Disgraced Gov. Spitzer dropped up to $80,000 on sex with prostitutes, sources revealed tonight.
Spitzer, a millionaire, was hopping into bed with harlots for as long as 10 years and traveled as far as Florida for call-girl trysts, sources said.
The prostitute-patronizing former prosecutor spent today huddled with top aides and lawyers in his Fifth Avenue apartment – trying to arrange a plea deal under which he’d resign his office but avoid prison time – as he desperately clung to power despite growing cries for his departure, even among fellow Democrats.
The governor gave no indication as to what he’ll do next – even as Republicans in the state Legislature threatened to begin impeachment proceedings within the next 24 hours.
Despite the firestorm, some of Spitzer’s aides were whispering that the embattled governor could try to finish out the remaining three years of his term.
“If the public is fine, he’ll stay,” said a prominent Democrat.
Political leaders and average New Yorkers continued to express shock at the bombshell revelation that Spitzer was the “Client 9” caught on a federal wiretap arranging for a high-priced call girl to be sent from New York to his Washington hotel.
Also today:
•22-year-old call girl told ABC News that Spitzer paid her for sex two years ago when he was still attorney general – and he tipped big.
•Law enforcement officials confirmed to The Post that Spitzer didn’t want to wear a condom.
•Shocking details emerged as to how a nervous Spitzer accidentally tipped off the Internal Revenue Service by trying to hide his payments to the escort agency.
•The governor had planned to resign Monday at 7 p.m., but lawyers talked him out of it.
Spitzer, who as attorney general led investigations into prostitution, was among an elite group of power brokers and top attorneys who regularly paid for dates at pricey escort agencies, sex industry sources said.
More recently, however, Spitzer had been dealing with an international sex ring, Emperors Club VIP, that was recently broken up by the feds.
Reports said Spitzer had at least seven or eight encounters with girls from the Cliffside Park, NJ-based escort service during the past year all over the country.
Spitzer had steamy rendezvous with girls in New York, DC and Florida – plunking down thousands of dollars each time.
His horny habits came out of the closet when agents with the IRS noticed unusual financial transactions between Spitzer and several shell companies that fronted for the ring.
Spitzer aroused suspicion when he tried to divide up a large financial transaction of over $10,000 into smaller amounts to avoid federal reporting requirements.
The governor then tried to have his name removed from the smaller wire transfers but his bank refused – and alerted authorities that something fishy was going on.
As the investigation advanced, Spitzer was eventually caught on a wiretap ordering a brunette named “Kristen” to his room at the Mayflower Hotel on Feb. 13, the night before he testified before a congressional committee.
Some defiant Democrats began floating the idea that Spitzer could survive the scandal.
An insider in Spitzer’s office described the governor’s top aides as “divided” over whether he should quit.
A top adviser, Lloyd Constantine, and Spitzer’s wife, Silda, urged the governor to hold on to power.
A source quoted Constantine as saying, “I think the governor can survive.”
Spitzer’s chief of staff, Richard Baum, and other senior aides counseled him to resign – contending the scandal was just too great ride out, sources said.
Two law enforcement officials said that “safety” worries expressed by one of the bookers about Client 9 was Spitzer’s preference not to wear a condom during his $4,300 night with the prostitute.
But the hooker, Kristen, apparently insisted on one and he submitted to her request, according to court papers.
A 22-year-old prostitute went on ABC today and said Spitzer contacted her from the state attorney general’s satellite office in Brooklyn to arrange a “date” in which he paid her for sex.
The unidentified woman said he did nothing unsafe and tipped well.
In Albany, Lt. Gov. David Paterson told reporters today that he hadn’t heard from Spitzer since Monday.
“The governor called me .Ñ.Ñ. he said he didn’t resign for a number of reasons, and he didn’t go into the reasons, and that’s the last I’ve heard from him,” Paterson said.
“No one has talked to me about his resignation and no one has talked to me about a transition.”
Calls grew for Spitzer to quit immediately.
“If he does not resign within the next 24 to 48 hours, we will prepare articles of impeachment to remove him,” said Assembly Republican Minority Leader James Tedisco, whom Spitzer once threatened to “destroy” when he compared himself to a “f-Ñ-Ñ-ing steamroller.”
Democrats also starting jumping from the sinking Spitzer ship.
“If the facts are as we suspect, it’s very hard to imagine him staying in office,” said Robert Zimmerman, an influential member of the Democratic National Committee and fund-raiser for Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Former Mayor Ed Koch said publicly what many have been thinking privately.
“I think there’s a screw loose,” Koch told CNN.
“I believe that his behavior, beginning with his becoming governor, has been irrational. And what he did is to indicate that he doesn’t play by the regular rules, that regular rules don’t apply,” Koch added.
Mayor Bloomberg, for his part, wouldn’t divulge where he stood.
“I did talk to Gov. Spitzer this morning and I told him my thoughts were with him and wished him all the best and said if he ever wanted to talk and wanted my advice I’d be happy to give it to him. But any conversations I would have with the governor are just between the governor and me,” he said.
Clinton, Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Charlie Rangel, all Democrats, avoided commenting on the case.
New details also surfaced today about the call girl operation.
Mark Brener, the 62-year-old indicted alleged mastermind of Emperors Club, was certified by the IRS to represent taxpayers in disputes, and assured his customers that he’d never get caught because he always paid his taxes.
Brener, who worked for the Israeli national tax collection agency, probably didn’t know that Spitzer was his customer, sources said.
Additional reporting by Murray Weiss, Dan Mangan, Kenneth Lovett, Sandra Hurley, Gemma Jones and Sandra Hurley and Post Wire Services