Eliot Spitzer Resigns; New York Senator Charles Schumer Talks About Spitzer's Situation
CAMPBELL BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: And thanks for joining us, everybody. Well, it took 24 years for Eliot Spitzer to build his career in law and politics and just 48 hours for it to all come tumbling down. His resignation letter is short, but to the point. As New York's attorney general, Spitzer inspired glowing headlines, touting him as Eliot Ness and the sheriff of Wall Street. Well, now he's Client Number 9. During his gubernatorial campaign in 2006, this rising political star promised to clean up New York politics.</s>NARRATOR: Don't worry. He does. Spitzer for governor.</s>BROWN: Well, he certainly brought some passion, but I guess you might say the wrong kind of passion.</s>JAMES TEDISCO (R), NEW YORK ASSEMBLY MINORITY LEADER: We have asked the governor to resign. It's a nightmare that is not going away that has became a reality for this state.</s>BROWN: And, today, the Spitzer freefall landed with a thud.</s>GOV. ELIOT SPITZER (D), NEW YORK: Over the course of my public life I have insisted -- I believe correctly -- that people, regardless of their position or power, take responsibility for their conduct. I can and will ask no less of myself. For this reason, I am resigning from the office of governor. At Lieutenant Governor Paterson's request, the resignation will be effective Monday, March 17, a date that he believes will permit an orderly transition.</s>BROWN: And there is startling new information we're just learning tonight about Kristen, the alleged prostitute at the center of the scandal. She's described in a federal affidavit as having a rendezvous last month with Spitzer at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington. Well, tonight, "The New York Times" is reporting she's really a 22-year-old New Jersey woman by the name of Ashley Dupre. CNN has contacted a lawyer who confirms he represents Ashley Dupre, but can't -- but says he cannot confirm that his client is Kristen. Well, joining me now, a journalist whose beat is New York, covering Spitzer through the good times and now the not-so-good times. Andrew Kirtzman is a correspondent for WCBS-TV in New York City. And, Andrew, good to have you here.</s>ANDREW KIRTZMAN, NEW YORK POLITICAL REPORTER: Thank you.</s>BROWN: Knowing him as well as you do and as long as you have covered him, did he really have any other choice?</s>KIRTZMAN: I think, if he felt he had any other choice, he wouldn't have quit. This is a man who wanted to hang on to this job at all costs. But he had legal problems. He faces possible indictment. And he had political problems. He faced potential impeachment hearings, which could have dragged out his sexual practices for weeks. He had a relentless New York tabloid media which would have had a field day with this forever. And, finally, he had no support politically, had alienated virtually everyone in Albany, people whom he needed. And by the end, he was alone and friendless.</s>BROWN: Why did it take so long to make the decision? I guess 48 hours really isn't that long, but what was going on behind closed doors?</s>KIRTZMAN: I think a lot of agonizing. He was making a lot of frantic phone calls to political leaders trying to gauge whether or not he had any kind of support, and I think the answer was pretty clear that he didn't. And I think a bunker mentality kind of set in. A couple of days ago, he appeared, made a one-minute speech, in which he called it a private matter, and then took off and wasn't seen again for two days. That speech was kind of widely criticized as being kind of self- centered and not in the public interest. And then he was gone. And if that was his way of kind of soliciting public support, it wasn't the best way. The support just completely shriveled.</s>BROWN: And there's been a lot of reporting too that his wife actually wanted him to hang on to the job.</s>KIRTZMAN: Right. Well, that's a family dynamic that we may never quite get inside of unless someone writes a tell-all book someday.</s>BROWN: Right.</s>KIRTZMAN: But this is an extremely intelligent corporate lawyer, Mrs. Spitzer. And she came to his defense. And there were reports that she was the last person to let go. She wanted him to hang on and salvage his reputation. And by all outward accounts, this is a family that really means something to one another. And it looks like they were trying to salvage the family and also his reputation.</s>BROWN: Let's talk a little bit about the guy who's going to take over for him, the current lieutenant governor, David Paterson, who's a pretty interesting guy.</s>KIRTZMAN: Totally interesting guy. He will be the first black governor of New York State, which itself is a milestone. He's legally blind. And he's a pretty interesting personality. He's got an incredibly sharp sense of humor, very laid back, really smart, and self-deprecating. He's kind of the personality opposite of Spitzer, very kind of modest and self-deprecating, doesn't have that kind of air of arrogance that a lot of people charged Spitzer had. And I think right now he's going to come in kind of as the Gerald Ford to spirit's Richard Nixon.