Bill Clinton has filmed a cameo for ‘The Hangover 2.’ The former president will play himself in the film and shot his brief performance on Saturday in Bangkok, Thailand, a source confirmed to PEOPLE.
Clinton was in Bangkok to deliver a speech on clean energy.
‘The Hangover 2‘ courted controversy when Mel Gibson was hired to play a tattoo artist in the movie. The cast was reportedly not happy working with Gibson following his recent troubles, and the actor was nixed the day before he was set to begin shooting, amid chatter that Zach Galifianakis, in particular, was vocal about his discomfort with Gibson.
“I’m in a deep protest right now with a movie I’m working on, up in arms about something,” Galifianakis vented, but refused to identify ‘The Hangover 2′ or Mel Gibson by name.
Gibson was reportedly downright furious when his role was given to Liam Neeson.
An insider says, “He doesn’t understand why Mike Tyson, a drug user who turned his life around, was given a chance (in ‘The Hangover’) while Mel was kicked to the curb. Everybody deserves a second chance.”
TGIF! As always, we’ve got the best of the best in celebrity quotes this week! We’ve got Kanye West’s caps lock Twitter-fest, Tina Fey’s Brad Pitt crush and Zac Efron’s strip club escapades. Enjoy!
“I’m pretty sure we’re going to meet at some point. I’ve sent him over 100 letters saying that I’m pretty sure we’re going to meet. And 100 chunks of my hair. If that’s not a great gift, then one of us is crazy.”
– Tina Fey, who has yet to meet her Megamind animated film costar Brad Pitt, to People
“Up early in the morning taking meetings in Silicone Valley…Lol I spelled Silicon wrong ( I guess I was still thinking about the other type of silicone ITS A PROCESS!! : )”
– Kanye West, starting his Twitter account on the wrong key
“I’ve heard a lot about these places, mostly from rap music. They’re supposed to be pretty reputable, right? So I envisioned myself on a nice couch in stunna shades with T-Pain and Usher making it rain money. And it just wasn’t like that.”
– Zac Efron, ‘fessing up to his publicized trip to a strip club with HSM costar Corbin Bleu, on Jimmy Kimmel Live!
“I think that Cameron could kick the s— out of me. Personally, she’s extremely fit. She has long legs. She has reach, incredible leg reach. She surfs and has great stamina. So she could whip my ass good, I’ll tell you that.”
– Seth Rogen, singling out his Green Hornet costar Cameron Diaz as the girl who could beat him up, to People
“It’s funny because usually it’s the girl who’s naked. I was like, ‘That’s right, bitch. The tables are turned!’”
– Drew Barrymore, on having boyfriend Justin Long take it all off in their romantic comedy Going the Distance, to Nylon magazine
“I need to get my Brazilian wax before I do it.”
– Enrique Iglesias, on water skiing naked for losing a World Cup bet, to People
“I love my high heels. I’ll kick ass in four inches, pregnant any day of the week.”
– Resident Evil: Afterlife star and mom-to-be Ali Larter, at San Diego Comic-Con
“Justin Bieber is on fire right now! If you see him in any Rolls Royce or Lamborghini’s, it might be mine…but it’s his for the day.”
– Diddy, the latest celeb to come down with “Beiber Fever,” on Lopez Tonight
“My alternate album cover for Teenage Dream… Are you glad I went with the 1st?”
– Katy Perry, showing off fiancé Russell Brand’s proposed album art, on Twitter
“You don’t want two presidents at one wedding! All the secret service, guests going through [metal detectors], all the gifts being torn apart.”
– President Barack Obama, on not being invited to Chelsea Clinton’s wedding, on The View
What was your favorite quote this week? Mine was Russell Brand’s alternative album cover for Katy’s new release. He looks like a complete dork, but he’s comfortable with that.
What better way to end March than with Michael Steeleanswering questions about an RNC member’s expenses-paid $2,000 night at a Los Angeles bondage club.
Earlier in the month, Kevin Garn, Republican majority leader of the Utah state senate, admitted that he once skinny dipped with a 15-year-old girl and paid her $150,000 to keep quiet, and California State Senator and Republican family-values defender Roy Ashburnwas arrested for driving drunk in a state-owned vehicle after leaving a gay nightclub with a new companion.
