Peter Elkind’s new book, “Rough Justice,” a chronicle of the fall and supposed resurrection of Eliot Spitzer, is a contorted piece of shit. Elkind joins the growing Upper East Side Liberal chorus that would have us forget Spitzer’s violation of various state and federal laws, his repeated lies about the abuse of power involved in using the state police to spy on his political opponents and his lies regarding the source of the funding of his first two campaigns for attorney general.
Elkind advances the bizarre theory that Spitzer’s downfall was engineered by Ken Langone, a member of the New York Stock Exchange Board who was once indicted by Spitzer. Supposedly, Langone retained a private investigator to get the goods on Spitzer. The problem with this theory is that Elkind offers no proof whatsoever.
Elkind also disparages my role in the Spitzer matter, ignoring the fact that I informed the FBI in writing that Spitzer enjoyed cavorting with prostitutes while wearing his mid-calf length black socks. This was prior to public revelations that Spitzer frequently utilized prostitutes.
In a subsequent article, the New York Post independently confirmed Spitzer’s propensity for black socks. Manhattan madam Kristin Davis, who supplied prostitutes for Spitzer while he was both attorney general and governor, publicly described his penchant for dark hosiery in the boudoir on Sirius Radio on the very day I first met her. Thus, there are three separate confirmations of Spitzer’s black sock habit, all of which prove that the information I sent the FBI was both accurate and confirmable.
Elkind further distorts by taking advantage of the death of legendary conservative columnist Robert D. Novak. I told Philadelphia radio talk show host Michael Smerconish that Spitzer would not finish his term. Novak confirmed this in a conversation with Smerconish, and wrote it for his syndicated column. Although Smerconish confirmed the conversation with Elkind, the author takes advantage of the fact that Novak is no longer with us to confirm the accuracy of what he wrote.
Elkind’s book does show that Spitzer’s lying hasn’t stopped. Client No. 9 vehemently denied reports last year in the New York Post that he was contemplating a political comeback. Now, Spitzer confirms to Elkind that he has been plotting a return to the political arena and holding meetings to explore the potential for a comeback at the exact time he was denying reports by New York Post reporter Maggie Haberman that he was doing so.
If you want to know how Spitzer went down, don’t bother wasting money on “Rough Justice.” It is largely a fictional account designed to help the wealthy and bored Spitzer plot his return to the limelight. Instead, consider “Journal of the Plague Year,” written by longtime Spitzer counsel Lloyd Constantine. Constantine describes a power-drunk megalomaniac, a man whom from his first day in office believed he could govern by decree, intimidation and threat.
