LEE REPORTS - DOING IT IN ALBANY

By Lee Degenstein

Stop, I cannot take it anymore! Too much information! Let’s move on! A little governing wouldn’t hurt! Can you guys get control of your hormones?

These are just some of the thoughts that have passed through my mind since the so called Albany sex scandal started dominating the news a few weeks ago. Last weekend the first seven pages of both the NY Daily News and NY Post were chock full of Albany Sex stories. Regular Lee Reports readers know that I hardly ever go back to a subject once I have covered it. I will make an exception in this instance, mainly because it’s just too good to pass up. When you have free material like this you use it! That’s one of the nice things about having your own Blog.

Why do we think our politicians are supposed to be different, a cut above the ordinary human being and should lead a life above and beyond reproach, especially when comes to extra marital sex? I guess it has something to do with the way we were brought up. Many of us actually took our marital vows seriously. You are not supposed to stray, we were taught.

I was curious about what percentage of married people actually have had extra marital affairs. Unfortunately, when I went to the internet to do a search I got very few statistics. However I did get a huge list of internet sites like married affairs.com, discreet adventures.com, cheating wives date link.com etc. You can look up the rest yourself, do your own work! I also found a site called alibi network.com. This is a site that claims they are “A full service agency providing alibis and excused absences, as well as assistance with excused absences with a variety of sensitive issues.” Someone has thought of everything. Before you race over to site I think you have to pay for the service.

Some estimates indicate that 50 % of married women and as much as 70% of married men have had affairs. More reliable and believable data comes from the University of Chicago's National Opinion Research Center. About 15% of women and 22% of men surveyed in 2002 said they'd ever had an affair with someone besides their spouse. Personally, I think those numbers are low, don’t you? Perhaps the word “affair” wasn’t explained carefully enough.

Wouldn’t it be great if there were figures like this for our elected officials? We could institute a new type of scoring system. Each candidate could be ranked by how many affairs they have had and how many times they got caught. I am not so sure I would want to vote for a person that had a high “got caught” score. How smart could he be? Would you vote for a candidate that would be this careless? We actually might get a better class of politician in we instituted the “FSDS” or Full Sexual Disclosure Score system . Like the saying goes, who can trust an honest politician? Full sexual disclosure, now that’s what we need today in Government.

For a person who is legally blind, we are learning that Governor David Patterson over the years has felt his way around more than the Senate Chamber. Excuse me for a second we have a question from the Press. “Governor, are you really legally blind, or is that a cane in your pocket?” No Comment!

It turns out that Governor Patterson could give former Governor Eliot Spitzer a bang for his buck (sorry) when it comes to fooling around. More importantly, Patterson didn’t even have to pay for it! I will give him credit for admitting his extra marital activities and coming clean, (sorry again). We have also just learned that Patterson has admitted to using Marijuana and Cocaine in his seeded, sultry past. I guess unlike former President Clinton, Governor Patterson inhaled. But so what?

Our former Mayor, Rudolph Giuliani, appears to have had affairs with everyone woman he was married to. Taking a page from the J. Edgar Hoover playbook, our former Mayor also likes to crossdress at dinner parties like the annual Alfred Smith press dinner. While a bit unsightly, does it lessen his ability to be a good Mayor? Under the category of, “Too Much Information,” the press has learned from informed sources,(are there uninformed sources?), that Spitzer liked to have sex with black socks on, (yes his feet). I wonder if those socks had the New York State crest on the ankles. Forget about the visual!

I wonder what NY State Senate Majority Joe Bruno does on some of his frequent trips out of town? You are probably familiar with the phrase, “politics makes strange bedfellows.” What does Assembly Speaker Shelly Silver do when he is far from home? I bet he and Joe Bruno can really party it up when they put their minds together. I think I have uncovered the reason that the New York State budget is late every year!

What if politicians asked the members of the press what they do in their spare time or when they travel? I get a kick out of these reporters and their holier than thou attitudes. I was a radio News director and anchorman for more than three years. Most of the members of the press I knew are very thankful that they are the ones that are asking the questions. Remember, people who live in glass houses shouldn’t get stoned, I mean throw stones!

When it comes right down to it, many, if not most of us have at one time or another operated a motor vehicle after having had too much to drink, many of us have smoked pot, many of us have cheated on a spouse, or in the words of former President Jimmy Carter, “lusted in our heart.” Should we expect that the human beings we elect to public office will be any different? Upon leaving office President Herbert Hoover said people get the politicians and officials they deserve. Do we deserve better? Are we any better? These are things to ponder.

Speaking of pondering, since becoming single again, perhaps I should be pondering a run for State office in my quest to find the winner of the future Mrs. Degenstein contest. It appears that Albany has become the Plato’s Retreat of the North. There apparently is more action up there than in most Second Avenue singles bars. Looks like I might get better results in our State’s capital than on match.com or Jdate!