After studying the 58 scandals over the past 20 years involving all politicians or major candidates for city mayor and above—many involved crimes, others just allegations, but all wound up as tabloid fodder—some conclusions can be reached.
• The number sex scandals has increased dramatically over the past few decades, thanks to technology, new press standards and a post-Clinton belief that everything is fair game.
• Republicans have more scandals (32 to 26), but Democrats have bigger ones, based on our methodology (13 out of the top 20).
• Democrats tend to have more problems with harassment, staffers and underage girls; Republicans tend to have more problems with prostitutes, hypocrisy and underage boys.
Here’s the Top 20 Political Scandals:
#1, Philip Giordano
Party: Republican
Position: Mayor (Waterbury, Conn.)
Scandal Broke: July 26, 2001
To the applause of spectators, former Waterbury, Connecticut, mayor, lawyer and ex-Marine Philip Giordano was convicted of sexually abusing two preteen girls—just 8- and 10-years-old at the time. Giordano claimed innocence: “I did not do anything criminal.” Giordano was sentenced to 37 years behind bars in June 2003.
#2, Bill Clinton (Jones scandal)
Democrat
Governor/Presidential Candidate
May 6, 1992
Bill Clinton hits our list three times. By our methodology, the Paula Jones scandal rated the worst: Unlike Gennifer Flowers or Monica Lewinsky, Clinton’s alleged advances on Jones, when he was governor of Arkansas and she was working for the Arkansas Industrial Development Commission, were not consensual. Jones sued Clinton in 1994, setting up a historic case. The Supreme Court ruled that sitting presidents could not wait until the end of their term to respond to litigation regarding their private actions. And it was Clinton’s testimony related to Jones that set up his Lewinsky-driven impeachment. He later settled with Jones for $850,000.
#3, Mel Reynolds
Democrat
U.S. Representative
August 12, 1994
When allegations surfaced he’d had sex with a teenager, Reynolds called the justice system “racist,” and claimed police did not investigate months earlier when Reynolds alleged the woman was trying to extort him. Reynolds maintained he’d only fantasized with the young woman over the phone. The jury didn’t buy it. He was convicted of criminal sexual assault and other charges in August 1995. He resigned shortly thereafter and was sentenced to five years in prison.
#4, Robert Packwood
Republican
U.S. Senator
November 22, 1992
Packwood was an advocate of women’s rights, a pro-choice Republican who had stood behind the Equal Rights Amendment and hired women to top positions in his office. But in 1992 The Washington Post published an article airing the grievances of 10 women, mainly former staffers, who said he had made unwanted and aggressive sexual advances starting in 1969. A Senate inquiry in 1995 found “substantial evidence” Packwood had abused his power, leading to his resignation.
#5, Roosevelt Dobbins
Democrat
State Assemblyman (Arkansas)
August 10, 2005
A 17-year-old girl stopped by Dobbins’ house one afternoon to use his computer to fill out a college entrance exam. They had been close—she considered Dobbins a “mentor,” according to the Arkansas-Democrat Gazette—but it went further that day. While he gave her $20 before she left, perhaps to keep quiet—the girl went home and immediately called the police. Dobbins pleaded guilty to misdemeanor harassment, and was sentenced to one year probation.
#6, Brock Adams
Democrat
U.S. Senator
March 1, 1992
For two decades, Adams used drugs and alcohol as aids in sexual abuse of female employees, according to eight anonymous women who cooperated in a 1992 Seattle Times article. Despite the anonymity, all eight signed statements confirming the veracity of their stories. One woman told paper, “I have no doubt he drugged me. I have no doubt he raped me.” Officials were more circumspect: Adams was never charged, but he served just one term in the Senate, choosing not to run in the 1992 election.
#7, Gary Becker
Democrat
Mayor (Racine, Wisc.)
January 16, 2009
Becker was arrested after meeting with an undercover agent posing as a 14-year-old girl, after they had communicated online and agreed to meet at a local mall. Becker pleaded guilty to second-degree sexual assault of a child and child enticement-sexual contact.
During sentencing it came out that Becker had an affair with a former secretary and used city funds for a rendezvous. He got three years in prison for the sexual-assault charges—a relatively light punishment considering the maximum 45 years he faced.
