BREAKING: Video Game Critic Spitzer Involved in Prostitution Ring
BREAKING: Video Game Critic Spitzer Involved in Prostitution Ring
March 10, 2008
He may be opposed to violent video games like Hitman: Codename 47, but an FBI document alleges that New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer (D) was known as Client 9 to an upscale, international prostitution ring.Spitzer is seen at left with Silda, his wife of 21 years.
The New York Times is reporting a breaking story that Spitzer will make some type of announcement this afternoon about the case. (UPDATE: Spitzer briefly apologized, but didn't 'fess up to anything specific...)
Federal prosecutors apparently caught Spitzer on a wiretap arranging for a prostitute to travel from New York to Washington, D.C., where he was visiting on business. It is a federal offense to transport someone across state lines for the purpose of engaging in prostitution.
During his 2006 gubernatorial campaign, Spitzer pledged to regulate video game content and called for a universal rating system. Video game legislation approved by the New York Assembly during his first year in office seemed fast-tracked for passage, but eventually stalled due to a bitter political feud between Spitzer and Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno (R). The video game bill was expected to be revived in 2008, but that is certainly questionable now, as is Spitzer's future.
During the 2006 campaign Spitzer called out the video game industry for excessive violence and, ironically, sexual content in its products:
Like all parents, I know it is increasingly difficult to protect our children from negative influences... we have learned that when self-regulation fails, government must step in... we must do more to protect our children from excessive sex and violence in the media...
Media content has gotten more graphic, more violent and more sex-based... Currently, nothing under New York State law prohibits a fourteen-year old from walking into a video store and buying... a game like 'Grand Theft Auto,' which rewards a player for stealing cars and beating people up. Children can even simulate having sex with a prostitute...
GP: The hypocrisy meter is just about off the scale... Check out page 36 of this FBI document for some of the dirty details of Client 9's hotel encounter with a hooker named "Kristen."
UPDATE: Spitzer is a superdelegate for another frequent video game critic, Sen. Hillary Clinton.
RANDOM THOUGHT: Can a homemade Client 9 game be far behind?
Comments
GP - actually, PA, I got a CNN news alert on this one... Didja e-mail me? I'm not seeing it...
...busted by the Patriot Act? Ouch.
The whole MAVAV thing is pretty funny (and sad) isn't it. When I first heard of Spitzer using MAVAV as a reference, I acted. I edited the MAVAV wikipedia page to include the story of Spitzer using MAVAV as refence in that video. Not only that, I added a link to the MAVAV wikipedia page on Eliot Spitzer's wikipedia page (under the "See Also" section). But it gets even better.
I checked Spitzer's wikipedia page today and my inclusion of the MAVAV wiki link is still on it. Better yet, his wikipedia page is currently locked (thanks to the whole prositute controversy). That's means that link to the MAVAV wikipedia page can't be edited out :) . That means anyone that visits Eliot Spitzer wikipedia page will be treated for a pleasant suprise involving his MAVAV BS. I'm a pretty happy guy today :)
Heres the link to the wikipedia page in question
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eliot_Spitzer
- MR.B ,your friendly neighborhood wikipedia ninja
....go Obama. :D
It's page 36 as counted by the Acrobat viewer. The actually page numbers as the appear on the document don't jibe with the Acrobat page numbers.
Long live the watchdogs! :)
LOL@ random thought
The further right you travel, the bigger the hypocrisy gets I guess.
Pretty much every politician that stands for family values, breaks them on a daily basis...
and every one that is against games is a corrupt, morally bankrupt or just completely un-informed politician...
at least this kills his stupid law...
I wish GP could get an interview with him after this. It's funny how this fool can accuse video games of corrupting society yet he is involved with prostitution which has links to organized crime which is linked to narcotics and violent crime. Elliot Spitzer is the world's biggest hypocrite right now. For a guy who was elected on the promise to clean up NY, he sure doesn't practice what he preaches.
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
Am I the only one that almost fell over laughing from this?
Love the irony here.
Irony at its finest.
Use the Invisible Cars cheat. She works really hard for her cash, doesn't she?
From....the mouth of a sex obsessed paedophile.
Gamers aren't the problem, and THIS proves it.
Hahhahahah
Just the ESRB rating system. Which has exactly as much weight as the MPAA rating system does in stopping that same fourteen year old from walking into a theatre to see Saw IV or Natural Born Killers or Showgirls.
