Looks like Sam Hoyt has been given a virtual pass from his buddies in the Assembly:

Assemblyman Sam Hoyt escaped the most serious punishment by his Assembly colleagues for his extramarital affair with an intern, but college interns have been banned from his Albany and Buffalo offices.

The ban, announced Friday by Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, followed a finding by the Assembly Ethics and Guidance Committee that the Buffalo Democrat had engaged in an “inappropriate personal relationship” with the woman, who was an intern when the affair began.

But stronger penalties — a formal censure or loss of his committee chairmanship — was not taken because she no longer was an intern in 2004 when the Assembly banned fraternization between lawmakers and interns.

Well, another Democrats gets away. Big shock.

Gerry Studds would be so proud.

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Nancy Pelosi may be publicly supporting Charlie Rangel by saying she won’t ask him to step aside, but the New York Post says sources tell them that privately, Pelosi is urging Rangel to step aside.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi yesterday privately pushed Rep. Charlie Rangel to give up his chairmanship of the influential House tax-rules committee amid explosive revelations that his personal tax filings were riddled with errors and omissions, a wellplaced source said.

[...]

One member of the New York congressional delegation who supported Pelosi’s decision said, “You have to have one standard - you can’t have one for [Republicans] and one for us.”

Rangel himself remained mum on his sitdown with Pelosi after exiting a later, separate meeting with fellow Democratic committee members.

“I am unable to say anything,” he said before bizarrely rattling off his name, rank and serial number from his Korean War days. “Do to me what you want, I’m not talking.”

The 76-year-old politician smiled when asked if he was still chairman of the powerful tax panel.

Pelosi later denied through spokesperson Nadeam Elshami that she has asked Rangel to step aside.

 If Pelosi doesn’t ask Rangel to step aside as chairman, then John McCain stands to benefit significantly, as he supports the fact that unlike his fellow Democrats, he’s willing to target corruption within his own party. As the Democrats’ presidential nominee, Barack Obama should have called for Rangel to step aside when the allegations first surfaced. But, he didn’t, thus missing his chance to match his rhetoric with actions. But then again, when your campaign is based on slogans over substance, what else were we to expect?

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Isn’t it great that Nancy Pelosi, who promised to lead the most open, honest and ethical Congress in history, won’t strip Charlie Rangel of his chairmanship?

Even when Rep. Charles Rangel tries to explain how he got into his tax mess, he mangles the facts so much it’s easy to see how his accounts - and accountants - are muddled. And this from the lawmaker who has such a big say in determining who pays taxes and how much.

The chairman of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee spent the past week reeling from a series of embarrassing revelations: He failed to report about $75,000 in rental income over two decades from a beach villa he owns in the Dominican Republic; he owes about $5,000 in back taxes to the government; he never knew he paid no interest on the villa’s mortgage for more than a decade.

Rangel’s actions are not just innocent omissions or minor blunders. There is no excuse. He needs to either step down or be stripped of his chairmanship.

Rangel’s basic defense is that he paid little or no attention to a building he bought, the mortgage he got to buy it or the rent it earned to pay the mortgage. Or the taxes due on someone else paying his mortgage. He claims to have no idea what the house is even worth.

Davis says that will change now that he has hired a second lawyer to monitor “all his tax and financial statements going forward and be sure they are meticulously correct.”

Republicans say Rangel had to have known exactly what he was doing.

“It is a sick irony that the top legislator on tax policy in the House is circumventing the very tax laws that he himself has authored,” said Ken Spain, spokesman for the GOP’s House campaign committee.

The fact that he is being protected by his party should bother all voters, regardless of whether they’re a Republican or Democrat. We’re supposed to expect more of our political leaders and hold them to a higher standard. Charlie Rangel has violated the trust of his constituents and the American people. 

UPDATE: Even the New York Times is calling on Rangel to step aside.

Mounting embarrassment for taxpayers and Congress makes it imperative that Representative Charles Rangel step aside as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee while his ethical problems are investigated.

[...]

Mr. Rangel has hurt his case with clumsy, combative pleas of ignorance of the facts and law involving his Dominican villa. “We do make errors, even though we consider ourselves experts in terms of tax policy for the nation,” said the lawmaker, who has three decades’ experience on Ways and Means.

His excuse of “cultural and language barriers” with Dominican officials was, simply, offensive. “Every time I thought I was getting somewhere, they’d start speaking Spanish,” complained Mr. Rangel.

