Liveblogging the governor’s resignation
I woke up this morning and the internets told me that Spitzer is planning to resign today, so I turned on NY1 to see what was going on. I figured I’d liveblog the resignation, because what better use of my lunch hour than watching this trainwreck? When governors bareback anal with hookers, everyone wins! Especially blind lieutenant governors!
11:10 am: There are a ton of reporters sitting outside Spitzer’s apartment building with their cameras zoomed in on the front door, waiting for him to leave for his 11:30 am press conference. The other people who live in his building that are coming out look pissed.
11:12 am: The reporter just said that people who “look like lawyers” have been going in and coming out of his building. WTF does a lawyer look like?
11:20 am: Helicopters are hovering over the Spitzer convoy and following it to his office. Jesus. His wife is with him, though!
11:22 am: Reporters are pontificating about what it means that his wife is there to support him. They are also pontificating about the traffic on Fifth Avenue. Hate.
11:25 am: Some analyst-type is making the point that this is a stunning fall from grace for the governor. He had a landslide victory in the election 16 months ago and had a 70% approval rating at the start of his term. He came into office with an anti-corruption platform and was planning to reform the embattled government. He let a lot of people down. (Uh, duuuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhh!)
11:28 am: Still driving. Reporters still saying stupid shit.
11:31 am: Pan to the governor’s office, where the press conference is set up. The room is going nuts waiting for the governor to come in. Some of the less classy reporters are practically salivating.
11:36 am: My roommate just yelled at the TV, “Zoom out, so I can see what friggin’ street that is!” Apparently the governor’s offices are in Murray Hill, just up the street from us. Which is why we can see helicopters out the window.
11:37 am: The convoy just pulled into the governor’s NYC office building. There’s a crowd outside.
11:41 am: Analyst dude said that Spitzer was the one that was supposed to clean up Albany, and now because of his actions, that is going to be hella set back. (Okay, he didn’t say hella.)
11:43 am: Cmaaaaaaan, start the press conference already. Some of these reporters look like they are about to burst.
11:44 am: Here he is! He says he’s begun to atone privately with his wife and family. He is grateful for the love and compassion his family has shown him.
11:45 am: He apologizes for fucking up. Says he has accomplished a lot, but he cannot allow his private failings to screw up the progress.
He says he will take responsibility for his actions. He is resigning effective Monday, March 17 at Lt. Gov. Paterson’s request. (The date, not the resignation. He is resigning on his own, but not until Monday because the Lt. Gov. thinks it will “permit an orderly transition”.)
11:46 am: He will try to serve the common good in private life after he leaves politics.
11:47 am: Aaand, he’s done, after asking NY to join in his prayers for Lt. Gov. Paterson as he makes the transition. Reporters are now commenting on Silda Spitzer and how she looked - very sad and drawn, but still standing by him. Well, duh. She is a political wife. Political spouses have to do that shit. It’s part of politics. Fucked up, but that’s what happens.
11:52 am: They’re replaying the statement. He looks at his time as governor as “what might have been”. Aw.
11:57 am: An assemblyman from Queens who is in Albany in front of the steps of the capitol is talking about Paterson now. Says he is an inspiring guy and that NY will like him.
Some fast facts about Silda: Silda Wall Spitzer was raised as a Baptist and is the daughter of a hospital administrator and a homemaker. She married fellow Harvard Law student Peter Stamos in 1982 — for only 29 days.
Stamos? Did she think he was John Stamos’s brother? And then 29 days later found out he wasn’t?
12:01 pm: They’re talking about how Spitzer was much better at being Attorney General than governor, because the letter of the law was on his side as AG but as governor, you have to be able to negotiate and mediate. Paterson is apparently better at all that. Sweet. NY state government is pretty screwed up. We need some bipartisan agreement, already. Let’s get this party started, on St. Patty’s day, no less! Someone give Paterson a Guinness.
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It’s been "All Spitzer All the Time"
Now the focus is on the hooker…….ahem high-priced call-girl!
She lives in a high-rent apt in the Flatiron District, and she doesn’t know how she will pay her rent next month. Oh, and she won’t be prosecuted. Excuse me, have I been asleep? Someone tell me when did prostitution become legal?? Or was this part of a deal she made — no criminal charges in exchange for…… I have a feeling she will come out of this just fine. She was an aspiring singer before all this. Now she will get a contract, and be even more famous!