Well, not exactly as much weight. According to research from the FCC, the ESRB rating carries a little more weight, since it has a better rate of enforcement.
----
That said, while this shows Spitzer to be quite the hypocrite, I don't know that there's much of anything to use here in opposition to the stupid politicos gunning for games everywhere else. Well, except maybe to point to Spitzer and say "he frequented whorehouses and we all know he sure as hell DIDN'T play any video games."
You Cheeky Bastard..
Gift.
Talking about kids being idiots, how come politics think that kids are smart enough to get what they want, and avoid parental supervision, but not smart enough to tell the difference between fantasy and reality?
Spitzer says he visited prostitution rings after getting all horny from playing Grand Thief Auto...
Wait thats a Jack Thompson move but I wouldnt be surprised.
They say the ones that are heavy critics of Blah are heavily doing Blah
Like those against gays then caught being gay.
Those against drugs then caught doing drugs.
and
etc.
Why is it that people with these particular skeletons in their closets go on such crusades to demonize and vilify those who are free about it?
In this day and age, any and all information can be obtained, thus making themselves look incredibly hypocritical and foolish.
Insanity
Now, back to your regularly scheduled laughing!
Hahhahahahahahahahahah
Hahhahhahahaahahahahaha
I can't breathe. I'm laughing so hard.
HAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHA
You bloody corrupt hypocrite.
So you see, GTA should have new rating, "AONP"; "Adults Only, No Politicians".
Welcome to America, where the gaming industry is being treated as a plague and politicians are pimps.
Hahhaha. Busted.
That is all.
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/10/i-apologize-to-the-public/
[inaudible] … politics that would rebuild New York and create opportunity for all. We vowed to bring real change to New York and that will continue. Today, I want to briefly address a private matter. I have acted in a way that violated the obligations to my family and that violates my — or any — sense of right and wrong. I apologize first, and most importantly, to my family. I apologize to the public, whom I promised better. I do not believe that politics in the long run is about individuals. It is about ideas, the public good and doing what is best for the State of New York. But I have disappointed and failed to live up to the standard that I expect of myself. I must now dedicate some time to regain the trust of my family. I will not be taking questions. Thank you very much. I will report back to you in short order. Thank you very much.
He's KINDA implying that he won't, talking about a "private matter" and how politics isn't about individuals but about issues.
Someone should create flash game off this.
Ok, the guy had issues with 'games are for kids, kids shouldn't have access to adult material, so regulate games'. He was wrong.
But what he got 'caught' doing was a conceptual business transaction between adults... and now the game community is doing a collective 'see! he is immoral! not us!' without thinking that they are now essentially trashing ANOTHER group that has gotten the short end of the morality stick.
Props to Todd for also pointing this out.
McGreevey thought he could batten down and ride it out, too. He was wrong. So is Spitzer.
I think prostitution should be legal, but that isn't the point. This guy was doing something in real life that he wants to be regulated in videogames. End of story.
Do you think Mrs. Spitzer will see it as merely a consentual business transaction between adults?
Oh, I completely agree. Spitzer has made so many enemies in Albany they will NEVER let him stay. He's done whether he likes it or not.
Wow, thats the best quote about a game-bashing politician I've ever heard :) Nominate this quote as videogame quote of the year.
Actually, the hypocrisy runs a little deeper. This guy was prosecuting defendants on prostitution charges and, when he won, smugly watching them get carted off to prison.
"Why is it that people with these particular skeletons in their closets go on such crusades to demonize and vilify those who are free about it?"
It's simple really... Spitzer and others like him are scum; what they care about is money, power, pleasure, etc. Illegal or controversial pleasures are some of the things they don't mind participating in. the reason they demonize and crusade against the very things they practice is because they want power and fame and know it will get them votes; and they often do get those votes. If they didn't crusade they would never get as powerful and thus their lusts for power would never be fulfilled. These same people are also stupid enough to think that they will never get caught and their hypocrisy and lies will never be exposed.
@Todd
It is hypocrisy... Even if you do not see the hypocricy in his position against games (such as the prositution in GTA) while sengaging in prostitution himself, there is also the fact that he apparently busted a Prostitution ring back in 2004... and i'm sure any speech he included with that bust was probably very much against prostitution.
