I'm told it's because impeachment can take months, so they'd like to resolve this . . . well, not amicably, but peacably, if they can. Still, if he's convicted of a felony, he will be impeached, and meanwhile, as soon as he goes to jail the Lieutenant Governor can step in with almost-as-good-as-permanent temporary powers. I don't see him having a lot of leverage.
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They haven't arrested him because he hasn't been charged with any crime.
Nor is it clear that other than a solicitation misdemeanor, he has committed any crime.
But I think those are just details.
It's pretty much a textbook Mann act violation, if nothing else.
It's pretty much a textbook Mann act violation, if nothing else.
Agreed, but it will require a textbook indictment by a grand jury before an arrest is a wise move. It's possible they're working on it now, and it's also possible that they've already decided that they can't get past the "celebrity reasonable doubt" hurdle, which is of course higher than the normal standard.
Is there an Intrade vehicle as to whether he even gets charged with a 'Mann Act' violation??
I'd short it..
You are forgetting that there are many "transactions" that Spitzer engaged in--not just the single "client-9" event in the federal complaint. The feds are looking not only at the Mann Act--a makeweight, to be sure, though real--but a variety of financial felonies having to do with moving money across states to support criminal activities (prostitution is expressly mentioned in the statute) to disguising payments (known as "structuring"). There isn't much question that the feds can pretty much nail his ass to the floor if they want. The real question is what they will require to go away.
JohnF - Your right. And that fact is a bit scary. Its not bad enough that we have normal state laws against what is mostly (at least in direct terms) a vicimless crime, now we have to have all sorts of federal crimes, from one's as vague as the Mann Act ("immoral purposes") to all the laws about the money...
I'm far from a fan of Spitzer, but this is just ridiculous. I'm not saying he should have a special pass, those who pass, sign, enforce, etc. laws should also be subject to them, but we've gone overboard with some of these laws.