Celebrating 80 Years of Service to LIU

Kuhr’s
Corner
By Jonathan Kuhr
News Editor
Man, oh man, oh man, oh man. I could not believe it
when I heard about, now infamous, Client 9, our very
own Elliott Spitzer. I mean of all the ways to go! Not
that I’m suggesting that he will resign his position
because he very well may not. I personally have something
of mixed feelings about this particular point of
contention. Don’t get me wrong, I’m just as against
transporting prostitutes across state borders to engage in
illicit sexual acts as the next guy, but I have to admit that
I agree with Spitzer that there is a separation between the
personal and the professional. Spitzer did not do anything
wrong as far as upholding his responsibilities as
Governor. He simply made highly-offensive, personal
errors in judgment. Thusly, he did nothing to the role of
Governor and his actions in no way directly harmed the
State of New York.
All of that having been said, this guy should have
resigned already. I mean even Larry Craig had the
decency to resign his position fairly quickly, and he
denied all of his allegations. Here we have Spitzer, who
hasn’t denied a single thing, and he’s still waiting to
decide if he should stay. And my favorite part about it is
the Daily News reported that it is his wife and close
advisor that are the ones pushing him to remain in office.
There is no public outcry to stay; no suggestion that he
has been somehow wronged by the system and has done
nothing wrong. And how could there be considering that
Spitzer admitted to being Client 9?! If the only people
that want you to stay in office are your best friend and
your wife, then it is probably time to go. Pretty soon the
only support he’s going to have is from Barney the dog,
President Bush’s known consultant and compatriot.
I have a few more beefs with Spitzer’s scandal. For
one, I am totally confused by this whole thing. I
could have sworn that this kind of stuff
only happened to Republicans. I mean,
where did this come from? I can
only imagine that the GOP is angry
that they didn’t get to this scandal
first. I mean, glamorous prostitutes
and money laundering?
What could be sexier than
that to an old bitter
Republican with a passion
for denouncing the
lifestyles of others and
promoting their own
“good values?” It was
perfect and they missed
out. Well… better luck
next month. After all,
there’s always plenty
of room for another
disgusting scandal.
Another thing that I
simply can’t figure
out, and therefore
OP-ED
has bothered me is the connotation of Spitzer’s acceptance
speech. Now let me first begin by saying that what
I am about to describe is not something particular to
Spitzer, nearly every transgressor in the past year, of
which there have been quite a few, have, in most cases,
done the same thing. When Spitzer offered his public
statement, was it just me or did he make it sound like he
had just found out what he had done? Hasn’t he been
doing it for at least months and potentially years? Why
is he talking like all-of-a-sudden he’s discovered that
prostitution is bad and he’s been a part of it?!
His language was very retrospective especially where
he says, “But I have disappointed and failed to live up to
the standard I expected of myself.” If you expected
something of yourself at the time, why didn’t you work
to live up to it? This is an incredibly passive line. All it
sounds like to me is that the Governor knew that he was
doing things wrong and all he could do to stop himself
was to say shame on me.
Another thing that I find rich about this whole situation
is the Republican reaction to it. Most Republicans
over the past eight years have been used to handling
scandals that happened within their own ranks. During
these situations, everybody stayed quiet. There was no
barraging, no calling for resignations, but that’s exactly
what we have here. Seawanhaka even got an email about
an emergency meeting of a Young Republicans Club
because they were urgently going to vote on a resolution
to call for Spitzer’s resignation. The GOP is so united
against Spitzer that it will be nothing but constant
attacks and talks of resignation from their ranks. Nearly
all of the quotes used in the Daily News’ coverage of the
scandal have been State Republicans, because all of
them are eager to get rid of Spitzer.
So let’s say Spitzer steps down. Where does that leave
us? Although, the state might have
the national limelight due to its
connection with a sex scandal,
we would also be in a
Seawanhaka
Seawanhaka
perfectly okay political position. Let’s not forget that we
have a Lieutenant Governor, David A. Paterson of
Harlem, who’s job it is to simply wait for something like
this to happen and take office replacing Spitzer. If that
were to happen, Paterson would become New York’s
first black governor and only the third of any state in our
nation’s history. Wouldn’t that be a great achievement?
Wouldn’t that leave us in a political state that is similar
to what we have today? Now obviously Paterson is not
exactly like Spitzer, but won’t he also act out Spitzer’s
mission of “progressive politics that would rebuild New
York and create opportunity for all?”
We have the chance to have an incredible Governor
who has accomplished so much so far. Not only is he
currently the first African American Lieutenant
Governor in New York State history, but he is also visually
impaired. In 2004, he addressed the National
Democratic Convention in Boston, Mas. and became the
first person to do so with a visual impairment. I think
that Paterson would be a strong leader to fill the shoes of
Spitzer. Besides if Spitzer does not resign, there has
already been talk of impeachment hearings, which
would take time away from his “progressive politics”
and have him and the senate bogged down in legal hearings.
Furthermore, it is obvious that he has in fact committed
a crime so the end result would most likely be
impeachment, and well before his term in office is up. If
I were Spitzer, I would have first made a comment about
how I question the correlation between myself and the
prostitution ring. I would have then graciously stepped
down, for the sake of my party and the sake of the state,
and handed it into the capable hands of Paterson.
That would have been a really gracious thing to do,
and may have quickly switched attention away from the
prostitution ring itself to the state of State government.
But none of that has happened as of yet. Maybe it will
over the next day or two, as I am writing this on
Tuesday, but one can only hope.
From Left to Right: Current Governor Eliot Spitzer, Lt. Governor David Paterson and current Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
March 12, 2008 Page 9
March 12, 2008 Vol. LXXXI, Issue 7