On a side point, I agree that prostitution should be legalized. It's OK to lie to a girl in a bar, get her drunk, take her home, knock her up and kick her out, but it's bad to pay a girl for sex? That's a little ass-backwards. "Lying and drugging is OK, but being honest and blunt is inexcusable." I don't foresee myself visiting a newly-legal prostitute, but I think a consensual visit with a sex worker is a better option than rape.
Not only should prostitution be legalized but it should also be subsidized by the govermnment for those, like myself, that can't afford it -- like Section 8 rent, food stamps, and Pell grants for college.
Yes, it is hypocrisy in the sense that someone who proposed what amounted to legislating morality turned out to be not so moral himself. I recommend listening to the Korn song “Hypocrites.”
This is hypocrisy as the governor is trying to enforce moral codes (like video games legislation, which is done under the guise that it is offensive and immoral for youngsters, which i disagree) while at the same time being for lack of a better work "immoral" himself.
With that said prostitution should be legalized but this is because government shouldn't be regulating speech or conduct on the basis of offensiveness or morality, only harm to others (like murder, rape, theft, child abuse and molestation, ect.)
Funny you mention that other hypocrite Leland Yee as he has also been caught at the very least trying to solicit prostitutes for sex. In reality all these politicians are f**kin' hypocrites.
I don't think this is really ironic, or hypocrisy in action, but it does destroy the man's credibility. I don't think he should remain in office any longer than absolutely necessary, though - why should we let him have such a hand in writing the rules we as a society live by, when he won't follow those rules himself?
"...we have learned that when self-regulation fails, government must step in… we must do more to protect our children from excessive sex and violence in the media…"
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAHHHHH
This is hypocrisy in action. Not only did he falsly claim games promoted prostitution, but he was a no-nonsense attorney general who busted a prostitution ring. He was known as the sheriff of Wall Street. Now he is disgraced, even if he does not resign.
D.C. has more call-girl services than national monuments. Why's Spitzer trucking in talent from New York? And leaving himself open to the federal Mann Act felony charge. And, I'd imagine, paying extra for transportation costs and travel time. Weird.
It's so funny that he would criticize a game for allowing sex w/ prostitutes, when during the same time, he was screwing one!
@ Soothsayer
Ironically enough, we're reading Caesar in my pre-AP class.
(Ironically, I don't personally have a problem with prostitution. I think it should be legal but government regulated. I'm not a huge fan of government regulation, but the fact is legalized prositution would pose a serious health risk if not controlled. Plus, government regulation would cut down on violent crimes associated with and make the treatment considerably more humane for the women.)
In the end, I guess I'm not surprised. We had a local guy here who was a little too uptight in his beliefs. Fast forward a couple years we find out he was hiring male prostitutes. What was the name of the florida senator who was into congressional pages? Something Foley? Congress seems to have a problem finding ways to deal with its baser instincts.
can someone explain this please
@jadedcritic,
i agree. i think they sould give out prostitution licenses, and a prostute should be able to file a federal complaint against their boss for mistreating them.
Yes, because he doesn't want that type of thing being accessible to children. His logic suppositions are flawed but the logic is sorta consistent.
@JackDon'tKnowJack
Hard to say. I know nothing about their marriage or what rules they have within it. Given that they guy is a powerful jerk I would wager that his wife did not know about or consent to his prostitution, but that doesn't make protistution it'self immoral. I know plenty of people where both partners have conceptual sex outside their marriage and are perfectly happy with it.
Did you know that the French governement is the biggest pimp in France? Well yeah. No tatus AND income tax. France and love, ahhh...
@ Grizzam 512, That's the only reason I liked museums as a kid.
Seriously.
Bleeding hyppocrate.
He didn't force prostitutes on kids, so I don't think it's really a VG hypocrisy story. He wasn't alerting children to what he was doing, so it doesn't quite mesh as a counter to the GTA arguments.
It's pretty much "Politician Critical of Video Games busted for frequenting prostitutes."
Not worth much of a chuckle, but I do think a smug grin of satisfaction at having the scandal exposed is in order.
This is one of those days.
Dennis, you ought to try an interview Spitzer about his past comments on sex in videogames and see what he thinks now.
Hypocrisy: a feigning to be what one is not or to believe what one does not; especially : the false assumption of an appearance of virtue or religion
By that definition... I think Hypocrisy fits very well into this story...
Again I think this is a case of a politician taking a stand against video games to distract from another issue.
I wonder how he feels about his false god now.