Excuses. Excuses. Excuses. For once, I agree with the New York Times. Mr. Rangel, step aside.

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Reuters reports that California’s attorney general is considering a request to investigate Senator Charles Schumer over the IndyMac bank collapse.

California’s attorney general is reviewing a request by former employees of IndyMac Bancorp Inc (IDMC.PK) to investigate whether a New York senator triggered the bank’s collapse by releasing confidential information.

At issue is a much-publicized letter that Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, sent in June to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (FDIC) and Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) questioning the company’s ability to survive.

The FDIC took control of IndyMac on July 11 after depositors withdrew more than $1.3 billion over 11 days. It was the third-largest bank failure in U.S. history. At the time, OTS Director John Reich blamed Schumer’s letter for causing the run on the bank.

In a letter to Attorney General Jerry Brown last week, 51 former IndyMac workers wrote: “From the day (Schumer’s) letter was made public on June 26 until the closure of the bank, a run on the bank took place and the failure became inevitable.”

It’s hard to get too excited about things like this. Senator Schumer’s entire political career has been under a dark ethical cloud (which have been documented in my book) but he’s always managed to avoid being held accountable. 

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Today, Henry Wojtaszek, the Niagara County Republican Committee Chairman called on Jon Powers to return contributions from Congressman Charlie Rangel, who was recently revealed to have received sweetheart rent deals and accused of violating campaign finance laws.  Rangel has donated $9,000 to Powers, and they are to appear a fundraiser together in August.

 ”Powers isn’t leading by example; he’s following the model of a typical politician.  His ties to career politicians like Rangel, his illegal use of campaign funds, and his questionable acceptance of contributions from outside our district are indicative of the corruption and dishonesty of D.C. insiders,” said Niagara County Republican Committee Chairman, Henry Wojtaszek. “The voters of Western New York deserve a candidate who will bring real leadership and real change, not more of the same Washington politics.  It’s time for Jon Powers to come clean, and give Western New Yorkers an answer about his fundraiser and contributions.”

Wojtaszek was also critical of Power’s fundraising and spending:

In addition to Powers’ questionable ties to Rangel, Powers recent fundraising report shows that nearly half of his reported contributions came from outside New York State. Powers filing shows large contributions from San Francisco, Massachusetts, New York City, Washington, D.C., and Virginia. Additionally, Powers spent more than $15,000 on travel to places other than Western New York.

Wojtaszek said, “Powers has claimed to have a lot of ‘grassroots’ support from the district, but his contribution filings show otherwise. It’s another example of Powers’ hypocrisy by example. It’s been a week of silence since Powers was asked about his contributions from Rangel and his fundraiser with Rangel. It’s time for an answer and for Powers to give back the money and cancel his fundraiser.”

I’m not holding my breath on that one. While Jon Powers has said constantly that he would lead by example he never said that it would be a good example.

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The New York Times will report tomorrow that Governor David Paterson secretly “directed all state agencies to begin to revise their policies and regulations to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other jurisdictions, like Massachusetts, California and Canada,” circumventing the voters and the legislature.

In a directive issued on May 14, the governor’s legal counsel, David Nocenti, instructed the agencies that gay couples married elsewhere “should be afforded the same recognition as any other legally performed union.”

The revisions are most likely to involve as many as 1,300 statutes and regulations in New York governing everything from joint filing of income tax returns to transferring fishing licenses between spouses.

In a videotaped message given to gay community leaders at a dinner on May 17, Mr. Paterson described the move as “a strong step toward marriage equality.” And people on both sides of the issue said it moved the state closer to fully legalizing same-sex unions in this state.

“Very shortly, there will be hundreds and hundreds and hundreds, and probably thousands and thousands and thousands of gay people who have their marriages recognized by the state,” said Assemblyman Daniel O’Donnell, a Democrat who represents the Upper West Side and has pushed for legalization of gay unions.

Rep. Tom Reynolds made the following statement in response to Paterson’s secret directive:

“This is a terrible decision, directed in a secretive and abusive manner, designed to circumvent any sort of public hearing or comment from the New York people. The Governor should full well know the rightful role and prerogative the legislature has in the rule of law in this matter. Therefore, I am calling on the Governor to suspend this ill-advised executive directive. I intend to call the Catholic Conference, the New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms, legislative leaders and other interested parties to assist in looking at the options available in helping cease and desist the Governor’s directive.

