Alex Rodriguez, the Yankees player who is ‘friends’ with Madonna, has allegedly been involved in a personal and professional relationship with Eliot Spitzer’s madam, Kirsten Davis. A-Rod apparently met the businesswoman at a Philadelphia gym and wooed both her and one of her prostitute employees with emails, jewelery and flowers. He first asked Davis on a date, but she told him she had a boyfriend and gave her a card for her service.

A-Rod used the card and booked a two-hour session with a prostitute, using his real name, and then became a repeat customer. He developed a relationship with a hooker who liked him so much she didn’t charge him for services. He didn’t give up on trying to get the madam to date him too, though:

In an e-mail exchange provided to The News by a former booker for Davis’ Wicked Models, Rodriguez purportedly told Davis on Nov. 17, 2006: “Thanks for setting me up with Samantha. She was gorgeous. But she is not you. When can I see you you are gorgeous . . .”

The exchange goes on:

Davis: “Hi Alex. You don’t want to see me. I’m no fun. lol. Just because your (sic) so sweet, here are some pics of me and I appreciate the compliments. Your (sic) a doll. Thanks, Kristin”

Rodriguez: “You have been playing hard to get for a year now, your (sic) killing me.”

Davis: “It’s not playing I am hard to get. Maybe you should try harder.”

Rodriguez: “Kristin, I definitely will and I love the pics. I put the one on my cell so I can look at you all the time. Alex.”

Davis: “You are too sweet. I’ll let you know when I get someone you like.”

New York Daily News

Alex Rodriguez was married to his long suffering wife Cynthia during this time, around 2006-2007, before the birth of their daughter in April 2008. When Cynthia filed for divorce she cited marital infidelity as a reason, and it was widely assumed that this referred to Alex’s relationship with Madonna. It sounds like he was carrying on behind her back for a long time before that.

My first thought about A-Rod and his relationship with Madonna following this alleged behavior is ‘ew, poor Madonna’, but then she’s hardly virginal is she? Alex, Madonna and the prostitutes are old enough and experienced enough to know the rules: no glove, no love.

Elliot Spitzer’s hooker Ashley Alexandra Dupre is suing Joe Francis and his Girls Gone Wild franchise for over $10 million in damages for releasing photo stills from a tape she made in 2003 when she was just 17. In the tape Dupre wears a backwards baseball cap and a bikini. She flashes her boobs for the camera, grabs herself and dances provocatively while guys surrounding her cheer. Dupre was on spring break in Florida and claims that she was given alcohol and “cajoled” into an appearance, although she certainly seemed willing at the time. She is suing for the use of her name and likeness on The Girls Gone Wild websites and promotional material, and according to People Magazine the tape was never released because she was just 17 at the time.

For his part Joe Francis says he’s “amazed” that she’s suing him because they are photos taken with many people present and he didn’t even release the tape since she was underage. He does say that it “doesn’t matter” if she was underage, since she showed false identification and claimed to be older:

“It is incomprehensible that Ms. Dupré could claim she did not give her consent to be filmed by Girls Gone Wild, when in fact we have videotape of her giving consent, while showing her identification,” Francis told Usmagazine.com…

“She’s seeking $10 Million for topless photos taken in front of a room full of people, including two newspapers and multiple crews we had in the room,” he said. “These images were taken in public places and contain no sexual contact. We expect to triumph in this matter and continue to offer the best and hottest girls.”

[From US Magazine]

While Dupre has not made a public appearance since the scandal broke 6 weeks ago, she has profited since the news got out that she was paid over $1,000 an hour for servicing former NY Governor Spitzer. Dupre has ambitions of becoming a pop star, and is said to have received over $200,000 for downloads of her songs.

The NY Daily News reports today that she has a new manager for her music career and is shopping around for a label that will have her. How convenient that she’s getting new press now for suing Girls Gone Wild. Her Myspace (warning: bad automatic music) has received over 10 million views.

Some friends of Silda Spitzer are talking to the press about her. Isn’t that nice of them? Most of them are saying that the former first lady of New York is deeply wounded by the prostitution scandal that brought down her husband’s governorship, but that she is not the kind of woman to make a quick decision about something as serious as divorce.

As she remains out of the public eye following her husband Eliot Spitzer’s sex scandal, friends believe that wife Silda Spitzer is a woman who takes the phrase “for better or worse” seriously.

“Maybe she wanted to kick the guy out of the house but she’s in the public eye and a person who takes responsibility,” David Patrick Columbia, a friend of Silda’s and editor of NewYorkSocialDiary.com tells PEOPLE. “I think she’s a woman who was there because that’s the vow: ‘For better or for worse.’ She’s a woman who lives those words.”