#8, John Edwards
Democrat
Former senator/presidential candidate
October 10, 2007
The squeaky clean presidential candidate’s image took a 180-degree turn when the National Enquirer improbably broke the story of the senator’s affair with campaign videographer Rielle Hunter, which happened while his wife was battling cancer. One illegitimate child, a tell-all book, countless ruined reputations, and a lawsuit later, the scandal is still making headlines, complete with an as-yet-not-public sex tape.
#9, Mark Foley
Republican
U.S. Representative
September 28, 2006
When a concerned congressional page received a series of emails from Foley asking his age, what he wanted for his birthday and a photo, he wrote to a staffer, “Maybe it is just me being paranoid, but seriously. This freaked me out.” ABC News released salacious and inappropriate virtual messages between Foley and a string of male pages, while more of Foley’s former pages came forward with stories of the congressman’s unsolicited virtual advances.
#10, Larry Craig
Republican
U.S. Senator
June 11, 2007
Craig was arrested by an undercover officer during a sting operation to investigate misconduct in a men’s restroom at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. Craig sat in the stall next to the officer and began touching his right foot to the officer’s left foot. He then waved his hand beneath the stall barrier, all part of an alleged ritual at the airport in which men pick up men for encounters. According to the official report, during his police interview, Craig gave the officer his business card identifying him as a U.S. senator and said, “What do you think about that?” Apparently, not much as the investigation continued and Craig later pleaded guilty to misdemeanor disorderly conduct.
Democrat
U.S. Senator
October 17, 1992
Inouye’s misadventures in sex scandal-land began when Hawaii State Senator Rick Reed played on television a secretly recorded tape of Inouye’s hairdresser saying he forced her to have sex with him in 1975. The hairdresser recalled a visit to the senator’s apartment where he grabbed her, took off her clothes, and forced himself on her. Inouye, however, denied the charges. “I’m not suggesting that she is lying,” Inouye said, according to an Associated Press article. “She’s put on the spot like this and I don’t know why she’s saying these things.” The hairdresser said she didn’t consider the incident rape and demanded the ad pulled. Inouye’s political career survived.
#12, Bill Clinton (Lewinsky scandal)
Democrat
President
January 1998
The cigar, the stained dress, all the sordid details—the Monica Lewinsky-Bill Clinton affair remains the biggest sex scandal to ever hit Washington. Newsweek portrayed Lewinsky as an attention-hungry, driven, and slightly delusional young intern who would hang about the Oval Office, eager to catch glimpses of Clinton. Lewinsky and Clinton’s relationship was detailed in recorded phone conversations Lewinsky had with friend Linda Tripp. Clinton, of course, survived impeachment on related perjury charges and, with a faithful Hillary, went on to reclaim his public reputation. Lewinsky evaporated from the public eye, and in 2006 earned a master’s degree from the London School of Economics.
Republican
U.S. Senator
June 16, 2009
Ensign called for Bill Clinton’s head in 1998, but said he had no plans to resign when he admitted to an extramarital affair last summer. Between December 2007 and August 2008, Ensign carried on a relationship with one of his female campaign staffers, who happened to be married to an employee in his Senate office. He remains under investigation for allegedly trying to find lobbying work for that mistress’s husband.
#15, Eric Massa
Democrat
U.S. Representative
March 5, 2008
Numerous male staffers claimed that Massa groped and harassed them, and Massa quickly resigned as soon as the the scandal broke. In an interview with Glenn Beck, he said, “not only did I grope [a staffer], I tickled him until he couldn’t breathe.” Further investigation found that Tickle-Me-Eric’s touchy reputation dates back to his days in the Navy.
#16, Jim Gibbons (Scandal 1)
Republican
U.S. Representative
October 13, 2006
In 2006, a Las Vegas cocktail waitress accused Gibbons of sexual assault in a parking garage. Gibbons has claimed innocence. In his version, he was trying to catch the woman when she fell, but his press office later released misleading information about the incident, and police inexplicably waited a day to talk to Gibbons. The waitress, a single mother, has not pressed criminal charges, though a civil suit is pending. He was elected Nevada’s governor, setting the stage for another sex scandal (see number 49).
#17, Tim Mahoney
Democrat
U.S. Representative
October 13, 2008
Mahoney seemed to forget his campaign motto, “Faith and Family—Where I Stand,” during his affair with a former staffer. Mahoney got his job after Mark Foley resigned in disgrace, but drew just as much negative coverage after his attempt to cover up his secret love interest, including an agreement to pay her $121,000 to keep quiet. Mahoney was also heard threatening to fire her on the tape of a profanity-laced call. He did not resign, but lost his seat in 2008.
