Mr. Spitzer Comes to Harvard
Posted on November 12th, 2009 in Uncategorized | No Comments »
The New York Post reports that Eliot Spitzer, the fallen-yet-unabashed former governor of New York, will be giving a lecture on ethics today at Harvard‘s Edmond J. Safra Foundation Center for Ethics.
Spitzer, 50, was forced to resign as governor in 2008 after it was revealed that he was the client of a prostitution ring at the center of a federal investigation. It was revealed that Spitzer — described in court papers as Client No. 9 — had paid to have sex with call-girl Ashley Dupree.
But the New York Daily News reports that the situation is a little more complicated.
[Conference host Laurence] Lessig said Spitzer is not giving “a lecture on ethics.”
“He has instead been invited to speak as part of a series on the topic of ‘institutional corruption’,” the professor said.
Even if Spitzer were speaking on ethics, I wouldn’t be much bothered by it: I don’t know any saints, and there’s plenty we can learn from sinners.
Not to mention that he’s from an extremely wealthy family. So while Spitzer uses Harvard to help rebuild his reputation, Harvard can use Spitzer to refill its coffers.