NY Gov. Spitzer under pressure to quit over sex case

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"The stupendously deluded belief that the sitting Governor of New York could purchase the services of prostitutes was merely the last act of a man unable to admit either the existence of, or need for, limits," the Journal wrote in an editorial about what it said was almost a Shakespearean fall.

"Governor Spitzer, who made his career by specializing in not just the prosecution, but the ruin, of other men, is himself almost certainly ruined," the paper said.

IF, OR WHEN, HE'LL QUIT

The state capital, Albany, was rife with speculation about if, or more likely when, Spitzer would resign and whether he would be charged with any crime. Prosecutors rarely bring charges against clients of prostitutes in such cases.

In an online poll on The Daily News web site, 83 percent of respondents said Spitzer should resign.

At the heart of the scandal is a criminal complaint unveiled last week charging four people with running a multi-million dollar prostitution ring dubbed "The Emperors Club."

The New York Times said Spitzer was an individual identified as Client 9 in the court papers filed last week. Client 9 arranged to meet with "Kristen," a prostitute who charged $1,000 an hour, on February 13 in a Washington hotel and paid $4,300 for services rendered and as a down payment for future engagements, according to the court documents.

Among the charges brought against the four defendants last week was transporting women across state lines for prostitution purposes. It was not clear if a similar charge might be brought against Spitzer if it were proven he arranged for "Kristen" to travel from New York to Washington to have sex with him.

ABC News reported on its Web site that the probe of the prostitution ring was triggered when a bank told the Internal Revenue Service about suspicious money transfers by Spitzer.

ABC quoted an unidentified Justice Department official as saying Spitzer could be prosecuted under an obscure financial statute, in what would be an irony for a man who used wiretaps to nail major names in finance.

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