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From 'Mr Clean' to 'Client 9'
12/03/2008 22:36 - (SA)
James Hossack
New York - He was once known as "Mr Clean," anointed by Time magazine as "Crusader of the Year," and talked of as potential presidential material.
But Eliot Spitzer, who resigned as New York governor on Wednesday, is perhaps more likely to be remembered as "Client 9," his pseudonym in a federal criminal complaint detailing the take-down of a high-end prostitution ring.
Born in the Bronx, one of New York's toughest neighbourhoods, in 1959, Spitzer first attended Princeton, one of the most prestigious US universities, before studying law at another Ivy League institution - Harvard.
Shortly after graduating, he went on to work at the Manhattan district attorney's office, where he cut his teeth tackling the Gambino Mafia family's hold on the city, before going into private practice.
In 1999, he became New York state attorney general, where he turned his attention to white collar crime and particularly wrongdoing in New York's financial sector, earning himself the title "The Sheriff of Wall Street".
Music industry to insurance carriers
He led a spectacular victory in 2002 over the Wall Street titan Merrill Lynch, which paid $100m to settle charges that it advised clients to buy stocks it secretly believed were "junk."
And in December of the same year, he helped wring $1.4bn out of top Wall Street banks and brokers for stock research abuses. His other targets ranged from the music industry to major insurance carriers.
After seven years as attorney general, during which time he had earned himself a strong reputation for toughness and high ethical standards, he ran for governor in late 2006, assuming office in January 2007.
He used his inauguration address to pledge to bring ethical government to New York, but his time in office was instead marked by a scandal involving the use of state police to keep tabs on Republican opponents.
Reading his own political epitaph on Wednesday, Spitzer took a moment to dwell on the high hopes he had once held for transforming New York.
'Deeply sorry'
"I look at my time as governor with a sense of what might have been. But I also know that as a public servant I, and the remarkable people with whom I work, have accomplished a great deal.
"I am deeply sorry that I did not live up to what was expected of me."
Spitzer seemed to rule out ever returning to public life in his resignation speech on Wednesday, but revealed something of the idealist that first turned him towards running for attorney general and later governor.
"As I leave public life, I will first do what I need to do to help and heal myself and my family," Spitzer told reporters.
"Then I will try once again, outside of politics, to serve the common good and to move toward the ideals and solutions which I believe can build a future of hope and opportunity for us and for our children."
- AFP
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