Spitzer, E

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SEE KEN LANGONE ROGER STONE

poster boy in good way; left honorably bow out, eg gore but pension plan keeps bad actors forever

sherriff of wall street, taken down by Stone

went after greenberg AIG

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nyt

Mr. Gibney agrees that Mr. Spitzer was the author of his own downfall, but his film suggests there were plenty of eager hands ready to help that descent along. He points out that Kenneth Langone, the co-founder of Home Depot and a former director of the New York Stock Exchange who was assailed by Mr. Spitzer for signing off on a huge salary for the leader of the nonprofit exchange, seemed to know a lot about the governor’s day-to-day life.

Image

The Republican operative Roger Stone and friend.Credit...Magnolia Pictures

“How did Kenneth Langone know that Spitzer was in line at the post office sending money orders to the escort service? Whenever my conspiracy gene kicks in, I have to check myself, but I doubt that Langone even knows anyone who goes to the post office,” he said. So Mr. Spitzer was being followed? “Somebody was watching him.”

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http://www.politico.com/states/new-york/city-hall/story/2012/08/eric-schneidermans-mission-to-expose-americas-most-influential-donors-004851

pillifant

Eric Schneiderman, New York's Democratic attorney general, is trying to win a fight over independent campaign expenditures that his party, for the moment, is losing badly.

In particular, he is using his subpoena power to dredge up the details of a series of donations made by a New York nonprofit to an affiliate of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in the early 2000s, when the Chamber was engaging in an aggressive push to enact tort reform—a push that helped oust a handful of longtime incumbents, most notably Senate minority leader Tom Daschle in South Dakota.

Sources close to the investigation said it's just the first part of a larger push by Schneiderman to fill an oversight void in Washington that was created by the Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United and, possibly, to compel broader action by other regulatory bodies. Schneiderman's action comes in response to complaints from ChamberWatch, a labor-backed group that alleges that the Starr Foundation, a New York-based nonprofit controlled by former AIG C.E.O. Hank Greenberg—who was, personally, a highly public supporter of tort reform—funneled $18 million to the Chamber's effort through a sister nonprofit, the National Chamber Foundation.

"If he can make an example of somebody, I think that can really have some consequences," said Daniel Kurtz, former head of the charities bureau in the New York State attorney general's office. "And other agencies will feel, 'Gee, how did he do this? We gotta get on this.'"

That the push just happens to be commencing at the height of a presidential cycle in which unprecedented amounts of corporate and outside money are being spent to affect the outcome, the vast majority in the service of Mitt Romney and Republican candidates for Congress, is clearly something that the unabashedly partisan attorney general can live with.

"As the chief regulator of charities and non-profits in the State of New York, I am committed to restoring accountability and transparency by shining a light on the new role that these organizations are now playing in our political process," Schneiderman said, through a spokesman.

Schneiderman's role as a regulator of these outside political groups, much like the groups themselves, is made possible by a loophole: The outside organizations that are expected to spend more than $1 billion during the 2012 campaigns have most of their contributions shrouded from public view by I.R.S. rules that classify the groups as "social welfare" organizations. That status allows donors who might otherwise shy from public contributions to fund pet causes and candidates without having their names in the news.

It is that I.R.S. classification that brings the organizations under the jurisdiction of Schneiderman, whose office is entrusted to oversee any charities that maintain an office, or so much as raise money, in New York State. That mandate in turn gives Schneiderman—who has emerged as one of Obama's steadiest allies in New York—broad powers to examine the way in which nonprofits raise and spend money for political purposes.

For many of these groups, Schneiderman's prying actually poses an existential threat. Any evidence to suggest that the "primary purpose" of such organizations—known as 501C4s—is actually political could undermine their standing with the I.R.S. If those organizations were to lose their preferred tax exempt status, they would be forced to pay onerous taxes on their contributions, or register as political entities and then disclose the sources of their funding, either of which would presumably have a chilling effect on other big individual donors and corporations who were willing to give on the condition of anonymity.

The combined effect could be devastating to the current system.

"Traditionally, the I.R.S. is a very slow actor, which is why it's very good to see the A.G. get involved, because they tend to move a bit more quickly," said Susan Lerner of the good government group Common Cause New York. "But when the I.R.S. does move, wow, it's like a guillotine coming down."

TO THE EXTENT THAT THE DEMOCRATS HAVE TRIED to mitigate the now-unbridled involvement of wealthy Republican-friendly funders in federal elections by requiring more transparency, they have failed.

Last month, for example, Democrats were unable to overcome a Republican filibuster of the DISCLOSE Act,a bill sponsored by Chuck Schumer that would have required more disclosure from certain political donors. The bill has gotten only minimal support from Republicans in the House.

Meanwhile, the Federal Election Commission remains deadlocked over a number of rules that would mandate more disclosure. (The F.E.C. is composed of three members of each political party, but requires four votes to take any official action.)

"Clearly they've handcuffed themselves, it's deadlocked" said Representative Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, who sponsored the DISCLOSE Act in the House, and scored one of the few disclosure-related victories for Democrats in Washington in March, with a district court ruling that even 501c4 groups must disclose donors to certain "electioneering communications." That decision has forced some super PACs to readjust their advertising in advance of an appellate hearing next month, but Van Hollen said there's still a glaring need for an aggressive regulator.