Republican
Governor (South Carolina)
June 24, 2009
When Sanford was a U.S. representative more than a decade ago, he called for Bill Clinton to resign and voted for three of the four articles of Clinton’s impeachment. As governor of South Carolina in 2009, he admitted carrying on an affair with a woman in Buenos Aires. Sanford made the announcement after a week-long jaunt to Argentina, during which he remained incognito and had his staff tell media outlets that he was hiking the Appalachian Trail.
#20, Sam Adams
Democrat
Mayor (Portland, Ore.)
January 19, 2009
Portland Mayor Sam Adams admitted having sexual relations with a teenage staffer in 2005, but during his mayoral campaign he denied any contact. Beau Breedlove, the teenage staffer, was a legislative intern who turned 18 in June 2005, the same year Adams took office. “In the past, I’ve characterized my relationship with Beau Breedlove as purely non-sexual and that is not true,” Adams told Willamette Week. “I want to publicly acknowledge I made a mistake and apologize for it.” Breedlove told the Oregonian days after the scandal broke that Adams kissed him twice before he turned 18, adding that he “never felt like a victim.”
Barack Obama gets a surprise visit in the night from ex-Presidents Bush Sr., Bush Jr., Clinton, Ford, Reagan and Carter to get a few pointers about the Consumer Financial Protection Agency and why it’s so important.
Director — Ron Howard
Gerald Ford — Chevy Chase
Jimmy Carter — Dan Aykroyd
Ronald Reagan — Jim Carrey
George Bush — Dana Carvey
Bill Clinton — Darrell Hammond
George W Bush – Will Ferrell
Barack Obama — Fred Armisen
Michelle Obama — Maya Rudolph
This Funny or Die really had me cracking up… but with a cast like that, how could they go wrong?
Former President Bill Clinton was rushed Thursday to a hospital in New York City, where he underwent a procedure to have two stents placed in a coronary artery, his office said.
Clinton, 63, was transported to Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in Manhattan, the same hospital where he underwent quadruple bypass surgery in 2004.
“Today President Bill Clinton was admitted to the Columbia Campus of New York Presbyterian Hospital after feeling discomfort in his chest,” Douglas Band, counselor to the former president, said in a statement to the media.
“Following a visit to his cardiologist, he underwent a procedure to place two stents in one of his coronary arteries. President Clinton is in good spirits, and will continue to focus on the work of his Foundation and Haiti’s relief and long-term recovery efforts,” the statement said.
Sources told The New York Times that Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton did not learn of her husband’s condition until she’d concluded a meeting in the Oval Office with President Obama. Mrs. Clinton is said to be heading to New York late Thursday.
Bill Clinton has recently been helping coordinate the U.S. relief effort following the Jan. 12 earthquake in Haiti, alongside former President George W. Bush.
We wish you a speedy recovery!
source: Bill Clinton Undergoes a New Heart Procedure [ny times]
Taylor Branch, a historian best known for his books on the civil rights era, had a secret that he kept for years: 79 interviews — mostly late-night conversations at the White House — that he conducted with Bill Clinton over the course of his presidency.
The interviews are the basis for Branch’s new book, ‘The Clinton Tapes: Wrestling History With the President,’ which is to be published Sept. 29.
Now that the conversations are going public, Clinton has some misgivings about them, Branch said in an interview with USA Today.
“I think it’s fair to say he’s nervous,” he said, explaining that Clinton has spent hours on the phone with him since he received page proofs of the book. While he wouldn’t discuss Clinton’s concerns, Branch said “I didn’t change anything that he asked me to change.”
Clinton and Branch met while working on George McGovern’s presidential campaign in 1972, according to USA Today. The two lost touch after that, but Clinton began inviting Branch to the White House for the conversations in 1993. He wanted to make sure historians would some day have access to what was going on in his presidency behind the scenes, Branch said.
In one 1999 conversation, Clinton, who had avoided talking to Branch about the Monica Lewinsky affair that led to his impeachment, finally let out that he had the affair at a moment of weakness. It began in 1995 after a series of setbacks including the death of his mother, the Democrats’ loss of Congress in 1994 and the Whitewater investigation. “I cracked; I just cracked,” Clinton told Branch.
