The question I have is not why did he do it? That's obvious. Sometimes sex is just sex. I'd like to know the answer to this one: why did the affidavit in the Spitzer case single out Spitzer in providing details about his intimate interaction with a hooker? The affidavit, written by an FBI agent to justify an arrest warrant for the proprietors of the Emperor's Club V.I.P. escort service, covers the misdeeds of 10 clients--all to show that this outfit was indeed a prostitution ring.

Most of the 10 mini-narratives are cut and dry: Client No. Whatever called and arranged for a woman and that's that. The account covering Client 9--whose been identified in news reports as Spitzer--is more elaborate. Not only does it detail how he plotted with one of the defendants to get a prostitute from New York to Washington, where he would rendezvous with her at the Mayflower Hotel; it also includes portions of a wiretapped conversation between the prostitute and her boss after the prostitute's appointment with Spitzer was done. And that transcript includes statements suggesting that Spitzer preferred out-of-the-ordinary services:

LEWIS asked "Kristen" [Spitzer's prostitute] how she thought the appointment went, and "Kristen" said that she thought it went very well. LEWIS asked "Kristen" how much she collected, and 'Kristen" said $4,300. "Kristen" said that she liked him, and that she did not think he was difficult. "Kristen" stated: 'I don't think he's difficult. I mean it's just kind of like...whatever...I'm here for a purpose. I know what my purpose is. I am not a...moron, you know what I mean. So maybe that's why girls maybe think they're difficult..." "Kristen" continued: "That's what it is, because you're here for a [purpose]. Let's not get it twisted - I know what I do, you know." LEWIS responded: "You look at it very uniquely, because...no one ever says it that way." LEWIS continued that from what she had been told "he" (believed to be a reference to Client-9) "would ask you to do things that, like, you might not think were safe -- you know - I mean that...very basic things...." Kristen" responded: "I have a way of dealing with that...I'd be like listen dude, you really want the sex?...You know what I mean."

Was it necessary to put in the part about unsafe sex? Did the FBI and prosecutors in the case want to hammer Spitzer more than the other clients? According to The New York Times, the investigation into the Emperor's Club was triggered after I.R.S. agents were informed by one or more banks that Spitzer was engaging in suspicious cash transactions. (How hard is it to take cash out of a bank and hand it to a prostitution ring without being noticed? Shouldn't a former prosecutor who once headed an organized crime task force know how to do such things?) Perhaps that's why Spitzer receives special attention in the affidavit--which was first filed secretly but which was destined to become public. Or maybe the prosecutors and investigators wanted to give the New York governor, who has cultivated the image of Mr. Clean and who has prosecuted prostitution rings, an extra-sharp poke in the eye.

I'm certainly not calling for sympathy for the fellow. But there is a question to be raised about selective enforcement when it comes to high-priced prostitution rings. Go to the Yellow Pages for Washington, New York, or any other major city. You can find pages and pages of escort services. An undercover agent in a matter of nanoseconds could call any and gather enough information to mount an investigation. Yet only once in a blue moon do any of these enterprises receive such notice. The D.C. Madam still wonders why she was picked on. In this case, it seems that Spitzer led the feds to hookers--not the other way around. And that--fairly or not--makes him the star of the show.