"A lot of people think they can act with impunity because there's not a federal cop on the beat," he said.

At the very least, Schneiderman is hoping to dispel that sense of impunity.

Sources said the attorney general's Charities Bureau is proactively reviewing the 990 forms filed by a number of nonprofits, which detail where the organizations' money is spent.

"He seems to have figured out what Eliot figured out: how important the sector is, how enormous it is, and how many problems it has," said Bill Josephson, a former head of the Charities Bureau under Eliot Spitzer.

In doing so, Schneiderman is treading on turf which has traditionally belonged to the Internal Revenue Service. The I.R.S. has the final say over an organization's tax-exempt status, though it's unclear how actively the agency wants to police the issue.

Last year, the I.R.S. publicly abandoned an effort to impose taxes on five wealthy donors who gave to non-profits that were heavily involved in political activity.

"Until further notice, examination resources should not be expended on this issue," wrote Steven Miller, the I.R.S.'s deputy commissioner in charge of enforcement, in a memo on July 7, 2011.

Advocates for greater disclosure hope Schneiderman's efforts will prod the I.R.S. into more public action.

The day after the *New York Times* reported that Schneiderman was issuing subpoenas, a spokesperson for the I.R.S. told the :(style="background-color:#ffffffff"):}:*Wall Street Journal*:{ that the agency had :(style="background-color:#ffffffff"):}::{prepared a questionnaire to be circulated to some of the largest quasi-political nonprofit groups, which would be the first step in any possible changes to their tax-exempt status, or a broader clarification of the agency's rules.

Last week, the Campaign Legal Center, a group that has been urging the I.R.S. to consider the issue for over a year, received its first formal response from the agency, in the form of a letter saying the I.R.S. "is aware of the current public interest in this issue" and would be reviewing its rules.

But the I.R.S. is legally prohibited from speaking publicly about its specific audits, leaving even some close observers to wonder how active the agency plans to be.

"The I.R.S. could be more forthcoming," said Marcus Owens, who previously served as director of the Exempt Organizations Division at the I.R.S.

"There's nothing that precludes them from saying we currently are reviewing five, ten, zero, a thousand 501c4 organizations, without identifying any particular organization, and thereby give the citizens some assurance that indeed the cop is on the beat, so to speak.

"But they haven't done that. So it's hard to know from the outside looking in, whether we simply have a situation where the I.R.S. is doing its job, but is somewhat muted by the disclosure rules and hasn't found its voice, and allowed it to communicate about an audit activity. Or is it just designing a questionnaire while Rome figuratively burns?"

The agency's retreat in 2011 seems to have been prompted by wilting pressure from Republican members of Congress, who called the plan a political witch-hunt and questioned whether the agency was acting at the behest of the Obama administration.

Conservatives have said much the same thing about Schneiderman's subpoenas. In a post for Commentary's website entitled "Schneiderman's Partisan Fishing Expedition," Jonathan S. Tobin wrote that the "left-wing attorney general is launching a brazenly partisan attack on the right of political speech in the guise of an investigation of alleged violations of the tax code."

But Schneiderman, a former state senator for the Upper West Side who is in fact an openly partisan Democrat, is unlikely to mind the blowback, which will only further endear him to his (increasingly national) liberal base. The editorial boards for the New York Times applauded the subpoenas, saying Schneiderman's investigation would provide a necessary look at "secret world of undisclosed political contributions," because "government watchdogs are dozing." A Newsday editorial said it was "watching with interest" (in a good way).

"I think we have a tradition here in New York, of attorney generals who are valiant champions of the people in a lot of different areas that other attorney generals have not had the vision to engage with," said Lerner of Common Cause. "And I think Attorney General Schneiderman falls well within that tradition of taking on the difficult but very real instances of lawbreaking that others have looked past or haven't been able to see."

IN THE CASE OF THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, SCHNEIDERMAN IS LOOKING specifically at how money moved among the three nonprofits.

Between 2003 and 2005, the Starr Foundation reported $18 million in grants to the National Chamber Foundation, which, around the same time, provided loans to the Chamber of Commerce in roughly the same amount.

At the time, Greenberg, who serves as chairman of the Starr Foundation, was heavily involved in an effort to enact tort reform, for which the chamber was also lobbying. (The chamber, in an act of innovation under its new director, Thomas Donohue, had begun allowing for earmarked donations from some of its big contributors, allowing them to fund some political and lobbying campaigns through the chamber's coffers.)

But any direct contributions from the Starr Foundation for that purpose would have been subject to a severe excise tax. The complaint from ChamberWatch, which was first filed with the I.R.S. in 2010, alleges that the Chamber Foundation was used as a pass-through, and that the loan was more like a gift.

Schneiderman's investigation could pursue a number of outcomes, depending on what he finds. The office could file criminal or civil charges, revokes its charity status in New York, or simply make public the results of its investigation.