Clinton also told Branch about an argument he had with Vice President Al Gore after Gore lost the 2000 election. Clinton said that Gore should have let him campaign in Arkansas or New Hampshire. Clinton was popular in both states, and either one would have given Gore enough electoral votes to win. Gore replied that Clinton’s scandals were a “drag” on him throughout the campaign, and the two “exploded” at each other, according to Branch’s book.
The interviews were kept secret from nearly everyone on Clinton’s staff except for his scheduler. Branch would keep running lists of questions on issues of the day, and when he was summoned to the White House, he taped the conversations, turning them over to the president after he was done with them. He told USA Today that he later learned Clinton hid the tapes in his sock drawer.
In a Q&A with GQ magazine, Branch said that the Clinton he saw during the interviews was more idealistic and steadfast than the person who sometimes got hammered in the media for being indecisive. But Branch couldn’t say anything about it because of worries that the investigators probing Clinton would subpoena the tapes.
“I couldn’t communicate with people, because I felt like I was in a different galaxy,” Branch said. “I didn’t see a way of fighting it that didn’t endanger the project. …So I just basically had to be quiet and not talk to people.”
Here is the moving moment when Laura Ling and Euna Lee were reunited with their families at Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, CA.
Euna Lee and Laura Ling walked off the plane to an emotional reunion with their family members. A crying Lee hugged her 4-year-old daughter and husband as Ling shared an embrace with her husband, parents and sister Lisa Ling.
The two journalists had been held prisoner in North Korea since March after reporting from the border of North Korea and China, in June they were sentenced to 12 years in a labor prison for illegal entry into North Korea, and unspecified hostile acts.
Both of the reporters work for Al Gore‘s media company, Current TV. Speaking during a press conference, Ling said:
“We feared at any moment that we could be sent to a hard labor camp and then suddenly we were told we were going to a meeting, we were taken to a location, and when we walked through the doors, we saw standing before us President Bill Clinton. We were shocked, but we knew instantly in our hearts that the nightmare of our lives was finally coming to an end. The past 140 days have been the most difficult, heart-wrenching time of our lives, we are very grateful that we were granted amnesty by the government of North Korea, and we are so happy to be home.”
Clinton himself spoke on the matter saying, “I am very happy that after this long ordeal, Laura Ling and Euna Lee are now home and reunited with their loved ones. When their families, Vice President Gore and the White House asked that I undertake this humanitarian mission, I agreed. I share a deep sense of relief with Laura and Euna and their families that they are safely home.”
President Obama also spoke of his happiness, “We are very pleased with the outcome, their release is a source of happiness not only for the families but for the entire country, I think that not only is this White House … extraordinarily happy, but all Americans should be grateful to both former President Clinton and Vice President Gore for their extraordinary work.”
Barack Obama and Bill Clinton had a meeting to smooth out hard feelings remaining from a bitter campaign.
I was, however, more distracted by Bill’s hideous outfit. Who dressed him, Stevie Wonder?
Sure, it’s summer. A bright green shirt is a bold choice, although one that would have worked better with a darker suit. But, egads, that tie! Technically, they go together — the shirt has a lime green stripe that matches the shirt — but it’s godawful.
Just say No, Bill!
If you actually care about the meeting, they made nice:
In Obama’s first comments about his widely-covered phone conversation with the former president Monday morning, the Illinois senator said the two did not dwell on the prolonged and at times divisive primary race.
“We did not belabor the primary season,†Obama told reporters Tuesday. “I think what we both acknowledged is, is that when you’re in a tough primary battle you say things that afterward you may end up thinking, that may have been a little intemperate. But that’s the nature of political campaigns.â€
Obama also said he wants Clinton to become a staple on the campaign trail next fall, even though the former president’s periodic outbursts and at-times aggressive promotion of his wife’s candidacy drew widespread criticisms. “I absolutely want Bill Clinton campaigning for me,†Obama said, adding, “He is one of the most gifted public officials of our generation and has been one of the most successful presidents that we’ve had in my lifetime.”
How sweet! I bet Obama wore a nicer shirt, though.
Nelson Mandela’s 90th birthday dinner was last night and the event was filled with celebrities who were lucky enough to be invited.
Mandela became the oldest elected President of South Africa when he took office at the age of 77 in 1994. He decided not to stand for a second term as President, and instead retired in 1999, to be succeeded by Thabo Mbeki.