BTW, according to my knowledge, being an idolater(worshipping anything other than the christian god) is a sin.
You know what really angers me to absolutely no fucking end? What god damn business did the FBI have wiretapping his damn phone? What possible use could they have had? Are our elected officials now suddenly potential terrorists? Even when it outs disgusting hypocrites I'd still rather not Big Brother be here. I hope the man can pull off some 4th amendment thing if he tries to be convicted.
"Did you see his [Spitzer] wife on the news? She looked like she was gonna fuckin’ kill him!"
She'll castrate him first and then make the prostitute eat it. THEN kill him.
What does this guy being involved with a prostitute have to do with his stance protecting children from violence / sex in media?
I like to drink beer, but I don't think children should drink beer.
"What does this guy [Spitzer] being involved with a prostitute have to do with his stance protecting children from violence / sex in media?"
Spitzer wants to outlaw games that show virtual sex, because he wants to cover up the fact he did the real thing to a prostitute.
My theory anyway.
Because he made out that the existence of things like Prostitutes in GTA 4 was somehow 'detrimental' to society, whilst making use of real-life prostitutes. That in itself is simply a matter of hypocrisy.
Secondly, there's a proven reason why children should not drink beer, which is a lot more than there is for Video Games.
That's a good point. Why were they tapping his phone? I don't know if they were tapping his private line or his governor's line. It is a little different if it was his work phone and not his private phone, tho, I think.
If I call up a hooker from my private phone, it's my private business, but if I call from work, it's my company's business too. Here in Detroit, the mayor's in trouble for (allegedly) texting with his (alleged) mistress on their city-owned phones. A cop may have been fired for investigating -- that's the real story -- but their (allegedly) steamy text chat would probably still be secret if they'd done it on their own private phones.
Still not sure why the Feds would be tapping the governor's line, but it seems a little less of a civil rights violation (and even more and act of bonehead arrogance, on Spitzer's part) if the hooker call was overheard on a NY State-owned line.
"Spitzer wants to outlaw games that show virtual sex, because he wants to cover up the fact he did the real thing to a prostitute."
He wants to _regulate_ games that show virtual sex (to minors), not outlaw.
All I'm saying is that this isn't hypocrisy. Hypocrisy would be if he showed a video tape of himself with a prostitute to children. Definitely irony though since he'll probably lose his job and the bill won't be passed because of this...
I didn't see anything he said about prostitution in games being 'detrimental' to society. He seems to me to be focused on adult material in possession of a minor.
If people like Speltzer were suggesting a rating system that covered ALL media, I'd be staying out of the discussion, but they aren't.
It's kind of hard to tell your child not to emulate the actions they see in games when the local politician, who was complaining about these actions in games, is actually doing it. I see that as hypocrisy.
"As a governor, I wonder if he will try to give himself a pardon."
Wouldn't be suprised. George W. Bush did, pardoning himself for future war crimes.
If we're going to get picky about the proper use of "hypocrisy," let's be honest about the way some of the other terms are being used here too.
If you are going to call Hitman and GTA "adult material," you also need to apply that label to all the "R"-rated movies sitting the shelf at your local Blockbuster, and all the "unrated" DVDs on the shelves at Wal-Mart and Target, and all the "MA"-rated shows on cable. (Who'd've ever guessed there was so much "adult material" available, all out in the open, just waiting to corrupt our poor children with its very existence?)
Perhaps you do not know anything about the games he mentions, but Spitzer is not talking about keeping "virtual sex" from being "shown to minors." He is talking about restricting the distribution of mainstream games according to his uninformed moral judgment of their expressive content. In my opinion, that alone should be considered hypocritical for any politician who has ever extolled the virtues of American freedom, regardless of whether you want to call it a "regulation" or a "ban."
@Father Time
It sounds like the Feds were wiretapping the brothel, not the governor, so they prob had a warrant. Not sure why I didn't think of that before, but it makes more sense that way.
I agree. How can politicians seriously think we will fall for the whole "DO as I say, not as I do" routine? Politicians are supposed to represent the people, state or country. When they do these sort of things, the sully that image.
Just saying what he did about video games is bad enough. The biggest problem is that he was breaking the law while in office. If it was before or after his terms, it would have been a different issue (not a lesser issue, a different one).
But I have to agree. This is hypocrisy. If I were to rail against something, it would be expected that I followed my own advice. Not just in word but also in spirit. If I were to say that virtual prostitution is bad, it would be expected that I feel the same about real prostitution.