Frankly, this is yet another example of a New York Governor abusing his power to disregard the legislature, the rule of law and most importantly the people of New York. Whether it is trying to issue drivers’ licenses to illegal immigrants or attempting to recognize gay marriages this pattern of circumventing the legislature and the will of the New York people is not only troubling but should not be recognized by the legislative or judicial branch or the public as a whole.”

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Plea Expected in Prostitution Ring Used by Spitzer

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Jon Powers, one of the Democrats running for Tom Reynolds congressional seat, violated election laws charging his own campaign “thousands of dollars for renting part of his residence.”.

Campaign documents filed with the Federal Election Commission show his campaign paid $500 rent in January to Powers for space in his Williamsville home. According to a 2000 advisory opinion from the agency, it is a violation of FEC rules for a campaign to pay rent for space in a candidate’s home.

Now that his illegal actions have been caught, Powers will reimburse the campaign.

Isn’t that nice?

According to Powers’ campaign website, part of his “plan for the future” is to “clean up Washington.” Perhaps he should clean up his own act before he starts lecturing about cleaning up Washington.

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The latest chapter in troopergate scandal has the investigators being investigated.

A little-known but powerful state agency with broad powers to ferret out wrongdoing in government said today it has begun an investigation into how at least three different state and local agencies handled their probes of the Spitzer administration’s attempt to smear a political rival with the help of the State Police.

Albany County District Attorney David Soares, for instance, cleared Eliot Spitzer of wrongdoing in his original probe of Troopergate last year, but in a new report last week concluded that Spitzer was heavily involved in the effort against Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno.

In addition, various questions have been raised about the closeness of the two state agencies — Public Integrity and the Inspector General — because Spitzer appointees control those agencies, neither of which has interviewed Spitzer about his role.

The state Commission of Investigation, created by Gov. Thomas Dewey in 1951 to look into political corruption cases, can use its subpoena powers to look into the how effectively the state ethics agency, the state inspector general and the Albany County district attorney handled the scandal known in Albany.

“Let me be clear. The commission is not investigating the events concerning troopergate; more than enough investigations of the issues surrounding those events have taken or are taking place,” SIC Chairman Alfred D. Lerner said in a written statement this morning.

“Rather, the commission is investigating the investigations. We are seeking to determine the efficacy of the various investigatory efforts, including those of the Albany County district attorney, the state inspector general and the state Commission on Public Integrity,” he said.

It will be interesting to see how this investigation pans out. Soares has already been accused of sitting on information that Spitzer had lied about his role in the Troopergate scandal… something tells me Soares is in real trouble.

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State Senate committee will continue to investigate Spitzer’s role in smear

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Spitzer Linked To Second Prostitution Ring

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And we thought the state would be going in a different direction when Spitzer resigned?

Gov. David Paterson on Monday defended using taxpayers’ money to stay at downtown Albany hotels while serving as lieutenant governor, even though he owns a home 20 minutes from the Capitol.

Paterson’s use of state and campaign funds for hotels have come under increased scrutiny after he admitted last week to having extra-marital affairs with several women. On Friday, he paid back his campaign for two hotel stays in Manhattan after he couldn’t explain why he rented the rooms.

State records show Paterson spent more than $2,000 using a state-issued credit card on a dozen Albany hotel rooms since he became lieutenant governor in 2007, despite owning a home in nearby Guilderland since late 2001 and having access to a state chauffer

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Looks like the state of New York can never catch a break. With the slimy Spitzer just barely out of office we learn this about the newly inaugurated governor of the Empire State.

The thunderous applause was still ringing in his ears when the state’s new governor, David Paterson, told the Daily News that he and his wife had extramarital affairs.

In a stunning revelation, both Paterson, 53, and his wife, Michelle, 46, acknowledged in a joint interview they each had intimate relationships with others during a rocky period in their marriage several years ago.

In the course of several interviews in the past few days, Paterson said he maintained a relationship for two or three years with “a woman other than my wife,” beginning in 1999.

As part of that relationship, Paterson said, he and the other woman sometimes stayed at an upper West Side hotel — the Days Inn at Broadway and W. 94th St.

That’s not even the worst part of it:

Gov. Paterson denies using state or campaign money to pay for liaisons with another woman during a rocky patch in his marriage.

Records show that in September 2001, then-Sen. Paterson’s campaign spent $456.46 for two nights at what was then called the Quality Hotel at 215 W. 94th St.

One check was dated Sept. 10 — the day before the 9/11 attacks — and the other Sept. 24. Both are listed as “office” expenses.