</s>BROWN: You mentioned earlier that he didn't have a lot of, Spitzer -- going back to Spitzer -- that he didn't have a lot of friends in political circles, to say the least. We keep hearing that. What was it about him? How did he make so many enemies?</s>KIRTZMAN: Well, I think it's fair to say at this point that Eliot Spitzer made a better prosecutor than a politician. And when he came to Albany, which is famously paralyzed, this incredibly Byzantine institution, he promised to kind of break some heads and break the logjam. And his way of doing it was very heavy-handed. A lot of threats, a lot of kind of private blowups, and, one by one, he antagonized people. There was a famous incident in which his aides dug up dirt on the Senate majority leader and ended up the subject of three investigations, one by a grand jury. And, by the end, that guy did not have a single friend in Albany, Republican or Democrat.</s>BROWN: Right. Well, Andrew, thanks for being here. Good information. Good to see you.</s>KIRTZMAN: Thanks for having me.</s>BROWN: All right. And one of Governor Spitzer's close Democratic colleagues in New York is New York senior U.S. Senator Charles Schumer. And he's joining me right now from Washington. Senator Schumer, good to have you here. Welcome. Appreciate your time.</s>SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER (D), NEW YORK: Good evening. Good evening.</s>BROWN: Let me ask you, because you know the governor well. Take us back a little bit and just tell us, how did you first hear about all this and what was your reaction when you did?</s>SCHUMER: Well, actually, I was with Nita Lowey, the congresswoman from Westchester, and a whole bunch of police chiefs and mayors in Westchester. We were talking about restoring the cops grant. There was a press conference. And in the middle of the press conference, the beepers start going off. The BlackBerrys start going off. And on the BlackBerry, it says that Governor Spitzer is involved in a prostitution scandal. And my immediate reaction is, this is some joke. No one really believed it at all.</s>BROWN: Right. Have you talked to Governor Spitzer? Have you tried to reach out to him at all?</s>SCHUMER: I have not talked to him. I have talked several times to the lieutenant governor, Paterson. I think he deserves his privacy. I do expect to talk to him in the next few days.</s>BROWN: Yes. Senator Schumer, you have been in politics a long time, just as Spitzer has. You have butted heads with people for a long time, just as Spitzer has. But it's still amazing to me just to see how many people seem to be reveling in his downfall. Can anybody survive in politics when you have that many enemies?</s>SCHUMER: Well, I think that this is a tragedy. And I think the average citizen -- I don't know if some people who don't like him are reveling. But the average citizen sees this more as a human tragedy than a political tragedy, not much differently than if it happened to somebody who lived in their neighborhood or went to their church or worked in the same job area as they did. And so it's a sad thing. And all you have to do is think of his wife, his children. I was thinking this morning, how's his daughter going to go back to school? How are these three nice girls going to go back to school? It's just a tragedy. Now, Eliot Spitzer was a hard-charging guy. I'm sure he would say to himself, to make an omelet, you have to break some eggs. But that doesn't take away from the tragic nature of this.</s>BROWN: Right. You're a lawyer. And Governor Spitzer's been very careful to say in his statements that this is a private matter. But isn't it also a public matter? And if in fact it turns out that he did break the law, do you think he should be prosecuted?</s>SCHUMER: Well, on the first score, politicians are human, and this shows it. We all have our frailties. And that's for sure. But we should be held to a higher standard. I don't disagree with that. When you hold yourself out as a leader, whether it's in politics or entertainment or sports, you have a higher obligation. So, the fact that maybe somebody else might not have been subject to all of the brickbats and everything else, so be it. That's how it is. As for any prosecution, I can't really comment on it. I don't know all the details. But I will say this. I think that Eliot Spitzer has suffered plenty already. There's no question about it, even if there weren't to be a prosecution.</s>BROWN: All right. Senator Chuck Schumer tonight -- Senator Schumer, thanks.</s>SCHUMER: Thank you.</s>BROWN: Well, the Spitzer scandal has got everybody talking.</s>MIKE HUCKABEE (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I just hope that, now that he's resigned, it's not so much to give him a break, but give his family a break, because they don't deserve the really challenging situation they're experiencing.</s>BROWN: Well, we talked with Mike Huckabee about that challenging situation coming up. Plus, who compared the leading Democratic contenders to this little guy? That's ahead in the CNN ELECTION CENTER.