer was too ethical to get one of the $45 trannies from Queens like everyone else.

“I am deeply sorry that I did not live up to what was expected of me,” he said in a brief news conference announcing his intention to resign, effective Monday. “I will try once again outside of politics to serve the common good.”

With his wife, Silda, at his side, he added, “Our greatest glory consists not in never falling but in rising every time we fall.”

[From CNN]

Spitzer was famous for rooting out corruption, and was a formidable adversary as the state’s attorney general. He took on Wall Street, government corruption, and – most ironically – prostitution. Lt. Gov David Paterson will be New York’s first black governor and is also legally blind.

“Kristen,” the $4,300 hooker that Spitzer’s been linked to, sounds like quite a catch. Certainly good enough to risk your career and your family for. She likes nice wines and dinners, is 5’5 tall and weights 105 lbs, and has 34 Cs. During a wiretap Kristen was recorded commented on some of Spitzer’s sexual proclivities.

Additionally, the affidavit notes that after her appointment with Client-9 [Spitzer] ended, “Kristen” spoke with a Emperors Club booker, who said that she had been told that Client-9 “would ask you to do things that, like, you might not think were safe…” “Kristen” responded by saying, essentially, that she could handle guys like that.

[From the Smoking Gun]

As a New Yorker, I can say that I’m profoundly disappointed in Eliot Spitzer. Not just because this is such a despicable way to behave – though that would certainly be enough – but because I was incredibly pleased to live in a state with such a noble and upstanding governor. It sounds cheesy, but that really was a point of pride for me. Gov. Spitzer wasn’t just some random politician that few regular people paid attention to. He rooted out corruption and had a long and upstanding track record. All of that is worthless now.