Photos of Elliot Spitzer’s prostitute, Ashley Alexandra Dupre, from her MySpace - she’s just 22

When I was 17, I left home. It was my decision and I’ve never looked back. Left my hometown. Left a broken family. Left abuse. Left an older brother who had already split. Left and learned what it was like to have everything, and lose it, again and again. Learned what it was like to wake up one day and have the people you care about most gone. I have been alone. I have abused drugs. I have been broke and homeless. But, I survived, on my own. I am here, in NY because of my music.

[From Ashley Alexandra Dupré’s MySpace]

In his resignation speech, Spitzer repeatedly referred to the fact that he was busted hiring prostitutes as a “private matter,” but no matter what you think about the morality of his actions or whether it’s grounds for him to leave public office, it’s clear that he had a real problem. The guy had teenage daughters and he was paying thousands of dollars to sleep with young prostitutes. He makes $179,000 a year as governor of New York and was said to have spent $80,000, nearly half his salary, on hookers last year.

Actress Julianne Moore, who lives in New York city, talked to People Magazine at an event yesterday, and she summed up a lot of people’s opinions on this matter:

“A f—ing embarrassment” is how Julianne Moore, once a fan of the former attorney general, termed the politico’s involvement in a prostitution ring – for which it is anticipated he will resign on Wednesday.

“I’m really pissed,” the fiery New Yorker, 47, told PEOPLE during Tuesday’s TSE flagship SoHo store opening. “I honestly don’t care where or how people have sex, or with whom, but prostitution is illegal. For someone whose got such a reputation for having a real attitude towards crime, you have to walk the walk. I’m sorry.”

[From People.com]

Many of you are mentioning President Clinton’s impeachment in 1998 as similar to this story, and it has some common themes of infidelity and betrayal of public trust by a high-ranking government official. Clinton lied under oath in his deposition for the Paula Jones case about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky. It’s not analogous to Spitzer’s use of prostitutes in that Clinton’s “crime” was stretching the truth, saying that he thought “sexual relations” meant the strict definition of the term, not oral sex. (Which I know is ridiculous, but let’s just say the President lied in a case that many pundits thought should not have been brought against him while he was in office in the first place.)

Spitzer broke the law multiple times, spending tens of thousands of dollars on prostitutes. While Clinton may have been a sex addict who couldn’t keep it in his pants, and who by some accounts sexually harassed women, he was never convicted of that and for all we know he didn’t pay for sex.

There is definitely one detail that Spitzer and President Clinton’s indiscretions have in common - Monica Lewinsky was also just 22 when she had an affair with a then 49 year-old President Clinton. Elliot Spitzer will be 49 in June.

The sad thing is that both Spitzer and President Clinton are incredible politicians who were renowned for fighting for the common good. Now their accomplishments will always be overshadowed by their sex lives, and their obituaries will even include a mention of the scandals that marred their political careers.

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