By Samuel Rubenfeld

A Law School alumnus will replace disgraced New York State Gov. Eliot Spitzer (D), who resigned Wednesday morning in the wake of a scandal that implicated him as a client of a high-end prostitution ring.

The culmination of Spitzer’s fall came within 48 hours of the news of his involvement as “Client 9” in the affidavit busting Emperor’s Club V.I.P., a high-end prostitution ring that charged up to $5,500 per hour for its services. Spitzer, 48, who is married for more than 20 years and has three teenage daughters, was not identified by name in the affidavit, but sources close to the probe revealed it was he to The New York Times, which broke the story on its Web site at 2 p.m. on Monday.

An hour later, Spitzer apologized publicly for his “failings,” but he did not identify what those failings were. Nor did he on Wednesday, when he announced his resignation.

“Over the course of my public life, I have insisted, I believe correctly, that people, regardless of their position or power, take responsibility for their conduct,” Spitzer said Wednesday, with his wife, Silda Wall, at his side. “I can and will ask no less of myself. For this reason, I am resigning from the office of governor.”

After his brief announcement on Monday, the governor spent Tuesday in seclusion with his family, lawyers and aides in his Fifth Avenue apartment. The resignation was supported by his aides, but Spitzer’s wife reportedly wanted him to stay in office.

Spitzer’s fall came after winning the gubernatorial election in 2006 with 69 percent of the vote, the largest margin in New York gubernatorial election history, running on a campaign of ethical reform and good government, based on his history as New York’s attorney general; he prosecuted white collar criminals and prostitution rings with zeal. His first year as governor was plagued by scandal, including “Troopergate,” in which Spitzer’s aides kept tabs on the travels of State Senate Majority Joseph Bruno by using the state police. The aides, and Spitzer himself, were still under investigation when the sex scandal broke.

Spitzer also attempted to give driver’s licenses to undocumented workers late last fall. The issue became a national one when presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) was asked whether she supported the proposal made by her state’s governor in a debate, and she fumbled over whether she supported it. Spitzer’s approval rating bottomed at 24 percent in December.

Spitzer had few friends in Albany, or in government altogether. “He’s the smartest man in the world,” Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) once snapped, referring to Spitzer’s self-aggrandizing, take-no-prisoners style.

The incident that prompted the initial news break occurred the evening of Feb. 13, when Spitzer allegedly ordered a prostitute code-named “Kristen” from Emperor’s Club V.I.P. to travel from New York to Washington, D.C., and perform services for him at a cost of $4,300, according to the affidavit. Spitzer was caught via a wiretap on his phone.

However, Spitzer was under scrutiny for months. He had been under investigation for allegedly moving money around to shadow corporations, which investigators believed were for political bribes or for corruption. He also had allegedly tried to transfer more than $10,000 at once, which instantly triggers a Suspicious Activity Report, but realizing how easily he would be caught, called his bank in an attempt to split the transfer into less incriminating amounts and to take his name off the wire.

The Associated Press reported Tuesday night that Spitzer may have spent up to $80,000 on prostitutes over the course of six years.

“Kristen,” identified in the affidavit as 5 feet 5 inches, 105 pounds, and an “American, pretty, petite brunette,” was named by The New York Times Wednesday afternoon as Ashley Alexandra Dupre, 22. She is an aspiring musician who left “a broken family,” used drugs and has “been broke and homeless,” according to the report, which cites her Myspace page.

Spitzer reportedly delayed his resignation to work out a deal with the U.S. Attorney’s office to avoid prosecution, but Michael Garcia, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said that no such deal existed. “There is no agreement between this Office and Governor Eliot Spitzer, relating to his resignation or any other matter,” he said in a statement.

Even Bruno, Spitzer’s biggest enemy, said he felt no satisfaction from the resignation. “There is no pleasure in what is going on,” Bruno said at a press conference.

His replacement, Brooklyn-born and Harlem-raised, Lt. Gov. David Paterson, 53 and legally blind, received his bachelor’s from Columbia University and then attended Hofstra’s Law School.

Paterson is known to have a more deliberative style of governing, and he stayed out of the way as the scandal unfolded, only issuing a statement after Spitzer resigned.

“Like all New Yorkers, I am saddened by what we have learned over the past several days. On a personal level, Governor Spitzer and Silda have been close and steadfast friends,” Paterson said in the statement. “My heart goes out to him and to his family at this difficult and painful time…It is now time for Albany to get back to work as the people of this state expect from us.”

Bruno spoke warmly about working with the new governor. “David has always been very open with me, very forthright. I look forward to a positive, productive relationship as soon as possible,” he said to The New York Times.

Eric Lane, a professor at the Law School who had Paterson as a student, and an expert on New York State politics, remembered Paterson as a disciplined student who worked hard to overcome his blindness.

“I used to watch him run miles up and down Hempstead Turnpike effectively to master his disability, an extraordinary accomplishment,” Lane said in an e-mail. “He approached school with the same attitude. As hard as it was, he was going to get through it and he did.

“He is a very focused and smart man with a great political personality, as he proved in becoming the minority leader in the Senate. He will greatly reduce the tensions in Albany and as a result have the opportunity to accomplish some long needed changes,” Lane added.

“It’s about time,” said Sean Hutchinson, a junior and president of the University’s chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, referring to having New York’s first black governor, and the fourth nationally since Reconstruction.

According to the state constitution, the lieutenant governor’s seat remains vacant in the case of a gubernatorial resignation, and the senate majority leader assumes the duties of the office, making Bruno more powerful. Constitutional questions were immediately raised over whether, in the case of a tie in the state senate, Bruno could vote twice, once as senator and the other as acting lieutenant governor.

Spitzer’s resignation takes effect at noon on Monday, March 17.

Staff Writer Mike Manzoni contributed research to this story.

Eliot Spitzer resigned as governor of New York on Wednesday morning.