In 2005, under Spitzer, the office published a scathing report of its investigation into the early days of the Starr Foundation, which accused Greenberg and other executives of selling off some assets at a discount rate for personal gain, even though it declined to bring charges, on the grounds that the transgressions had occurred too far in the past.

(Spitzer's investigators had traveled as far as Bermuda to seize files after receiving a tip that AIG was moving files out of its office. Last week, in a heated exchange with CNBC's Maria Bartiromo, Spitzer denied he was motivated by any personal animus for Greenberg.)

Such a public report could have a chilling effect on other organizations, if donors and corporations who are sensitive to public scrutiny determine that their donations might not remain private in the face of investigations like Schneiderman's.

The Starr Foundation did not return a call for comment.

A spokesman for the chamber suggested that Schneiderman's investigation was motivated by politics.

"In the midst of a highly charged political season, it comes as no surprise that the New York State Attorney General would use his office to rehash a very old story about the Chamber's finances," said Tom Collamore, the Chamber's Senior Vice President of Communications and Strategy, in an emailed statement. "The subpoena they have issued closely resembles a politically motivated letter that an activist group sent to the IRS in 2010, also just before an important election."

The chamber did not specify to what degree it intends to cooperate with the subpoenas.

"This curiously timed subpoena will play out in the appropriate legal channels. In the meantime, the Chamber will not be distracted from its focus on issues related to jobs, growth and the nation's economic recovery, while at the same time vigorously supporting candidates we believe will help put our country on the right track."

Advocates for greater disclosure hope Schneiderman's efforts will prod the I.R.S. into more public action.

The day after the *New York Times* reported that Schneiderman was issuing subpoenas, a spokesperson for the I.R.S. told the *Wall Street Journal* that the agency had prepared a questionnaire to be circulated to some of the largest quasi-political nonprofit groups, which would be the first step in any possible changes to their tax-exempt status, or a broader clarification of the agency's rules.

Last week, the Campaign Legal Center, a group that has been urging the I.R.S. to consider the issue for over a year, received its first formal response from the agency, in the form of a letter saying the I.R.S. "is aware of the current public interest in this issue" and would be reviewing its rules.

But the I.R.S. is legally prohibited from speaking publicly about its specific audits, leaving even some close observers to wonder how active the agency plans to be.

"The I.R.S. could be more forthcoming," said Marcus Owens, who previously served as director of the Exempt Organizations Division at the I.R.S.

Conservatives have said much the same thing about Schneiderman's subpoenas. In a post for Commentary's website entitled "Schneiderman's Partisan Fishing Expedition," Jonathan S. Tobin wrote that the "left-wing attorney general is launching a brazenly partisan attack on the right of political speech in the guise of an investigation of alleged violations of the tax code."

IN THE CASE OF THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, SCHNEIDERMAN IS LOOKING specifically at how money moved among the three nonprofits.

At the time, Greenberg, who serves as chairman of the Starr Foundation, was heavily involved in an effort to enact tort reform, for which the chamber was also lobbying. (The chamber, in an act of innovation under its new director, Thomas Donohue, had begun allowing for earmarked donations from some of its big contributors, allowing them to fund some political and lobbying campaigns through the chamber's coffers.)

But any direct contributions from the Starr Foundation for that purpose would have been subject to a severe excise tax. The complaint from ChamberWatch, which was first filed with the I.R.S. in 2010, alleges that the Chamber Foundation was used as a pass-through, and that the loan was more like a gift.

In 2005, under Spitzer, the office published a scathing report of its investigation into the early days of the Starr Foundation, which accused Greenberg and other executives of selling off some assets at a discount rate for personal gain, even though it declined to bring charges, on the grounds that the transgressions had occurred too far in the past.

The Starr Foundation did not return a call for comment.

A spokesman for the chamber suggested that Schneiderman's investigation was motivated by politics.

The chamber did not specify to what degree it intends to cooperate with the subpoenas.

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http://www.**sourcewatch**.org/index.php/Eliot_Spitzer

Eliot Spitzer (born June 10, 1959) is an American lawyer and former politician of the Democratic Party. He served as Governor of New York from January 2007 until his resignation on March 17, 2008 due to his affiliation with a Prostitution Ring. Prior to being elected governor, Spitzer served as New York State Attorney General and previously as a Federal U.S. Attorney.

After earning his Juris Doctor degree, Spitzer joined the law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison. Two years later, he joined the Manhattan district attorney's office, headed by Robert M. Morgenthau, to pursue organized crime. He launched the investigation that brought down the Gambino family's control over Manhattan's garment and trucking industries. In 1992, Spitzer left to work at the law firms of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom and, later, Constantine and Partners.