Other guests at Mandela’s birthday dinner included Pierce Bronson, Neil Diamond, Forrest Whitaker, Will Smith, Bill Clinton and Annie Lennox. What an interesting, yet diverse group of people.
What others said:
Dlisted says, “Naomi showed up with her new boyfriend, Marcus Elias. New boyfriend did a good job of hiding the bruises on his face because you know Naomi beats his ass.”
Golfing legend Greg Norman and former tennis star Chris Evert will marry this weekend in the Bahamas, the Australian Associated Press reported Thursday.
The couple, both 53, are to wed Saturday at sunset on a beach in Paradise Island, the AAP said, citing various media reports. The pair announced their engagement last December.
Guests are believed to include former US presidents Bill Clinton and George Bush senior, American actor Chevy Chase, tennis great Martina Navratilova and singers Gwen Stefani and Kenny Loggins.
Norman, who has won two British Open titles among scores of other tournaments, and Evert, who won 18 Grand Slam titles, arrived in Paradise Island on Thursday.
Both are well past their heyday but they were indeed legendary figures in their games. Evert was America’s sweetheart for years, although overlapping careers with Billy Jean King and Martina Navratilova, who were arguably more dominant players. She was much more telegenic, however. Norman was one of the great golfers of the 1980s and early 1990s, although he’s probably best remembered for an epic collapse at the Masters.
Over the last few years, aides have winced at repeated tabloid reports about Clinton’s episodic friendship and occasional dinners out with Belinda Stronach, a twice-divorced billionaire auto-parts heiress and member of the Canadian Parliament 20 years his junior, or at more recent high-end Hollywood dinner-party gossip that Clinton has been seen visiting with the actress Gina Gershon in California.
Instead of standing beside Hilary as she battles the campaign trail — Bill is off cavorting around the country, bedding young females. Surprising? I think not.
Bumpshack says, “Last time I checked Gina is a lot more attractive than Monica Lewinsky or Gennifer Flowers. So I guess Bill’s taste has at least improved since leaving office.”
More on Gina Gerson:
Sultry, dark-eyed, brunette leading actress Gina Gershon mixes a muscular toughness with her seductive femininity. Born the youngest of five children, raised in Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley, Gershon gets her exotic looks from her French, Russian, and Dutch heritage. After high school, she decided she wanted a more sophisticated image than those usually attributed to Valley Girls like herself and so moved to the Big Apple, to earn a bachelor of arts degree at New York University. While in New York, she studied acting with such well-known teachers as Sandra Seacat, David Mamet, and Harold Guskin. She started out in theater and worked on both coasts.
[Click thumbnails for a larger view]
Since the mid-’80s, Gershon has carved out a living as a reliable character actress on both the big and the small screens. Her most notable role on the tube was that of Nancy Sinatra, the famous wife of Old Blue Eyes himself, in the CBS miniseries Sinatra (1994). Gershon made her feature film debut playing a small role opposite Molly Ringwald in 1986′s Pretty in Pink, and graduated to the jucier role of of Coral opposite Tom Cruise in Cocktail (1988). Through the 1990s, Gershon vascillated between high-brow and low-brow fare, the former exemplified by her memorable turns in John Sayles’s City of Hope (1991), Robert Altman’s The Player (1992), and Michael Mann’s The Insider (1999); the latter, by her gleeful, scenery-chewing work in Best of the Best 3 and the infamous Showgirls (both 1995). Gershon’s signature role, however, was a synthesis of B-movie pulp and indie smarts, courtesy of the Wachowski brothers’ twisty 1996 neo-noir Bound. Cast as a woman falling in love with an abusive gangster’s moll, Gershon was able to radiate an intelligence, sexuality, and power not afforded her by previous scripts, and the lead part would go a long way in establishing her screen persona into the new millenium
New York Governor Elliot Spitzer is “involved” in a prostitution ring. Details are still sketchy.
Gov. Eliot Spitzer has informed his most senior administration officials that he had been involved in a prostitution ring, an administration official said this morning. Mr. Spitzer, who was huddled with his top aides inside his Fifth Avenue apartment early this afternoon, had hours earlier abruptly canceled his scheduled public events for the day. He had scheduled an announcement for 2:15 this afternoon after inquiries from the Times. But his appearance was delayed by at least 45 minutes.