Lee Degenstein has covered the financial markets for print and broadcast media for more than 15 years. Mr. Degenstein was also the news director and morning anchor at two major radio stations in New Jersey. He has been a reporter/contributor to United Press International, The Associated Press, The Mutual Broadcasting System and New York 1 News. A winner of the Associated Press award for 'best business story' he lives and works in New York City. Mr. Degenstein can be reached by email at: lee723@verizon.net© Copyright 2008Lee Degenstein.All rights reservedwww.leereports.blogspot.com

SPITZER'S MISTAKES

By Lee Degenstein

If I ever needed an incentive to start writing again, I guess I owe it to our almost former Governor Eliot Spitzer. Thanks Gov, or should I say number nine. This is being written before we know if Spitzer will step down as Governor of The State of New York, however most people think he will. In fact it looks like has to.

Recently, we learned of former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani’s affair, which he survived. Not to be outdone the Mayors of Miami, Los Angeles and San Francisco all recently admitted to extra marital affairs, but they too survived. Even former President Bill Clinton, America’s all time Olympic champion of infidelity survived, and he got more action in both the Governor’s mansion and the Whitehouse than most of us could ever hope to get in a lifetime!. So what did Eliot Spitzer do that was so wrong?

The answer is threefold. He paid for sex, he got caught, and oh yea and he was really stupid. Is there really such a difference between mounting a woman in the office and hiring a hooker? One is legal and the other is not. Interestingly enough I’ll bet that if this happened in Europe it would have appeared on page 25 of the local paper.

My first bit of advice to Governor Spitzer is that he should immediately call Bill Clinton for counseling, after all we didn’t used to call him Slick Willy for nothing, and it’s too late to call Reverends Graham and Jackson. Secondly, it has been reported that Spitzer has a credit balance at the Emperor’s Club which is the escort service that he allegedly used. Eliot, you may want to have the Emperor send you a check forthwith, because it doesn’t look like you’ll need their services for a long time.

We have learned that Spitzer was identified as being client number 9. It would appear that Spitzer was among the first customers of this escort service. I am sure there is a number ten, eleven, and twelve and so on. It seems that Eliot went to the well several times. I would give a lot of money to find out who number eight and number 10 are. Admit it you would too! Wouldn’t it be great to learn that NY State Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno was number eight and Hillary Clinton was number ten? It couldn’t get any better than that.
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One of the laws that was broken is something called the Mann act. This act prohibits the transportation of a hooker across state lines for the purpose of prostitution. (Now why else would you transport a prostitute across state lines?) As a former prosecutor, Spitzer had to be aware of this. In addition to this violation, he also appears to be guilty of what is called structuring, which is a very complex law having to do with the transference of money. Spitzer had to be aware of this too. Do the phrase Death Wish ring a bell?

While we are on the subject, Spitzer’s conduct is a slap in the face to every hardworking hooker in New York State. What’s wrong with our girls Governor? Not good enough for you? All he had to do was to look in the back of New York Magazine or for that matter the Village Voice and he could have had a gaggle of girls all costing less than $1,100 an hour! But no, he had to go out of state which I find somewhat disloyal, especially for a Governor. By the way, what so you get for $1,100 an hour or don’t I want to know. Just the image of Eliot in a leather mask is too much for me to handle.

So what’s the deal with this guy? Did he want to get caught? He sure did everything possible to make sure it would happen. Of course what makes this all the worse, is that Spitzer won the race for Governor with a mandate of 70%. He was going to be Mr. law and order, and clean up Albany which needs some major cleaning. He was seen as a bully by those he prosecuted. When the news about the Governor reached the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange, trading actually stopped for a moment and loud cheers went up from the crowd. He has no friends on Wall Street either. Spitzer even offended members of his own party during his first days in office, which is why you don’t see too many people coming to his defense.

I never held elective office. Yes, I was the Secretary of the Student Council in Prep School but I ran unopposed. So what is it about being elected to office and having some power, that causes those we elect to start thinking with the brain that is below their waistline? There must be some correlation but I still don’t get it. Do they think they won’t ever get caught? They almost always do and it is usually because of some misstep or stupid move. Bill Clinton is an expert when it comes to getting caught and he is presumably one of the smartest Presidents we have ever had.

So as of this writing it looks like Lieutenant Governor David Patterson may become the first Black Governor of New York State. He is well respected by his colleagues in the State Senate and has a good reputation. He will go far in repairing the fences that Spitzer has “steamrolled” through.

The press is making a big deal of the fact that Patterson is legally blind. FDR was physically challenged and he was one of the best Presidents we ever had. Perhaps it will take a blind man to see his way through the political minefield known as Albany. I say good luck Mr. Patterson and so long Eliot you got what you apparently wanted and deserve. We deserve better!

Lee Degenstein has covered the financial markets for print and broadcast media for more than 15 years. Mr. Degenstein was also the news director and morning anchor at two major radio stations in New Jersey. He has been a reporter/contributor to United Press International, The Associated Press, The Mutual Broadcasting System and New York 1 News. A winner of the Associated Press award for 'best business story' he lives and works in New York City. Mr. Degenstein can be reached by email at: lee723@verizon.net© Copyright 2008Lee Degenstein.All rights reservedwww.leereports.blogspot.com