Prostitution Ring Scandal

The New York Times first reported on March 10, 2008 that Spitzer was "caught on a federal wiretap arranging to meet with a high-priced prostitute at a Washington hotel last month, according to a person briefed on the federal investigation. An affidavit in the federal investigation into a prostitution ring said that a wiretap recording captured a man identified as Client 9 on a telephone call confirming plans to have a woman travel from New York to Washington, where he had reserved a hotel room. The person briefed on the case identified Mr. Spitzer as Client 9." [1]

Later on March 10, 2008, Spitzer gave a brief statement to the press: "Today I want to briefly address a private matter. I have acted in a way that violates my obligations to my family, and violates my -- or any -- sense of right and wrong. I apologize first and most importantly to my family. I apologize to the public, whom I promised better. I do not believe that politics in the long run is about individuals. It is about ideas, the public good and doing what’s best for the state of New York. I have disappointed and failed to live up to the standard I expected of myself. I must now dedicate some time to regain the trust of my family. I will report back to you in short order." [2]

The Toronto Star reported, The Emperors Club VIP "rocked the political career of New York Governor Eliot Spitzer (aka Client 9) and tarnished his 'Mr. Clean' image, is a call-girl business that arranged sex between wealthy men and more than 50 prostitutes in New York, Washington, Los Angeles, Miami, London and Paris, according to U.S. federal prosecutors. The Brooklyn-based club's website, which went offline after its operators were busted, displays photographs of scantily clad women with their faces hidden. It also shows hourly rates depending on whether the prostitutes were rated from one diamond to seven diamonds. ... The website ranked the prostitutes on a scale of one to seven "diamonds." A three-diamond woman, for example, could command a fee of $1,000 per hour. A seven-diamond woman cost more than $3,000 an hour. ... The club motto was: 'Every client is an Emperor.' [3]

Ashley Alexandra Dupré is the current name of Ashley Youmans, aka Kristen, implicated as the call girl of Client 9, for New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, according to the New York Times. [4]

Kristian Stiles was a political fundraising consultant to Eliot Spitzer. According to the New York Times, she is now being investigated for a possible role in the scandal. The New York Times reported on March 16, 2008, that "Charles E. :{Clayman:(style="background-color:#ffff66;"):}:, a criminal defense lawyer and a former federal prosecutor, said he was retained by Ms. Stiles’s consulting firm, Stiles Partners, in recent days to represent her and her deputy, Alex James, in connection with the inquiry. ... Before going to work for Mr. Spitzer, Ms. Stiles worked for former Representative Richard A. Gephardt, of Missouri, as a low-level fund-raising official." [5]

The New York Post reported on December 5, 2006, that Kristian Stiles was one of 49 Spitzer staffers receiving a total of $1.35 million dollars in bonus money after his successful campaign for governor or New York. Stiles received $35,000. "It's hard to argue [with the bonuses] given their success," said Blair Horner, of the New York Public Interest Research Group. "It's a lot of money, but given the loopholes in New York state's campaign-finance law, this isn't one we'd necessarily object to." [6]

Role of Roger Stone

On March 24, 2008, the Daily News reported, "When Roger Stone predicted last year that Gov. Eliot Spitzer would soon be toast, it sounded like the rantings of a partisan attack dog. Turns out, the Republican operative is a dragon-slayer who helped bring down New York State's most powerful man. 'Everything surrounding Eliot Spitzer is bizarre. It gets more bizarre now when Roger Stone is [involved],' said Democratic strategist Hank Sheinkopf. 'It's like this is all from a movie.' Stone, who boasts of being the sleaziest man in American politics, declared on Dec. 6 to conservative radio host Michael Smerconish that the then-powerful Gov. Spitzer 'wouldn't serve his full term.' The comments didn't draw much attention at the time since Stone was a well-known enemy of Spitzer who worked for the governor's nemesis, Majority Leader Joe Bruno.Nobody knew that Stone had already tipped off the feds to Spitzer's high-priced hooker habit in a Nov. 19 letter to the FBI. It also cattily mentioned the governor's fetish for having sex with socks on. It's unclear whether the prosecutors knew anything about Spitzer's involvement in the Emperors Club VIP call girl ring when Stone wrote the letter." [7]

SourceWatch Resources

External links

John Bogle, Heroes and Icons: Eliot Spitzer, TIME magazine, 2005.
Eliot Spitzer, Predatory Lenders' Partner in Crime: How the Bush Administration Stopped the States From Stepping In to Help Consumers, Washington Post, February 14, 2008.
Spitzer Linked To Hooker Probe New York governor identified as "Client-9" in FBI affidavit, The Smoking Gun, March 10, 2008.
News Release, Equality Now Responds to Governor Spitzer's Alleged Involvement in Prostitution Ring Equality Now Responds to Governor Spitzer's Alleged Involvement in Prostitution Ring, March 11, 2008
Dana Milbank, At the Mayflower, Client 9's Sinking Ship, Washington Post, Tuesday, March 11, 2008.
Emperors Club offered 'meaningful' life, Toronto Star, Mar 11, 2008.
Ashley Alexandra Dupré MySpacePage
Serge F. Kovaleski and Ian Urbina, The Woman at the Center of the Governor’s Downfall, New York Times, March 13, 2008
Jo Becker, Investigators Seek Records of Spitzer Campaign’s Payments to a Consultant, New York Times, March 16, 2008
Elizabeth Benjamin and Dave Goldiner, GOP operative Roger Stone helped bring down Eliot Spitzer, Daily News, March 24, 2008.
Danny Hakim, Fernanda Santos, G.O.P. Consultant Says He Reported Spitzer Trysts in 2007, NY Times, March 24, 2008.
Lindsay Beyerstein, As the Spitzer Sex Firestorm Cools, It's Time for the Real Questions, SourceWatch, March 26, 2008.
Call for the appointment of a Federal Special Prosecutor to investigate Eliot Spitzer's possible abuse of prosecutorial discretion for the benefit of organized crime families related to Spitzer's prostitution ring affiliates.
Alan Feuer, Carla Baranauckas, Plea in Case That Toppled Spitzer, New York Times, May 15, 2008