Mr. Spitzer, a first-term Democrat who pledged to bring ethics reform and end the often seamy ways of Albany, is married with three children.
Just last week, federal prosecutors arrested four people in connection with an expensive prostitution operation. Administration officials would not say that this was the ring with which the governor had become involved. But a person with knowledge of the governor’s role said that the person believes the governor is one of the men identified as clients in court papers.
The governor’s travel records show that he was in Washington in mid-February. One of the clients described in court papers arranged to meet with a prostitute who was part of the ring, the Emperors Club VIP on the night of Feb. 13. Mr. Spitzer appeared on a CNBC television show at 7 a.m. the next morning. Later in the morning, he testified before a Congressional committee.
Aside from a general sense that chief executive officers ought to obey the laws they’re charged with enforcing and that married men ought to be faithful to their wives, I really don’t care much about this story. The interesting angle, really, is the hypocrisy bit:
Spitzer has built his political legacy on rooting out corruption, including several headline-making battles with Wall Street while serving as attorney general. He stormed into the governor’s office in 2006 with a historic share of the vote, vowing to continue his no-nonsense approach to fixing one of the nation’s worst governments.
Time magazine had named him “Crusader of the Year” when he was attorney general and the tabloids proclaimed him “Eliot Ness.”
But his stint as governor has been marred by several problems, including an unpopular plan to grant driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants and a plot by his aides to smear Spitzer’s main Republican nemesis.
Spitzer had been expected to testify to the state Public Integrity Commission he had created to answer for his role in the scandal, in which his aides are accused of misusing state police to compile travel records to embarrass Senate Republican leader Joseph Bruno.
Having only cursory knowledge of the two scandals, the misuse of the powers of office to harass a political opponent strikes me as more problematic than patronizing prostitutes.
More commentary will follow if the story develops into something more interesting.
Other reax:
Marc Ambinder notes “Spitzer is a Clinton superdelegate.”
Flip Bidot entitles his post “From Troopergate To Shtupergate”
Steve Benen: “[I]t’s hard to believe brilliant people in positions of responsibility could be this stupid and this self-destructive. And yet, here we are.”
Jon Henke wonders if it isn’t time to change the laws.
Sean Hackbarth: “The man who demagogued his way to the governor’s mansion on the backs of Wall Street firms ends up in deep doo-doo.”
Will Bunch: “WNBC-TV says prosecutors have text messages from Spitzer(no link yet). On MSNBC, there’s also talk that this prostitution ring is linked to a probe of the Gambino crime family — still, just wow.”
Bob Owens: “It remains to be seen what political impact this breaking development will have, but all snark aside, my thoughts and prayers go out to his daughters—I think they are teenagers—and his wife.”
UPDATE: Various reports have Spitzer resigning. Headline changed accordingly. Developing.
CNBC reports that, “If Eliot Spitzer resigns, he would be succeeded by Lt. Governor David A. Paterson, who would become New York’s first African American governor and the first who is legally blind.”
UPDATE:Fox’s report on Spitzer’s resignation, “Sources: Spitzer to Resign Following Reports of ‘Involvement’ With Prostitution Ring, Faces Indictment,” is the most cited. Thus far, however, no confirmation. His presser was oblique:
Gov. Eliot Spitzer, accused in news reports of being involved in a prostitution ring, apologized to his family and the public on Monday at a hastily called news conference. He did not elaborate on the story.
With his wife at his side, Spitzer told reporters that he “acted in a way that violates my obligations to my family.” “I have disappointed and failed to live up to the standard I expected of myself,” he said. “I must now dedicate some time to regain the trust of my family.”
The “private matter” bit is straight out of Bill Clinton’s playbook.
“Today President Bill Clinton was admitted to the Columbia Campus of New York Presbyterian Hospital after feeling discomfort in his chest,” Douglas Band, counselor to the former president, said in a statement to the media.
In Obama’s first comments about his widely-covered phone conversation with the former president Monday morning, the Illinois senator said the two did not dwell on the prolonged and at times divisive primary race.
Over the last few years, aides have winced at repeated tabloid reports about Clinton’s episodic friendship and occasional dinners out with Belinda Stronach, a twice-divorced billionaire auto-parts heiress and member of the Canadian Parliament 20 years his junior, or at more recent high-end Hollywood dinner-party gossip that Clinton has been seen visiting with the actress Gina Gershon in California.
