Albany New York: Governor Eliot Spitzer has informed his most senior administration officials that he had been involved in a prostitution ring, an administration official said Monday.

Spitzer, who was huddled with his top aides early Monday, had hours earlier abruptly canceled his scheduled public events for the day. He is set to make an announcement Monday afternoon at his Manhattan office.

Spitzer, a first-term Democrat who pledged to bring ethics reform and end the often seamy ways of Albany, is married with three children.

Just last week, federal prosecutors arrested four people in connection with an expensive prostitution operation. Administration officials would not say that this was the ring with which the governor had become involved.

He had a difficult first year in office, rocked by a mix of scandal and legislative setbacks. In recent weeks, however, Spitzer seemed to have rebounded, with his Democratic party poised to perhaps gain control of the state Senate for the first time in four decades.

Spitzer gained national attention when he served as attorney general with his relentless pursuit of Wall Street wrongdoing. As attorney general, he also had prosecuted at least two prostitution rings as head of the state's organized crime task force.

In one such case in 2004, Spitzer spoke with revulsion and anger after announcing the arrest of 16 people for operating a high-end prostitution ring out of Staten Island.

"This was a sophisticated and lucrative operation with a multitiered management structure," Spitzer said at the time. "It was, however, nothing more than a prostitution ring."

Albany for months has been roiled by bitter fighting and accusations of dirty tricks. The Albany County district attorney is set to issue in the coming days the results of his investigation into Spitzer's first scandal, his aides' involvement in an effort to tarnish Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, the state's top Republican.

 http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/03/10/america/10york.php