But as some have pointed out, he says that kids shouldn't play sexually explicit games. That is true. He did say that. But as I said, he is a representative of the state of New York. To a child, he should be someone who they can look up to and that parents wouldn't mind their children emulating. Yet he has broken that trust. He has shown that while he is against bad influences of media children, he does not want to be a good influence on them.
Technically, the Feds never tapped Spitzer's phones. They tapped the phone of the service. Spitzer got caught up when he allegedly called that number to make arrangements.
That brings up an interesting point. Perhaps the reason kids want to play all these M rated games is because they are so saturated with adult content from all other medias, they have to play M rated games to feel fulfilled.
Today's March 10.
I'm not sure how many kids really want to play "M" rated games. There was no ESRB when I was I kid, but I remember being too young to get in to "R" rated movies. I remember wishing I was old enough to be able to see those movies, but I don't remember many of those movies I actually wanted to see. When there was a particular "R" rated movie I really did want to see, my parents usually took me to see it anyway.
I can't believe it's all that much different for kids today. I'm sure they all look forward to being old enough to purchase a copy of the latest hyped up "M"-rated game, but that is not the same thing as really wanting to play that game. In other words, kids always want to grow up faster, and adults always wish they could be young again, and I don't think it has much to do with video games, or movies, or television, or any other influence of the media.
It'd be even better if developed by Suda51.
I kinda see your point there. I was pretty damn suprised when I saw this story on Yahoo earlier today, and quite frankly, I didn't really think Game Politics would cover this.
Then again, as we know, Spitzer was aiming to regulate video game content. And where's that article about Spitzer's flawed report?
I wonder if being with 'Kristen' did something to his train of thought in the months after that? I wonder if he never got involved with a prostitute, he'd never think MAVAV was a legit site? ^_^
(Okay, I know that was a stretch, but I couldn't resist mentioning Spitzer and MAVAV...)
Yeah, this is one of those few moments where many people would thank the Patriot Act.
Way to go Spitz! First, I get Smash Bros. Brawl. Now I get a good laugh from our Gov'ner. I think this whole week will be good...
>_>
Erectile dysfunction is a "personal problem." Transporting a woman across state lines for an immoral purpose is not a personal problem, it's a federal offense.
Yet again is demostrated that politicians are useless beings.
Sorry for the rant, but is just so delicious...
FMQB.com, a radio and music news site, is also covering this story, as Spitzer had gone after those companies regarding payola allegations.
It is hypocrisy on a number of levels, besides the video game angle: He had shut down prostitution rings as an attorney general.
How does it not rate as irony that a man who is trying to make it illegal for children to be able to access videogames that might contain violence or (limited) sex is supporting already-illegal sale of sexual acts that are quite frequently engaged in by minors (included in many prostitution rings)?
How typical, it seems almost everyone who criticises videogames is a disgusting hypocrite or a techno-barbarian ludite. How absolutely typical in this world.
Men like this disgust and revoult me. I wouldn't expect any better from a politician. Honest politicians are as rare as Ron Paul, the rest are lying scum.
Not that this story will mean anything. $10000 says that it will be conveniently forgotten by those who believe they hold the moral highground.
Dennis, gotta get a qoute from Jack on this one.
Where is your SPitzer now jack? Oh I know. He's GOING TO JAIL!!
And you jack? Your getting DISBARRED!!
Oh yeah, this day just couldn't get any better. First I get smash bros, now this. Life is WONDERFUL!
I didn't think of that at first. I have no idea why they were taping his phone. Someone suggested it was his office phone and another he was calling a phone that was tapped.
If it was his office phone, well he works for the people of New York, and that's not really a private phone. It's possible all state phones are recorded in the same way that customer service lines are. Not really a private line. Complaining about that would be like complaining when your boss fires you for viewing porn on a company computer.
If he called the tapped phone, he has no excuse. He merely got caught being a jackass.
I'd like to add the possibility that they already suspected him in the prostitution ring, and got a warrant to tap his lines for this. That's always been legal, last I checked.
All possibilities. I guess we'll just have to do research and find out.
Spitzer is a democrat, not a republican. But it doesn't matter what he is, it's what he says and does that matter.
I stand corrected. revising my statement:
The further you travel along either political leaning, the bigger the hypocrisy gets I guess.