Eliot Spitzer: To Catch a Politician
Tuesday, March 11th, 2008
Federal investigators seem to have their hands full nowadays. They’re not just putting away drug lords and crooked execs. Just as often, they seem to be catching politicians. Their newest catch, New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, was a doozy. Spitzer had a previously squeaky clean record, a reputation as a crusader, a do-gooder, and a tough prosecutor. Accidentally, the governor was discovered to have been involved with a high-profile prostitution service and boom! The media was saturated with the story of a call girl named Kristen, the brief press conference, Spitzer and his wife’s heartbroken faces.
What must it be like to be one of those federal investigators? One day, you’re just checking out the governor’s dealings, suspecting possibly shady activities, maybe bribery. Next thing you know, you follow his money trail to a premium call girl service, accounts of a scandalous night at a Washington hotel. Without meaning to, you have revealed Spitzer to be morally askew, a hypocrite to everything he stood for. When you come home, your wife asks you, "So, what did you do at work today?" You answer, "I accidentally brought down the governor of New York."
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Some people really enjoy this sort of thing. I have a friend who is a police officer. With satisfaction, he tells me about people he pulls over, scumbags he hauls off to jail, doors he kicks in. For him, he is a servant of the law. Bringing people to justice is the highlight of his day. He deals with the most pitiful, irresponsible, dim-witted, ill-intentioned people in our society, and he enjoys it. Obviously, not a job for everyone.
You can bet that law enforcement careers will always be a growing segment. As populations grow and people do stupid things, the justice system will rely on having increasing numbers of people to investigate and bring them in to be prosecuted. That means that if you have the desire to catch bad guys, there will almost always be a position for you to fill. For example, it doesn’t look like we’ll run out of careless politicians any time soon. And that’s a pretty good position to be in (for law enforcement officials, not politicians).
If you’re interested in starting a law enforcement career, feel free to look into getting your degree. If you have something to say about the fall of Eliot Spitzer, sound off below…
