If it pleases, your Honor; a short recess to step outside and shoot off my foot?

BusinessWeek: Eliot Spitzer's Surprising Donor List

"WHERE'S MY CHECK?"  Campaign records show that on Nov. 25 Spitzer received $1,000 from defense lawyer Gerald Shargel. That was the same day Shargel's client, William Kenyon, ex-president of Security Trust, was arraigned for grand larceny and fraud. Kenyon allegedly acted as a middleman to facilitate market timing for hedge fund Canary Capital Partners. Shargel has been a longtime Spitzer donor, but he admits: "On the same day that I'm having heated discussions with his office, they're [Spitzer's fund-raisers] calling, saying, 'Where's my check?'"

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THE MATTER OF APPEARANCE.  Cynthia Darrison, managing director of Spitzer 2006, says the campaign group won't accept money from anyone with a "matter presently pending" with the AG's office. But she says that doesn't apply to lawyers: "Every law firm does work with the Attorney General's office."

That logic is questioned by Paul Light, a public policy professor at New York University's Wagner School: "Elected and appointed officials should pay attention to the appearance, as well as substance, of conflicts of interest." If Spitzer wants to keep his reputation as a crusader, he may want to take a harder look at his fund-raising policies.

Naturally, these matters are highly complex and therefore should be decided on a case-by-case basis, but on the merits, I'd say: Doiyyyy!