Spitzer Above the Law, No Charges Filed

According to WCBSTV.COM U.S. Attorney Michael Garcia announced yesterday that Former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer will not face criminal charges for paying high-profile prostitutes to travel across state lines to “engage in prostitution.”

The Department of Justice determined that campaign funds were not used to pay the prostitutes, which is apparently all the DoJ cares about. That’s right, because Spitzer didn’t violate the sanctity of a campaign, the fact that he had multiple illegal inter-state sex purchases doesn’t matter. Garcia state this was a matter of DoJ policy:

In light of the policy of the Department of Justice with respect to prostitution offenses and the longstanding practice of this Office, as well as Mr. Spitzer’s acceptance of responsibility for his conduct, we have concluded that the public interest would not be further advanced by filing criminal charges in this matter.

This is outrageous, not because I think prostitution is a horrendous crime (maybe it shouldn’t even be illegal), but because I think Spitzer should be held to the same standards as the rest of us. Certainly Spitzer believed that everyone should be held to the letter of the law. For Spitzer, this meant digging up very old laws still on the books to go after corporations he wished to demonize. You can check out just how zealous Spitzer was in his career as a prosecutor in CEI’s report on the nation’s worst Attorneys General from a couple years back.

We should all serve the same prison sentence or pay the same fine for the same crime. Just because Spitzer “took responsibility” by resigning from his office, doesn’t mean that he’s been held responsible, not according to the law at least.

Do our resident legal experts know if Spitzer can be prosecuted by someone other than the DoJ for his offenses? I would hope so. If not, it just shows that the political class really is above the law.