Just about everyone seems to be calling for New York Governor Eliot Spitzer to step down in light of revelations regarding his apparent involvement with a prostitution ring — and the governor’s own acknowledgment of a serious personal misstep.
But the key words there are just about everyone. Because the governor has some defenders, and they are starting to get organized.
Legal commentator Alan Dershowitz, the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, has been mounting something of a one-man defense of his former student in media interviews.
And, now, the popular activist website www.democrats.com has launched a Save Spitzer campaign.
The message is outlined in a letter that promotes the online petition campaign.
Dear Governor Spitzer,
Don’t let the Republicans and the rightwing media drive you out of office!
You made a lot of powerful enemies in your career because you took on the most powerful crooks on Wall Street. Now your enemies are trying to get even by destroying your career and your life. Don’t let them!
The whole investigation by the Bush Administration stinks to high heaven. This isn’t a case of “structuring” or “money laundering.” The FBI never investigates johns – so why are they investigating you?
The answer is obvious. George Bush and Karl Rove turned the Justice Department into the political destruction arm of the Republican Party. They’ve prosecuted 5.6 Democrats for every Republican.
That’s why former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman is rotting in jail, and that’s what they want to do to you.
As Americans, we are outraged by Bush’s endless abuses of justice. If anyone should be removed from office, it’s George Bush!
Governor Spitzer, please stand and fight against this outrageous and naked partisan Republican assault. We support you!
The letter and petition were posted by Bob Fertik, the prime mover behind democrats.com, on Tuesday evening. An email blast to the group’s extensive lists drew a rapid response that briefly made it tough to reach its site as Spitzer backers — or, perhaps more precisely, people who simply do not trust any prosecution of a Democrat by the Bush administration — rushed to sign on.
It is tough to see how Spitzer holds on at this point, especially as details of the prostitution sting are revealed — casting him in a staggeringly unflattering light — and as speculation about Mann Act violations continues to dominate the news. But the governor did not make the expected resignation announcement Tuesday, and if he was trolling the internet for good news Tuesday night, he found a little at the democrats.com site.
