Reactions to the story of the soon to be former Governor of New York involvement in prostitution was intense ranging from disbelief, shock, and anger. What I think upset people the most was the hypocrisy. Tom Robbins, in his Village Voice March 12-18 editorial believes that Mr. Spitzer is "the most damaged politician in recent history, not because of his sins of commission are so great, but because he held so many others to the standards he knew he had no intention of holding himself to." Many questions still have to be answered and more information will be revealed in the next days and weeks to come.

The prevailing sentiment for me is one of sadness, to see, a reputation and a career totally destroyed, and to imagine the hurt and shame of his wife and daughters.

On January 30, I wrote in my blog entitled Promises, Promises, that: " New York State new Governor, Eliot Spitzer promised that ethics would be high on his agenda. He said in his inaugural speech that one of his "overarching objectives" was to make the government "ethical and wise" I then asked: "Can these promises be kept, and will they?"

Now we know.

In his first appereance on TV after the news broke out Mr. Spirtzer said:

"I have acted in a way that violates my obligation to my family and violates my or any sense of right or wrong,"

What values did he violate exactly? Let me list some of the obvious.

Trust
Integrity
Honesty
Good judgment
Trutfullness
Faithfulness

Who among us can truthfully say that we have never violated even to some degree one of these values? I know I can't and therefore, will not cast the first stone.

By posing the question, I am in not trying to minimizing his horrendus and deplorable actions but I believe that such a catastrophic situation could happen to anyone of us.

Rabbi Hillel Goldberg, the editor of the Intermountain Jewish News in Denver, asked in his New York Sun March 14 Op-Ed: Does Spitzer deserve mercy? He believes he does because, he says: "Everyone needs mercy. Everyone sins."