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eliot_Spitzer

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130978935

Fortune's Peter Elkind, who contributed critical reporting to the film and is the author of the book Client 9, found evidence that Stone had bragged to a South Florida blogger that the "wealthy Republicans" -- called"The Group" -- were organized around a coordinating operative, Republican lobbyist Wayne Berman, and financiers including former AIG Chairman Hank Greenberg and Home Depot financier Ken Langone -- all major-league Spitzer haters. (Stone denies this.)

Alex Gibney is a virtual one-man industry turning out one documentary after another on the abuses of American capitalism, from its imperialist wars abroad (Taxi to the Dark Side) to corruption and white-collar crime at home (Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room). Two of his most recent movies that fall into the second category are must viewing for anybody trying to get a handle on the terminally ill political/corporate system. Released earlier this year, Casino Jack and the United States of Money is now available from Netflix while Client 9: the Rise and Fall of Elliot Spitzeropens at the Angelika and Lincoln Plaza theaters in New York on November 5^th. They make for interesting companion pieces since they are both about powerful Jewish-Americans whose political careers serve as paradigms for a system in crisis.

I was introduced into the complexities of Elliot Spitzer in Charles Ferguson’s The Inside Job, in which Spitzer served as one of the talking heads making the case against Goldman-Sachs and the rest of the “banksters”. At one point, in the course of dealing with the cozy relationship between high-priced whorehouses and their investment banking clientele,Spitzer tells Ferguson with a sheepish grin that this was emblematic of the corruption of the times even though he is probably the last person in the world in a position to cast judgment.

Essentially, Client 9is a full-length treatment of the rise and fall of Elliot Spitzer who started out as an attorney general dedicated to cleaning up Wall Street but who ended up in ignominy after being exposed as buying the services of $2000 per hour call girls. But as Gibney makes clear, his exposure was almost certainly the result of a vendetta by powerful Wall Street interests who resented his challenge to their criminal behavior.

Elliot Spitzer, unlike Barack Obama, came from a socially prominent and wealthy family. His father Bernard was a real estate tycoon worth $500 million in 2008. We learn that the family would sit around dinner table at night discussing current events, often heatedly. From early in life, Elliot Spitzer—to the manor born—aspired to the kind of reform politics that have virtually disappeared from the Democratic Party. As economist Doug Henwood astutely noted during the 2008 primaries, figures like Bill Clinton and Barack Obama from more modest backgrounds tend to be deferential to the ruling class while those who emerge from it, like FDR, are more willing to take it on. This has to be understood of course in terms of defending the system against those whose shortsighted behavior goes against its long-term interests. Such is the crisis of bourgeois politics today that no politician is willing to stick his or her neck out in defense of the very system that it rests on.

As Attorney General, Spitzer went after Wall Street abuses with great relish. As a typical former high school athlete and alpha male lawyer, he saw this combat as one conducted to the death—figuratively speaking. In one of his most high-profile cases, he tried to prevent Richard Grasso, the CEO of the NY Stock Exchange, from retiring with a package worth $140 million. Grasso had made lots of friends over the years with men just as powerful as himself, who joined the battle against Spitzer. Twi of them are interviewed throughout the movie and come across as total sleazebags, just as you would expect.

One was Maurice “Hank” Greenberg, the former CEO of AIG who had his own beef with Spitzer, after he had conducted an investigation of fraudulent business activities at AIG that led eventually to Greenberg’s resignation. Greenberg, now 85, comes across as a lizard-like gnome who is incapable of telling the truth, stating at one point that if he had remained head of AIG it never would have been bailed out.

Another of Spitzer’s nemeses is Kenneth Langone, co-founder of Home Depot and a former director of the NY Stock Exchange. He was responsible for putting together Grasso’s retirement package. He is even more repulsive than Greenberg, if that is imaginable.

After getting elected governor of NY, largely on the basis of his anti-corruption record, Spitzer was determined to clean up Albany. With his sharp elbows, he came into conflict immediately with Joseph Bruno, the Majority Leader of the NY State Senate who was an amateur boxer and widely viewed as corrupt. Interviewed as well throughout the film, Bruno comes across as the sort of character you would meet on “The Sopranos”. Just as Spitzer butted heads with Grasso and his supporters on Wall Street, he went after Bruno not long after taking office. In one phone conversation with Bruno, Spitzer described himself as a “fucking steamroller”. When Bruno was charged with using helicopters for private use, Spitzer was accused of Richard Nixon dirty tricks for supposedly using state troopers to follow Bruno around—hence the term Troopergate.

