Governors Gone Wild: Eliot Spitzer and Governor McGreavy

Posted on March 19, 2008

The Eliot Spitzer scandal really shocked New York -- and the rest of the nation, for that matter -- because of Governor Spitzer's extremely moral public stance. He busted prostitution rings, railed about the virtual enslavement of young girls, and went after spammers with a zeal that endeared him to ordinary Americans. But as the story continues to unravel, an uglier side of Eliot Spitzer has appeared. His improper threatening of innocent business executives is legendary on Wall Street and his hounding of Dick Grasso infuriated many. Grasso never committed a crime, but Spitzer didn't like that he got a very large retirement bonus. More stories of harassment are coming forward.

So it turns out that while Spitzer was telling people that he always "did the right thing" he was frequenting high priced call girls, using money that it is alleged to come from campaign funds. We don't know if that part it true: if it is, he could very well do jail time. Under threat of impeachment, Spitzer resigned and everyone heaved a sigh of relief: the wonderful, honorable and funny Lt. Governor David Paterson would take over. He was sworn in, with his wife by his side. Everyone loves him, swooned the media.

Right after he was sworn in, Paterson dropped a new bomb: he had affairs with a number of women, and was jealous of his wife's affair with another man. It was all during a "rough patch" in their marriage and he swears he never used state funds. One mistress was a state employee, though.

Then a former aid to disgraced Governor McGreavy (who I will always think of as Governor McCreepy), alleges that he had an ongoing three-way affair with the Governor and his wife. This is all before the Governor had to resign, admit he was gay and admit he gave his boyfriend a cushy state job he didn't deserve. We also have the David Vitter mess from last summer: the Republican Louisiana senator's name showed up on the D.C. Madame's call list, for which he has apologized.

So, who's next? Governors Gone Wild: now there's a video that no one wants to see.