By Claudia Parsons
NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer facespressure to resign on Tuesday as well as questions aboutwhether he will be prosecuted for any crime after a reportlinked him to a high-class prostitution ring.
A New York Times report said the man who made his namefighting corruption hired a $1,000-an-hour (495 pounds)prostitute and was caught on a federal wiretap at least sixtimes on February 12 and 13 arranging to meet with her at aWashington hotel.
Spitzer, a married 48-year-old Democrat who investigatedprostitution as New York's attorney general, apologized forwhat he described as a "private matter" but said nothing aboutresigning. He neither confirmed nor denied the report.
State Republicans called for him to step down.
New York State Assembly Republican Minority Leader JamesTedisco said on Monday night he had received a phone call fromLieutenant Governor David A. Paterson to discuss a possibletransition of power if Spitzer resigns.
The New York Times, citing unnamed law enforcementofficials, reported in Tuesday's editions the investigationbegan last year during an Internal Revenue Service review ofsuspicious financial transactions as reported to it by banks.
"The payments were made over a period of several months ina way that investigators believe was intended to conceal theirpurpose and source, which could amount to a crime calledstructuring," punishable by up to five years in prison, theTimes reported.
New York City's tabloids seized on the opportunity toskewer the governor. The Daily News headline called Spitzer the"Pay for Luv Gov" and the New York Post, owned by RupertMurdoch's News Corp, led with "HO NO!"
The Times said in an editorial Spitzer's insistence it wasa "private matter" displayed arrogance.
"He did not just betray his family in a private matter,"the newspaper said. "He betrayed the public and it is hard tosee how he will recover from this mess and go on to lead thereformist agenda on which he was elected to office."
News of the scandal rocked Wall Street, where power brokersresented Spitzer's high-profile inquiries into financial caseswhen he was New York state's chief prosecutor.
Spitzer was elected governor with nearly 70 percent of thevote in late 2006 following a stint as state attorney generalnoted for high-profile investigations into Wall Street.
"SHAKESPEAREAN FALL"
The Wall Street Journal said Spitzer had shown his lack ofrestraint in overly aggressive tactics as attorney general,making "extraordinary threats" to entire firms and to those whocriticized his pursuit of high-profile Wall Street figures.
"The stupendously deluded belief that the sitting Governorof New York could purchase the services of prostitutes wasmerely the last act of a man unable to admit either theexistence of, or need for, limits," the Journal wrote in aneditorial about what it said was almost a Shakespearean fall.
"Governor Spitzer, who made his career by specializing innot just the prosecution, but the ruin, of other men, ishimself almost certainly ruined," the paper said.
The state capital, Albany, was rife with speculation aboutif, or more likely when, Spitzer would resign and whether hewould be charged with any crime. Prosecutors rarely bringcharges against clients of prostitutes in such cases.
In an online poll on the Daily News web site, 83 percent ofrespondents said Spitzer should resign.
At the heart of the scandal is a criminal complaintunveiled last week charging four people with running amulti-million-dollar prostitution ring dubbed The EmperorsClub.
The New York Times said Spitzer was an individualidentified as Client 9 in the court papers filed last week.Client 9 arranged to meet with "Kristen," a prostitute whocharged $1,000 an hour, on February 13 in a Washington hoteland paid $4,300 for services rendered and as a down payment forfuture engagements, according to the court documents.
Among the charges brought against the four defendants lastweek was transporting women across state lines for prostitutionpurposes. It was not clear if a similar charge might be broughtagainst Spitzer if it were proven he arranged for "Kristen" totravel from New York to Washington to have sex with him.
In an interview two years ago, Spitzer, then-attorneygeneral, told ABC News he had some advice for people who breakthe law. "Never talk when you can nod, and never nod when youcan wink, and never write an e-mail because it's death. You'regiving prosecutors all the evidence we need," he said.
(Additional reporting by Daniel Trotta and Robert Campbell;editing by Stuart Grudgings and Bill Trott)