Friends of the former first lady of New York, who told PEOPLE in 2004, “The most jarring thing for me is to read these negative things about [my husband] in the papers and try to reconcile that with the person that we know and love,” are giving her space.

No ‘Hasty Decisions’
“She’s in a state of shock right now and she’s not going to make any hasty decisions,” adds high school friend Lina Gibson of Concord, N.C. “She’s not going to throw 20 years of marriage away based on one week of reports. She has to wait until this does down and decide what she wants to do, not what the media decides she should do.”

Her friends “have been very concerned about not making it anymore difficult on her than it already is,” says Columbia. “I feel very bad for her to go through a crisis with her relationship in public. She is such a nice woman who doesn’t deserve this embarrassment.”

It certainly has not been easy. With photographers camped outside the family’s Fifth Avenue high-rise in the wake of Spitzer’s apology and then resignation Wednesday, the couple remained in their apartment last week as their three daughters, Elyssa, Sarabeth and Jenna continued to attend classes at an elite private school in New York City.

Retreated to Country House
On Saturday, the New York Daily News reported that the family had retreated to their country house in Gallatin, New York. (The girls are off for Spring Break this week.) And Eliot and Silda, who told PEOPLE in 2004, “We don’t disagree about much,” continue to work out their issues behind closed doors.

“She’s quietly a woman of principle,” says Columbia. “People criticize her for standing by her husband, but she’s the type of person who takes responsibility for things no matter what. She is his partner. I feel she is the type of person who honors that obligation no matter what.”

[From People]

Well, it’s wonderful that Mrs. Spitzer is the “type of person who honors obligations no matter what,” because her rat-faced shitbag of a husband sure doesn’t. Maybe she should have run for governor instead. I wouldn’t dream of judging this poor woman, but I do have some advice for her. If he dishonors you, dishonors the family you built together, and disrespects all the sacrifices you have made for his career, he ain’t worth it, honey. It’s as simple as that.

The NY Times has an interview and a link to the MySpace page of the woman at the heart of the Elliott Spitzer scandal. Her name was Kristen on the Emperor’s Club Website, but her real name is Ashley Youmans and she’s an aspiring singer who goes by the name Ashley Alexandra Dupré. She’s just 22 years old, and on her myspace she writes about moving all over and leaving an abusive family, being homeless at one point and addicted to drugs. She says music saved her, but it probably wasn’t enough to pay the bills if she was working as an escort:

When I was 17, I left home. It was my decision and I’ve never looked back. Left my hometown. Left a broken family. Left abuse. Left an older brother who had already split. Left and learned what it was like to have everything, and lose it, again and again. Learned what it was like to wake up one day and have the people you care about most gone. I have been alone. I have abused drugs. I have been broke and homeless. But, I survived, on my own. I am here, in NY because of my music.

[From Ashley Alexandra Dupré's MySpace]

In his resignation speech, Spitzer repeatedly referred to the fact that he was busted hiring prostitutes as a “private matter,” but no matter what you think about the morality of his actions or whether it’s grounds for him to leave public office, it’s clear that he had a real problem. The guy had teenage daughters and he was paying thousands of dollars to sleep with young prostitutes. He makes $179,000 a year as governor of New York and was said to have spent $80,000, nearly half his salary, on hookers in the last 10 years. last year.

Actress Julianne Moore, who lives in New York city, talked to People Magazine at an event yesterday, and she summed up a lot of people’s opinions on this matter:

“A f—ing embarrassment” is how Julianne Moore, once a fan of the former attorney general, termed the politico’s involvement in a prostitution ring – for which it is anticipated he will resign on Wednesday.

“I’m really pissed,” the fiery New Yorker, 47, told PEOPLE during Tuesday’s TSE flagship SoHo store opening. “I honestly don’t care where or how people have sex, or with whom, but prostitution is illegal. For someone whose got such a reputation for having a real attitude towards crime, you have to walk the walk. I’m sorry.”

[From People.com]

Many of you are mentioning President Clinton’s impeachment in 1998 as similar to this story, and it has some common themes of infidelity and betrayal of public trust by a high-ranking government official. Clinton lied under oath in his deposition for the Paula Jones case about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky. It’s not analogous to Spitzer’s use of prostitutes in that Clinton’s “crime” was stretching the truth, saying that he thought “sexual relations” meant the strict definition of the term, not oral sex. (Which I know is ridiculous, but let’s just say the President lied in a case that many pundits thought should not have been brought against him while he was in office in the first place.)

