NEW YORK (Reuters) - State Republicans threatened on Tuesday to impeach New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer if he does not quit over a sex scandal that has raised questions over whether he could face criminal charges.


The threat added to pressure on Spitzer, a Democrat and former state chief prosecutor who made his name fighting white-collar crime on Wall Street, to step down after a report that he hired a high-priced prostitute.

The Wall Street Journal quoted a person close to Spitzer, who is 48 and married, as saying he could resign as early as Tuesday but he wanted to deal with his family crisis first.

"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.

"We need a leader in place that has the support of people on both sides of the aisle," Tedisco told Reuters.

The New York Times said on Monday that Spitzer hired a $1,000-an-hour prostitute and was caught on a federal wiretap at least six times on February 12 and 13 arranging to meet with her at a Washington hotel.

Spitzer, who investigated prostitution as New York state's chief prosecutor but was best known for his high-profile probes of Wall Street, apologized on Monday for what he described as a "private matter" but said nothing about resigning.

He neither confirmed nor denied the report.

"Eliot Spitzer, the onetime nemesis of Wall Street now engulfed in a sex scandal, is likely to resign, perhaps as early as today, according to a person close to him," the Wall Street Journal said on its Web site on Tuesday.

Tedisco said on Monday night he had received a phone call from Lt. Gov. David A. Paterson to discuss a possible transition of power if Spitzer resigns.

Spitzer, viewed as a rising star in the Democratic Party, spent the night holed up at his Manhattan home, besieged by media.

The New York Times, citing unnamed law enforcement officials, reported on Tuesday that the investigation began last year during an Internal Revenue Service review of suspicious financial transactions as reported to it by banks.

"The payments were made over a period of several months in a way that investigators believe was intended to conceal their purpose and source, which could amount to a crime called structuring," punishable by up to five years in prison, the Times said.

Spitzer was elected governor with nearly 70 percent of the vote in late 2006 following a stint as state attorney general when he conducted a series of investigations into financial cases, attracting much publicity but also resentment on Wall Street.

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The Times said in an editorial that Spitzer's insistence in his brief appearance on Monday that it was a "private matter" displayed arrogance. "He did not just betray his family in a private matter," the newspaper said.

"He betrayed the public and it is hard to see how he will recover from this mess and go on to lead the reformist agenda on which he was elected to office."

The Wall Street Journal said Spitzer had shown his lack of restraint in overly aggressive tactics as attorney general, making "extraordinary threats" to entire firms and to those who criticized his pursuit of high-profile Wall Street figures.

"The stupendously deluded belief that the sitting Governor of New York could purchase the services of prostitutes was merely the last act of a man unable to admit either the existence of, or need for, limits," it said in an editorial.

At the heart of the scandal is a criminal complaint unveiled last week charging four people with running a prostitution ring dubbed The Emperors Club. Prosecutors rarely bring charges against clients of prostitutes in such cases.

The New York Times said Spitzer was an individual identified as Client 9 in the court papers filed last week. Client 9 arranged to meet with "Kristen," a prostitute who charged $1,000 an hour, on February 13 in a Washington hotel and paid $4,300 for services rendered and as a down payment for future engagements, according to the court documents.

Among the charges brought against the four defendants last week was transporting women across state lines for prostitution purposes. It was not clear if a similar charge might be brought against Spitzer if it were proven he arranged for "Kristen" to travel from New York to Washington to have sex with him.