Jim Sleeper, who once wrote for this paper's NY affiliate, hears (skeptically) a defense of the leak that killed Spitzer even though his case would (will) probably never be prosecuted:
"A knowledgeable insider cautions me that Spitzer’s indiscretions would have become public, anyway, if the Justice Department prosecuted the Emperors Club, as it would likely and properly do, given the criminal networks whose coffers these escort services usually enhance. Emperors defense lawyers would surely 'out' Spitzer as a client then:
“ 'They’d howl if he got a pass. They’d say they were victims of selective prosecution. They’d lose on a pre-trial motion to dismiss on that basis, but only after Spitzer had been outed. And, under those circumstances the Fed would be made to look like they’d been corruptly trying to protect the governor.'
"That’s why, according to my source, 'In the three-dimensional chess game of criminal litigation, the government has to ‘out’ all the dirty laundry first and often, otherwise the defense wins, even if the defense’s subsequent outing of someone like Spitzer is purely tactical and irrelevant.'
“ 'I know there’s a view that in a ‘victimless’ crime like this, the government could have just told Spitzer to knock it off and be done with it. But that’s just impossible for the reasons above, and it really has nothing to do with political posturing.' ”
It's a terrific argument, except federal law enforcement agents are supposed to follow the rules, not make up their own.
The picture, above left? See after the jump.
A: It' a picture of carrots and leaks.