The name of Eliot Ness, that iconic crime fighter if the early 20th century – has reverberated down through history as the definition of justice and incorruptibility. In writing about his namesake Eliot Spitzer, Serge Truffaut of Canada’s French-language Le Devior writes in part, ‘You cannot make this up. … The first name of Governor Spitzer of New York is Eliot. The same as that other Eliot – Eliot Ness – the patron saint of the incorruptible who hunt down criminals, both white collar and blue … This image – fashioned with his [Spitzer’s] own bare hands on a canvas of moral rectitude – evaporated instantly at the end of an act of contrition … the spectacle was appalling.’
By Serge Truffaut
Translated By Kate Davis
March 12, 2008
Canada – Le Devior – Original Article (French)
You cannot make this up. The first name of Governor Spitzer of New York is Eliot. The same as that other Eliot – Eliot Ness – the patron saint of the incorruptible who hunt down criminals, both white collar and blue. It is in making life harder for fashionable crooks in neck-ties on the floor of the stock exchange that he built a reputation for himself as a “new incorruptible,” or even a “tireless crusader,” to borrow nicknames that the media gave him during scandals at WorldCom, Tyco, Enron and others we have forgotten. He proclaimed himself the “Sheriff of Wall Street.”
This image – fashioned with his own bare hands on a canvas of moral rectitude – evaporated instantly at the end of an act of contrition by the former New York Attorney General WATCH . This sheriff acknowledged paying a heavy price for his history of peccadilloes. He spent more than $4,000 to enjoy the favors of strumpets in chic hotels of the capital city. QED [It has been demonstrated – quod erat demonstrandum]: This prostitution network procured the services of the so-called call girls especially for high-flying politicians.
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Aside from any moral judgment, this affair is particularly distressing since it seriously cripples the work of the current attorney general and his staff – notably the investigations initiated while Spitzer was still the boss of the patrons of justice. One this is certain; when the news hit the presses, traders on Wall Street… Applauded!
Because this man, when he was hunting down crooked millionaires, had opted at all times and in his words – for a strategy of “aggressiveness.” He was at times so hard and his methods so brutal that even people in his camp now say that they considered Spitzer reckless or irresponsible. This inclination, or rather his certainty that he was always right – led him to demolish without proof, individuals who appeared on his prosecutor’s radar screen. An example? He started a rumor that the secretary of New York Stock Exchange Chairman Richard Grasso had been Grasso’s mistress. In short, he brandished a little poison, even if only an allegation, to reduce the reputation of another to a briny bouillon.
READ ON AT WORLDMEETS.US, along with many other translated foreign-press reactions to Spitzer’s downfall.