Eventually, Roger Stone enters the picture as someone determined to bring Spitzer down. Hired by Bruno, Stone, an amateur body-builder, is arguably one of the most grotesque figures ever to operate from the rightwing fringes of the Republican Party. Referring to himself as a “hitman”, Stone resigned from Robert Dole’s campaign staff in 1996 after it was found out that he and his wife advertised in “adult” magazines looking for other couples to “swing” with. Obviously, he was in a good position to sniff out Spitzer’s secret life. Stone had to stop working for Bruno after leaving a profanity-laced message on Bernard Spitzer’s phone about how he was going to bring his son down.

We also meet the proprietor of the Emperor’s Club that procured call girls for him, including Angelina whose trysts with Spitzer at the Mayflower Hotel became fodder for the tabloids, as well as the NY Times. In total disgrace, Spitzer resigned and went into seclusion until very recently. He has reemerged as a host of a CNN show that I have ignored up till now, but will probably tune in out of curiosity. I have seen Spitzer doing commentary on MSNBC making the same kinds of anti-Wall Street points as other hosts, but he has the distinction of making them during the time that Wall Street was booming.

Aside from two recent articles at IPR, and results pertaining to a completely different Kristin Davis who is an actress appearing on the TV show Sex and the City, the top of a recent Google News search for Kristin Davis is dominated (or should that be dominatrixed?) by articles from the NY Times focusing on the central role of Republican dirty tricks maestro Roger Stone in her campaign, and a somewhat negative party scene report on her recent fundraiser from Asylum NY that downplays the seriousness of her campaign, or even openly ridicules it. First the NY Times story By WILLIAM K. RASHBAUM

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/17/nyregion/17stone.html?src=mv

Spitzer Antagonist Advises Ex-Madam’s Campaign

Roger J. Stone Jr. has more than a bit of a thing for Eliot Spitzer.

In 2008, he reveled in the disclosure of the governor’s dalliance with prostitutes from a pricey escort service called Emperor’s Club V.I.P. He delighted in Mr. Spitzer’s downfall — and continues to do so. He even claimed credit for bringing Mr. Spitzer’s penchant to the attention of the federal authorities, however unconvincingly.

So it has been little surprise that the self-proclaimed Dark Prince of political dirty tricks has placed himself squarely behind the unorthodox campaign for governor — and grand décolletage — of one Kristin Davis, an erstwhile madam for another escort service.

Ms. Davis’s unproven claim to have also served as Mr. Spitzer’s procurer is so often repeated in her news releases that one might mistake it for a central plank of her platform, which includes legalizing, regulating and taxing prostitution and marijuana, and legalizing same-sex marriage.

Thus it is perhaps no coincidence that nearly every reference to her run for the office that Mr. Spitzer once held brings with it, for better or worse, an echo of his disgrace.

Though Mr. Stone’s name does not appear on the State Board of Elections forms filed by the committee set up by Ms. Davis, the Friends of Kristin Davis, the three-page document nonetheless reveal traces of Mr. Stone, a longtime Republican consultant who has referred to politics as “performance art” and cultivates in a cloak-and-dagger sensibility.

For example, the home telephone number for the campaign’s treasurer,Andrew Miller,is in fact linked to Mr. Stone; the cellphone for Mr. Miller is associated with Mr. Stone’s Florida public relations company, Drake Ventures.

Indeed, Mr. Miller, a fresh-faced young man in his 20s, is the stepson of Mr. Stone’s assistant of 18 years, Diane Thorne, Mr. Stone said in an e-mail message.

And then there is the matter of the address the young treasurer listed on the Board of Elections committee registration form — 55 West 25th Street in Manhattan. It appears that it is from Apartment 25L in that building that the campaign is run.

It was in the same stylish building that Ashley Dupré, the Emperor’s Club prostitute whose tryst with Mr. Spitzer was detailed in federal court papers, lived at the time of their assignation and its disclosure.

Mr. Stone, who also acknowledged by e-mail that the apartment there is his, said he chose the address for another reason. “I moved to the building from Central Park South because a friend and his wife live in a two-bedroom apartment on a high floor and love the building,” he wrote.

He said in an interview that he did not learn that Ms. Dupré had lived in the same building until after he moved in, calling it “happenstance.”

A visit to the address resulted in the doorman ringing the apartment to see if Mr. Miller was home, and an invitation. Mr. Miller, with a wool hat pulled down over his ears, was waiting at the elevator.

He said it was no secret who was running things.

“This is not our first rodeo,” he said, adding that if there had been any intention to mask Mr. Stone’s central role in the committee, a post office box would have been listed on the committee registration instead of Ms. Dupré’s old building on West 25th Street. (In fact, the Board of Elections form explicitly prohibits that, requiring a residential address.)

The preliminary filings contain no information about the committee’s financial support, which Ms. Davis’s campaign is not required by law to disclose until July 15.

The relationship between Mr. Stone and Mr. Spitzer is, to say the least, complex. Mr. Stone was fired as a consultant to New York State Senate Republicans in summer 2007 after accusations surfaced that he had left a threatening voice mail message for Mr. Spitzer’s father, Bernard.

