Setting a Good Example for Our Children: Getting Rid of School Cigarette Ads, Eliminating Candy Flavored Cigarettes, and Hooking Up With a Call Girl

Former attorney general and current governor of the state of New York - Eliot Spitzer - tried to set a good example for our children through his successful efforts to get cigarette ads out of school magazine editions and to convince R.J. Reynolds to eliminate its marketing of candy-flavored cigarettes.

Spitzer is the recipient of the 2005 Excellence in National Civic Leadership Award, presented by the National Human Services Assembly.

According to lawhawk over at "A Blog for All," Spitzer "conducted several prostitution ring busts while New York Attorney General and spoke of his revulsion to prostitution."

And in his inaugural address, Governor Spitzer emphasized his commitment to ethics:

"And so it must be for us. Like all who have come before, we have arrived at this moment on this day because we have demanded a different and more vibrant future for our children. Because we know that New York is the state where the depth of our talent and the breadth of our skills and the reach of our culture have forever changed America and the entire world – and because we know we can do it once more. This election was not about electing one person as governor. Rather it was about what we the people collectively elected for the future of our state. We chose pragmatism and ethics over partisan politics and dysfunction, and we demanded an end to gridlock."

"So I pledge to toil each and every day so as not to disappoint the hard working people of this state who have placed their trust in this future -- a future which rekindles hope and restores growth." ...

"And so in order to return to policies of opportunity and prosperity, we must change the ethics of Albany and end the politics of cynicism and division in our state. If ever there was a time that called out for introspection by those in government, it is now. Lincoln spoke of listening to "the better angels of our nature." Indeed, those of us who work in the great building behind me must hear and heed the serious responsibility that public service demands and rise to this moment and show the public in words and in deeds that we understand that our responsibility is to the people of New York."

The Rest of the Story

Now, Spitzer has apparently added to his resume of ethics messages he is sending to our children through involvement in a high-end prostitution ring, according to multiple news sources. While Governor Spitzer has not directly admitted that the charges against him are true, he did yesterday publicly apologize for what he called acting "in a way that violates my obligation to my family and violates my or any sense of right or wrong."

According to the New York Times, federal investigators - using wiretap and other sources - have identified Spitzer as "Client 9," who met with a high-priced prostitute at a Washington hotel last month.

According to the federal affadavit, as reported by the New York Times, Client 9 was a return customer who had engaged the services of Kristen - a 5 foot 5, 105 pound young woman - in his Mayflower Hotel room in Washington on the night of February 13, the evening before Spitzer testified before Congress regarding the bond insurance crisis.

According to the New York Times article, Client 9 was described in the affadavit "as a 'difficult' man who sometimes asked the prostitutes 'to do things you might not think were safe.'"

While some may have previously thought that Governor Spitzer's picture should be posted as an example of a public defender of ethics and integrity, might I now suggest that his picture might fit better as an illustration under the dictionary definition of "hypocrisy."