Eliot Spitzer Gives Ethics Lecture

In what may seem like an amusing joke, a disgraced politician who resigned amid a headline-grabbing hooker scandal is speaking about government ethics at a prestigious Ivy League University this month.

Former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, who left public office in shame after being exposed as a regular client of a high-end prostitution ring, will lecture about ethics in government next week at Harvard University’s Foundation for Ethics. The once-popular Democrat, who served two terms as New York Attorney General, was his party’s rising star until the internationally covered scandal brought him down. 

Spitzer ultimately got caught because he essentially tried to launder the hefty cash payments to the “escort service” and suspicious bank officials contacted the Internal Revenue Service. The married father of three young girls paid thousands of dollars a pop for romps with much-younger prostitutes who also serviced other wealthy high-profile figures. Federal authorities say Spitzer blew at least $80,000 on hookers over a decade.

While this may sound like the sort of thing that can permanently end a politician’s career, Spitzer plans to make a comeback with a run for statewide office—New York Comptroller—next year. He is also considering running for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by former U.S. Representative Kirsten Gillibrand, who was appointed by Governor David Paterson to fill Hillary Clinton’s vacancy.

Earlier this year Spitzer landed a job teaching at a public college as an adjunct professor. The City College of New York, a four-year school with an enrollment of about 13,000, is paying the scandal-plagued politician $4,500 to teach a course called “Law and Public Policy.”