Mr. Stone has denied making the call, a tirade laced with invective that threatened to force the elder Mr. Spitzer to explain under oath what the caller characterized as “shady campaign loans” Mr. Spitzer made to his son during the former governor’s unsuccessful 1994 bid for attorney general.

For his part, Mr. Stone denied in the interview that Ms. Davis’s run for office, which he called “a guerrilla campaign,” was in any way a vendetta against Mr. Spitzer.

Asked to describe his role, he said, “I guess I’m the campaign strategist.”

Ms. Davis served a three-month jail sentence on Rikers Island in 2008 after pleading guilty to promoting prostitution. Mr. Stone said she had been the victim of a great injustice — “screwed by the system,” as he put it. Her case, he said, and her bail had been handled differently from those of men who had been facing the same charges.

(Page 2 of 2)

Mr. Stone said that she would be able to secure the 50,000 signatures she needed to get on the Libertarian Party ballot line and that her views on legalizing prostitution, marijuana and same-sex marriage left her well positioned to raise money.

“It’s not about Eliot Spitzer at this point; it’s about moving beyond that,” he said in the interview. “She makes a compelling case as to why legalizing prostitution would both protect the public safety and promote the public health, and pay part of the public deficit. And the same thing with marijuana, which is now on the ballot in California, so not so far-fetched. And the fact that the Senate Democrats have not passed gay marriage, she and I both believe, is a disgrace.”

For her part, Ms. Davis said in an interview that she agreed with her strategist — that the focus on Mr. Spitzer did not stem from any vendetta. But she said she thought her jail term, and the fact that Mr. Spitzer faced no criminal charges, underscored a fundamental unfairness in the system.

“I’m not a particularly bitter person,” she said. “I committed a crime, I took responsibility for that crime and I served time for it. And I hope to be viewed as someone who took responsibility for their actions.”

But, she added, “I do believe that any public official, especially someone who is a chief executive of a state, should not be allowed to betray the public trust.”

In addition to the jail term Ms. Davis received in the unrelated case, she noted that one of the Emperor’s Club defendants is still sitting in federal prison for his crimes, while Mr. Spitzer is considering a political comeback.

“I think that does set a bad precedent,” she said, noting the number of state political figures, like Gov. David A. Paterson and a former State Senate majority leader, Joseph L. Bruno, who have been convicted of crimes or are under investigation.

“There are different standards for the political class and the average person,” she said. “We mention Spitzer a lot and that refreshes people on what’s going on in the political world.”

Jack Begg contributed research.

Next, the report by Brian Abrams at Asylum NY takes a dismissive tone in covering the recent Davis fundraiser that was announced before the fact here on IPR. As Abrams tells it…

http://www.asylum.com/2010/04/16/penthouse-pets-raise-money-for-kristin-davis-campaign-voters-sh/

https://www.local10.com/news/politics/who-is-president-trumps-informal-adviser-roger-stone

no link

Who is President Trump's informal adviser, Roger Stone?

By Bob Norman - Investigative Reporter

Posted: 4:48 PM, March 20, 2017

Updated: 6:03 PM, March 20, 2017

PEMBROKE PARK, Fla. - Long before accused political dirty trickster Roger Stone became a key player in the election hacking investigation involving Russia, the longtime aide and lobbyist for President Donald Trump was involved in another major political scandal: Watergate.

Stone, who has an image of President Richard Nixon tattooed on his back, was a member of the former president's notorious CREEP committee, where he was schooled in what he has called the "political dark arts." Using the pseudonym Jason Ranier, Stone oversaw a private investigator who was paid to spy on Democratic candidates during the 1972 election.

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"I did a lot of things in 1972 that were not illegal, but were bare-knuckle politics," Stone told Local 10 News in 2012.

As a so-called GOP hit-man, Stone worked for other presidents, including Ronald Reagan and George Bush, but was axed from Bob Dole's presidential campaign after the National Enquirer caught him in a swingers' sex scandal.

For years, Stone was a lobbying partner with former Trump campaign chief Paul Manafort and served as a lobbyist and advisor to Trump for decades after the pair wereintroduced by notorious attorney Roy Cohn, who served as a right-hand man to red-baiting Sen. Joe McCarthy.

Stone lived part-time in Miami Beach for a long time, but first gained local notoriety due to his relationship with one of South Florida's most notorious criminals: convicted Ponzi schemer Scott Rothstein.

Stone served as Rothstein's political director before the now-imprisoned ex-attorney's billion-dollar Ponzi scheme crumbled. Stone was sued for $400,000 in a clawback action in Rothstein's bankruptcy case, which he settled for a nominal amount, and was never accused of any involvement in Rothstein's crimes.

Stone moved from Miami Beach to Fort Lauderdale after striking up a friendship with Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel, whom he helped elect, as well as Israel's campaign strategist, Ron Gunzburger, whom Israel hired after his election as BSO general counsel.

