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News York: New York Governor Eliot Spitzer resigned on Wednesday amid a scandal over a $1,000-an-hour prostitute, cutting short a career built on pugnacious investigations of Wall Street crimes.
Lieutenant Governor David Paterson will replace him on Monday, Spitzer said. "I am resigning from the office of governor. At Lt Gov Paterson's request, the resignation will be effective on Monday, March 17," Spitzer announced.
Spitzer, a Democrat, had faced intense pressure to resign and impeachment threats from Republicans since the New York Times reported on Monday that he was caught on a federal wiretap arranging to meet with a prostitute.
Spitzer, 48 and married with three children, is a former New York state chief prosecutor who rose to prominence by investigating financial crime with a vigour that earned him the nickname Sheriff of Wall Street.
He also broke up prostitution rings as attorney general.
Spitzer had apologised to his family and the public on Monday for what he called a "private matter", but gave no details of what he was apologising for and then shuttered himself in his New York City apartment for two days.
No support
About 70 per cent of New York voters wanted Spitzer to quit, according to a WNBC/Marist poll conducted on Tuesday.
Spitzer, who attracted wide publicity but also resentment on Wall Street with his pursuit of financial crimes while he was the state's attorney general, became governor with nearly 70 per cent of the vote in November 2006 on pledges to clean up state politics. The New York Times, citing unnamed law enforcement officials, reported on Monday that Spitzer was the man identified as "Client 9" in a federal affidavit revealing details from an investigation into a prostitution ring.
Client 9 arranged to meet with "Kristen", a prostitute who charged $1,000 (Dh3,674) an hour, on February 13 in a Washington hotel and paid her $4,300, the court document said.
Meanwhile, with the resignation of Eliot Spitzer over the prostitution scandal, New York gets its first black governor, and the United States its first blind governor, in the shape of David Paterson.
Paterson, 53, who served as Spitzer's deputy in the role of lieutenant governor of New York, is said to be an easy-going, liberal Democrat who gets along with his Republican rivals in the state assembly. Paterson will serve out the rest of the governor's term until the end of 2010 when Spitzer hands over to him on Monday.
"He's got a wonderful sense of humour, a very gentle man," the New York Times quoted the city's public advocate Betsy Gotbaum as saying. "In that sense, he's the opposite of Eliot."
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