Spitzer broke the law multiple times, spending tens of thousands of dollars on prostitutes. While Clinton may have been a sex addict who couldn’t keep it in his pants, and who by some accounts sexually harassed women, he was never convicted of that and for all we know he didn’t pay for sex.

There is definitely one detail that Spitzer and President Clinton’s indiscretions have in common – Monica Lewinsky was also just 22 when she had an affair with a then 49 year-old President Clinton. Elliot Spitzer will be 49 in June.

The sad thing is that both Spitzer and President Clinton are incredible politicians who were renowned for fighting for the common good. Now their accomplishments will always be overshadowed by their sex lives, and their obituaries will even include a mention of the scandals that marred their political careers.

Lewis Black made an appearance on “The Daily Show” last night to do a monologue on NY governor Elliot Spitzer’s prostitution scandal. He first showed clips of tv pundits wondering how Spitzer paid for the hookers, and said “Please, like you don’t know? Guys pay women for sex? No!”

He said that Spitzer paid $4,300 for two hours with a hooker and for that much money you could buy a used Honda and f’ck it. Black noted that the service Spitzer used was the “Emperor’s Club” and that they used a diamond rating, which he said referred to the level of difficulty, like a ski slope. “I tried a five diamond once, now I have a fake knee!”

Lewis Blacks new show “The Root of All Evil” premieres on Comedy Central tonight at 10:30 EST. It features Lewis Black presiding over a “court of pop culture” in which comedians debate which of two subjects is worse: for instance the Catholic Church vs. Oprah. Comedy Central has a clip on its website and the show looks hysterical.

In terms of Elliot Spitzer, the latest news is that NY’s formerly-esteemed governor spent at least $80 freaking thousand on prostitutes. If only he had cheaper taste and didn’t transport them across state lines, he might have been able to keep his little problem secret for some time. Spitzer is expected to resign, according to a source, but no statement has been made yet.

NY Governor Eliott Spitzer was caught up in a federal investigation of a prostitution ring, and made a statement to the media today acknowledging his involvement without getting into specifics. The NY Times broke the explosive story this morning that a wiretap from a federal investigation revealed that the Governor had arranged for a high-paid prostitute to travel from NY to Washington to meet him at a hotel.

Spitzer owned up to his actions in a public statement, his wife standing by his side. His eyes were welling up but he did not cry. He refused to answer any questions, including whether he would resign his post:

Mr. Spitzer today made a brief public appearance during which he apologized for his behavior, and described it as a “private matter.”

“I have acted in a way that violates my obligation to my family and violates my or any sense of right or wrong,” said Mr. Spitzer, who appeared with his wife Silda at his Manhattan office. “I apologize first and most importantly to my family. I apologize to the public to whom I promised better.”

“I have disappointed and failed to live up to the standard I expected of myself. I must now dedicate some time to regain the trust of my family.”

Before speaking, Mr. Spitzer stood with his arm around his wife; the two nodded and then strode forward together to face more than 100 reporters. Both had glassy, tear-filled eyes, but they did not cry.

The governor spoke for perhaps a minute and did not address his political future.

He declined to take questions and promised to report back soon. As he went to leave, three reporters screamed out, “Are you resigning? Are you resigning?”, and Mr. Spitzer charged out of the room, slamming the door.

[From the NY Times]

According to the NY Times, Spitzer can be charged with a crime under the Mann Act, which is meant to deter human trafficking and “makes it a crime to transport someone between states for the purpose of prostitution.”

Ironically, Spitzer has gone after prostitution rings in his role as Attorney General of NY from 1998-2006. As Attorney General he was known for his high profile lawsuits against major corporations and was widely lauded as a man who could change fraudulent corporate practices. He sued the NY Stock Exchange for paying its director $187 million. He sued GlaxoSmithKlein for withholding damaging information about Paxil. He sued the top investment banks and was instrumental in exposing fraud on Wall Street. He collected multi-million dollar settlements from ten of the top investment banks including Bear Stearns, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan Chase, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, and UBS Warburg. Spitzer even sued a major spam network along with Microsoft and collected a $7 million settlement.

Spitzer has been Governor of NY since January 1, 2007 and has not yet addressed whether he will resign his post.

Huffington Post has screengrabs from the website of the prostitution ring that Spitzer may have used. Their rates start at $1,000 an hour and go up from there, depending on their “diamond” level.

Spitzer has been married for 20 years and has three teenage daughters. His wife is also a graduate of Harvard Law School and runs the nonprofit agency Children for Children.

Header image from the NY Times.