Prior to Israel's 2012 election, a Stone assistant named Andrew Miller gave a mysterious $120,000 contribution to an Israel political committee. After the election, Israel, a Democrat, hired three of Stone's associates – including assistantDianne Thorne, co-author Mike Colapietro, and Miller's girlfriend, Jennifer Hobbs – on the public payroll at the sheriff’s office after his 2012 election. Thorne left BSO after questions about her truthfulness regarding her educational background were reported and Hobbs has also left her BSO post.

"Whether or not someone is an associate of Roger Stone, I wouldn't necessarily know," Israel said in 2013.

While Stone carefully projects a sophisticated persona, Local 10 News captured another side of him when investigative reporter Bob Norman questioned him in 2014 about a $1.5 million federal tax lien filed that had been filed against him.

Stone lashed out at Norman and his photographer, pushing the camera and flashing his middle finger as he drove away.

In 2008, the infamous political "dirty trickster" Roger Stone made a big impact on the Broward County sheriff's race with a series of attack ads aimed at Democratic candidate Scott Israel.

That was back when Stone -- who gained political infamy as a "dirty trickster" for Richard Nixon -- was working as the political director for Ponzi schemer Scott Rothstein, who backed Republican candidate Al Lamberti, who of course went on to win the race.

Well now Stone is back in a big -- and, yes, dirty -- way in this sheriff's race, and it appears this time he's working in the interest of Scott Israel.

The latest robocall attack on Israel's Democratic primary opponent, Louie Granteed, came last night in the form of an "endorsement" for Granteed from an entity that calls itself Tea Party Miami. Here's the exact words of the woman who voices the call:

"I'm calling for Tea Party Miami, one of the largest and most active tea party organizations in South Florida. We recommend conservative law and order Democrat Louie Granteed for Broward County sheriff. Louie Granteed is a tough no-nonsense cop who won't kowtow to minorities, civil liberties groups, or good-government types. Louie Granteed will crack down on illegal immigrants in Broward County. Please remember that Tea Party Miami recommends Louie Granteed for Broward County sheriff. Paid for by Tea Party Miami C-4 organization."

What's the real message of that ad aimed at Broward Democrats? That Granteed is a conservative, racist, anti-immigrant thug.

So is that Granteed's message? Of course not. Granteed told me he has never had any involvement with any Tea Party group and had no idea who the Tea Party Miami was. His stance on immigration is actually well-measured; in fact Granteed says the issue is a federal one and opposes local law enforcement agencies taking illegal immigrants into custody unless they have committed a crime with a complaining victim.

The Miami Tea Party, for the record, is ... Roger Stone. He and his associates created the group last year; serving as the original chairwoman of the group was Dianne Thorne, Stone's administrative assistant. Now it's someone called Eric Wolfgang Von Tausch, but Stone and his wife are "paid members" of the group.

The group has mirrored Stone's interests all along. For instance, after the Scott Rothstein bankruptcy sued Stone for $400,000 in a clawback action, Tea Party Miami began bashing Rothstein bankruptcy trustee Herbert Stettin, as "Florida's most corrupt judge."

Stone claims his involvement in the smear amounts to introducing political consultant Todd Wilder to Von Tausch. Sure, Roger.

Tea Party Miami on Saturday sent this email blast endorsing Granteed. Here's the text:

Hollywood Police Officer Louie Granteed is one tough cop. That's why Tea Party Miami, the largest and most active Tea Party organization in Miami-Dade County and our affiliate the South Florida Tea Party both recommend Louie Granteed, in the Broward County Democratic Primary for Sheriff August 14th.

Louie Granteed is a real law and order conservative. Granteed is a former Republican who will be tough on crime and crack down on illegal immigrants in Broward county. Granteed is clearly a better choice than Democrat Scott J. Israel, a strong supporter of President Obama and an opponent of racial profiling by the BSO.

Granteed could be depended on not to kow-tow to minorities, civil liberties groups and good government types. Granteed didn't pander by seeking the support of the left-wing Broward based Gwen Cherry Chapter of the Women's Political Caucus. The choice between Granteed and Republican Sheriff Al Lamberti will be a difficult one. We applaud Lamberti for inviting Rep. Allen West to address the BSO 9/11 Memorial.

We recommend Tea Party members who are registered Democrats vote for Granteed.

For Republicans in Broward, Tea Party Miami also recommends former Florida House Majority Leader Adam Hasner for Congress in the 22nd district and Karen Harrington for Congress in the 23rd district and Mike Lameyer for State Senate District 34.

Here we go again. Notice that the criticism of Israel is that he's a "strong supporter of President Obama," something the vast majority of Democratic voters in Tuesday's primary share in common. The other is that Israel is against racial-profiling, aka he's not a racist. You can almost hear Stone chuckling in the background when he sends out this stuff.

Interestingly, the email also mentions that it will be difficult for Tea Party Miami to choose between Granteed and Lamberti, a Republican, in the general election, mentioning that Lamberti invited right-wing Congressman Allen West to a 911 event. Judging by this and other tea leaves, it appears that Stone is ultimately gunning for Lamberti, the man he helped elect last time with Rothstein's money. So maybe the sheriff will get the next Miami Tea Party endorsement. We'll see.

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