Nevadans might have let ex-New York governor Spitzer off the hook

Hypothetically, of course, what if a Nevada governor was discovered hiring hookers? Would he feel the need to resign or would he just keep governing, after the obligatory news conference with the pretty wife standing by her man, looking like she’s just gargled with bleach?

Based on our 2006 gubernatorial election, Nevada voters aren’t so shocked if a governor has indiscretions. I thought voters would reject Jim Gibbons for flirting with cocktail waitress Chrissy Mazzeo a few weeks before the 2006 election. But they didn’t. They elected the Republican congressman their governor, despite Mazzeo’s unproven allegations he attacked her.

In New York, Eliot Spitzer called it quits as governor 48 hours after he had been identified in The New York Times as “Client 9” in a federal indictment. The man known for his hubris, who campaigned on his superior ethics, is alleged to have paid $4,500 for a 22-year-old call girl and future services. In one wiretapped conversation, the 48-year-old Democratic governor was described as a client who made requests “you might not think were safe.”

While his wife Silda Wall Spitzer apparently urged him to stay on as governor, Spitzer resigned as of noon today.

But if that occurred in Nevada, Spitzer might have taken his wife’s advice and contended sex with a prostitute is “personal” and doesn’t affect his governing.

If a governor went to a legal brothel in Nevada, would that be OK? At a talk I gave Thursday to the Jewish Single’s Social Club, half of the attendees said as long as it was at a legal brothel, it didn’t pose a big problem for them. If a Nevada governor committed an illegal act of prostitution, most of them had more concerns.

Nevadans seem to be more easy-going about prostitution than New Yorkers. We’re used to rural counties with legalized prostitution, and it’s not as if we don’t see the illegal prostitutes openly working streets and hotels in Las Vegas.

Spitzer was tripped up because he was moving money around in his bank account to make payments to the prostitute booking service. That triggered a “suspicious activity report,” leading to the start of a federal probe in July. Once again, following the money led to a politician’s downfall. Remove the hooker, and it’s a financial crime rather than a moral question.

I think Spitzer was right to resign. But George Flint, whom I turn to for his expertise in legal and illegal prostitution, disagreed: “He should not have resigned.”

George, who has lobbied the Legislature for Nevada’s legal brothel industry for 45 years, said if that had happened to a Nevada governor, the governor wouldn’t have needed to resign.

“I don’t think Nevadans have the same criteria that puritanical New Yorkers have,” he said.

He’s probably right.

“Politicians at the highest levels of government have been guests of our brothels, and not one of them has ever been named or talked about,” George said.

One notable exception is former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura, who told in his autobiography of visiting the Moonlite Bunny Ranch near Carson City. Now there’s a sign advertising “Governor Jesse Ventura Had Sex Here.”

The average “date” in high-end Nevada brothels is $700 to $800, according to George. “If Spitzer called me and said: George, I need to be taken care of,’ I’d have taken care of him,” said George, speaking by telephone from Chapel of the Bells, his Reno wedding chapel.

I’ve known George for 20 years, so I knew he would have done exactly that, and has done exactly that for other politicians. George Flint won’t name names; he just says they are people we both know.

I’ve always joked that as a reporter, I didn’t care whether someone has sex with a goat, as long as the goat is willing and not on the public payroll. But deep down, it does make a difference to me. Cheat on your wife and what else do you cheat on?

Former Clark County Commissioner Dario Herrera is a perfect example. He cheated on his wife and he cheated the taxpayers. Yet when the rumors of his infidelities became rampant, the Nevada media, including myself, didn’t try to prove it. We left it to the feds.

Of course, that’s how Eliot Spitzer went down.

Jane Ann Morrison’s column appears Monday, Thursday and Saturday. E-mail her at Jane@reviewjournal.com or call (702) 383-0275.