In an earlier interview with the Daily News, Paterson mentioned that his campaign paid for a staffer to stay at the hotel around the time of 9/11.

He said he did not remember the exact dates, but he acknowledged putting up one staffer there the day of the attack and another the day before the Democratic primary, which was Sept. 25, 2001.

Who knows if there’s anything to those allegations or not, but regardless, this is hardly the kind of news New Yorkers want to hear after the Spitzer Scandal.

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New York Governor Eliot Spitzer will be giving a statement at 11:30 a.m. ET. I’m hearing that the resignation will take effect on Monday. There is a lot of speculation about a possible deal with prosecutors in return for his resignation…

The hypocrisy of this whole situation is astounding. The sex aspect is nothing in the big picture:

As attorney general, he once broke up a call-girl ring and locked up 18 people on corruption, money-laundering and prostitution charges. He ruthlessly investigated the pay packages of Wall Street executives and was so familiar with shady financial maneuvers that he rose to become the top racketeering prosecutor in Manhattan.

But in the end, it appears that Spitzer may have been done in by the same behavior he built a career out of prosecuting.

In fact, it seems he was tripped up by some of the very financial accounting methods he used so successfully against multibillion-dollar Wall Street firms.

For one thing, the governor initially drew the attention of federal investigators because of cash payments to an account operated by a call-girl ring, according to a law enforcement official who spoke on condition of because of the sensitivity of the case.

Banks are required to file Suspicious Activity Reports to the government whenever they observe something they fear may be a crime.

In court papers, Client 9—identified by another law enforcement official as Spitzer—hurried to get more than $4,000 in cash to pay a call girl at a Washington hotel.

That kind of activity, repeated over time, is just the kind of thing that would set off alarm bells with a bank’s compliance officer, who is trained to be on the lookout for what is called structuring or “smurfing”—a pattern of transactions aimed at hiding the nature or purpose of certain money.

There is a lot more to this story, particularly since, as Rep. Peter King has noted, the link between prostitution rings and organized crime:

At least a dozen New York members either didn’t return calls or gave variations on “no comment” or “we’re monitoring the situation” when Capitol Briefing asked for a reaction. One of the few exceptions so far was the always media-friendly Rep. Peter King (R), who passed along his thoughts right before sitting down for a CNBC interview on the subject.

“I was absolutely shellshocked,” King said of the Spitzer news. “I’ve never heard any rumors, any whispers, anything at all.”

King added that he believed Spitzer should resign, since “prostitution rings are invariably linked to organized crime” and the governor’s behavior “leaves himself and the state susceptible to blackmail.”

The question remains what is the ultimate fate of Spitzer? Will he avoid prosecution and jail time?

UPDATE 11:45 am.: Spitzer resigns with his wife at his side.

UPDATE: Robert Stacy McCain hits the nail on the head:

In many ways, Spitzer’s resignation statement was classy, and notably lacked the kind of “accuse the accusers” tactic that Bill Clinton taught us to expect from Democrats caught red-handed.

However, Spitzer’s repeated use of the phrase “my private failings” was a dishonest evasion. What would Spitzer, as a former prosecutor, say about an accused dope dealer who spoke of his crime as a “private failing”?

In patronizing prostitutes, Spitzer was engaged in a criminal act. Crime is an offense against the citizenry, which is why the prosecution of Spitzer for federal money laundering charges — if such a prosecution is indeed pursued — will be called “United States vs. Spitzer.” And no crime can be more public than a crime committed by a powerful public official, such as the governor of New York.

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And this guy’s platform was all about routing out corruption..

Gov. Eliot Spitzer has been 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.

He may resign this evening.

UPDATE: While I am commuting back home on the train I would like to add that considering the dark ethical cloud hanging over Spitzer’s office since he became governor — his office was the subject of multiple investigations — it is somewhat unfortunate that this alone is what people will remember about his downfall.

UPDATE: Video of Spitzer apologizing…

UPDATE: As the New York Times notes, this is a federal crime…

Federal prosecutors rarely charge clients in prostitution cases, which are generally seen as state crimes. But the Mann Act, passed by Congress in 1910 to address prostitution, human trafficking and what was viewed at the time as immorality in general, makes it a crime to transport someone between states for the purpose of prostitution. The four defendants charged in the case unsealed last week were all charged with that crime, along with several others.

UPDATE: Impeachment threat if he doesn’t resign…

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