Public Interest Serves Spitzer

- I think the key phrase in the statement by US Attorney Martin Garcia announcing that no charges will be pressed against former Governor Eliot Spitzer is this: "We have concluded that the public interest would not be further advanced by filing criminal charges in this matter." [AP]

It was determined that Spitzer did not utilize public or campaign funds for his nasty little habit. And Garcia referred to Justice Department policy, which states that prosecutions "should generally be limited to persons engaged in commercial prostitution activities." [NY Times] If that were not the case, Spitzer could have been charged under the Mann Act.

Some might argue that he had to have incurred at least some kind of indirect expenses to the state. For example, while he might have paid for his infamous Feb 13 tryst out of his own pocket, there's certainly some question as to what he was doing in Washington DC in the first place.

Even so, he's hardly the only New York politician to make unnecessary trips to the nation's capital. And besides, that's minor in my opinion compared to his betrayal of those who supported and believed in him and his stated mission. For us racing fans, the betrayal started long before the scandal broke. Spitzer never took the franchise matter seriously, wearing his ignorance of the issues and his lack of interest on his sleeve. On the day of his infamous rendezvous in DC, we saw where racing stood on his list of priorities.

For the former governor, a few minutes of bliss turned into one of the great gotchas of all time, and I see no public interest whatsoever in adding to the humiliation, mostly with respect to his loyal wife and three teenage daughters.

- Got a note from a reader who did some research revealing that NYRA contributed $10,000 to the Senate Republicans on the same day they did the same for the Democrats; thus hedging their bet. NYRA's PAC also gave $15,000 to Assembly Democrats. Guess you can say they hit the 'all' button.