GOP lawmakers threaten to impeach Spitzer

[Ladywriter 7,783]

N.Y. governor faces resignation calls; cops say cash payments led to probe

MSNBC staff and news service reports

updated 15 minutes ago

NEW YORK - As Gov. Eliot Spitzer faced mounting calls to resign, Republican legislators indicated they will seek to impeach him if he doesn't quit within 48 hours, a spokesman for a leading New York assemblyman said Tuesday.

"The governor has 48 hours to resign or articles of impeachment would be introduced," Josh Fitzpatrick, spokesman for Assembly Republican Minority Leader James Tedisco, told Reuters.

Online editions of the New York Times and Wall Street Journal reported that Spitzer's top aides expected the governor to resign, although the timing remained uncertain.

Aides close to Spitzer, 48, expect Lt. Gov. David Paterson, 53, a Harlem Democrat, will succeed him as governor before the week's end to fill out the remaining 33 months of his term.

The governor first came under suspicion because of cash payments from several bank accounts to an account operated by a call-girl ring, according to a law enforcement official.

Spitzer was the initial target of the investigation and was tracked using court-ordered wiretaps that appear to have recorded him arranging for a prostitute to meet him at a Washington hotel in mid-February, the official said.

The official spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the investigation.

The scandal surrounding the man who built his political reputation on rooting out corruption stunned the state. Calls for Spitzer's resignation began immediately and intensified Tuesday with the New York Daily News, New York Post and Newsday all demanding that he step down.

"Hit the road, John ... and make it quick!" read the headline of the Daily News editorial, while the Post called him "NY's naked emperor."

Spitzer retreated from public view Monday afternoon, when he appeared glassy-eyed with his shellshocked wife, Silda, at his side and apologized to his family and the public. He did not directly acknowledge any involvement with the prostitute.

"I have acted in a way that violates my obligations to my family and violates my — or any — sense of right and wrong," he said. "I apologize to the public, whom I promised better."

An aide reportedly told the New York Times that Spitzer was weighing a possible resignation.

it just goes on and on

keh you gotta be kidding me the state budget is due in like 2 weeks wtf

[DeathscytheX 9,732]

They said he is trying to wait it out until he gets a deal where he doesn't get jail time. must be nice to be above the law.