I am as put off as John and Jane Q. Public by unctuousness on the part of public servants, especially when the self-styled angels reveal themselves to be practicing exactly what they have sermonized against with so much zealotry. But I am not gloating at the fall from grace of ex-New York governor Eliot Spitzer. One possible outcome of his trysts with alleged call girl Ashley Alexandra Dupré must represent the most perfect union of word, deed, and supposed intention of the man's career -- unintended though the union certainly was.
Spitzer gained his crusader reputation in large part from the vehemence and tenacity with which he prosecuted prostitution and sex trafficking rings. But prosecution alone of the sex trade comes with no guarantee of a new and better life for the women the trade has exploited. Even less likely is the sex worker's chance of life anew as an entertainment celebrity, that Holy Grail of American popular culture.
It has been well-documented that Dupré is an aspiring pop singer, and that the scandal has spiked the demand for the tunes she is selling through the music site Amie Sweet. ("For Ashley Alexandra Dupré, Selling Music Beats Selling Sex") It's hard not to wish for Dupré to rise to fame, as she was promoting herself rather innocently through My Space and Amie Sweet rather than through her work as a call girl. And if her My Space postings and statements to the media are any indication, Dupré had been humbled by experience well before the scandal broke. (Ex-Governor Spitzer, take note.)
So, the public servant blessed with every opportunity in the world now retreats from public life, disgraced, his kingdom for a pricey romp in the sack. Should Dupré become a bonafide pop star, Spitzer will have (inadvertently) created the sort of opportunity for a sex worker that none of his work in law and goverment ever did -- or ever could have. The sanctimonious arbitrator of human law will have helped enact divine, poetic justice.
