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Sources: Lawyers for Spitzer negotiate possible plea deal

BY ROBERT E. KESSLER | robert.kessler@newsday.com

5:32 PM EDT, March 11, 2008

ALBANY - Lawyers for Gov. Eliot Spitzer are negotiating a possible plea deal with federal prosectuors stemming from his alleged involvement with a prostitution ring, sources said.

Several sources said that the one serious bargaining chip that Spitzer has to possibly avoid being charged with a serious felony, such as money laundering or avoiding federal currency rules, is to work out a deal in which he would give up the governorship. In return, prosecutors would assure him that he only would have to plead at most to a misdemeanor or even less and be in effect guaranteed that he would not have to go to prison.

In Spitzer's favor, from a bargaining point of view, is the fact that any plea negotiations could not be lengthy, according to the sources. If the negotiations go on, there could be a public backlash with Democrats saying the Republican administration is dragging out the situation for partisan purposes.

Spitzer has hired one of New York's most high-powered law firms and one of its most respected litigators to represent him in the negotiations.

A spokeswoman for Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, which has often been rated as the top or one of the top firms for litigation in New York City, said Tuesday that Spitzer had hired the firm to represent him.

The spokeswoman, Madelaine Miller, also said that the firm's lead attorney in representing the governor was Michele Hirshman.

Hirshman has been the chief of the public corruption unit in the Manhattan U.S. Attorneys Office and a former key colleague of Spitzer's when she was New York State's first deputy attorney general.

"It's a perfect storm, legally," said one source familiar with the situation. "She knows the Southern District and she is respected by Spitzer."