Monday, October 02, 2006

I have to say I'm really enjoying the other Republican sex scandal, the one that involves not actual teenagers but, rather, people with the emotional maturity of teenagers. Phil N. told you about it here last week, but there's more -- a veritable feast in today's New York Post.

I love this:

Prosecutors are investigating whether former Westchester DA Jeanine Pirro's office gave sweetheart plea bargains to defendants who agreed to hire a lawyer who once represented her husband, The Post has learned.

...Prosecutors specifically are trying to determine if defendants inquiring about sweetheart deals were told by Pirro's subordinates to hire [Michael] Santangelo, and that after they did so, their cases would be resolved favorably, the source said.

Santangelo represented Al Pirro in 2000, when Al was convicted of federal tax evasion.

Santangelo's wife, Lisa, recently was identified as the woman whom Jeanine last year suspected of having an affair with Al.

Federal prosecutors are probing whether Jeanine Pirro broke the law in her efforts to get former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik to get an electronic bug placed on Al's boat to record his purported trysts with Lisa Santangelo....


Yes, you read that right: She allegedly tried to kick work to her felon husband's lawyer -- then tried to hire the disgraced Kerik to (perhaps illegally) catch her husband cheating with that lawyer's wife.

This would make a hell of an opera.

And in a related development:

The feds are apparently eyeing ex-New York Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik's taxes as part of a criminal investigation of attorney-general candidate Jeanine Pirro.

...Kerik's income-tax returns could indicate what Pirro paid him to investigate whether her husband was having an affair, sources said. Or they could show whether Kerik wrote off the purchase of an electronic recording device as a business expense.

If such an expense were written off, it might substantiate an argument that Kerik and Pirro followed through on a plan to bug Al Pirro's boat -- despite their public denials, the source noted....


Yowza.

We're not done yet:

... Jeanine Pirro stays with her philandering husband, Al Pirro, because he has agreed to give her a $15,000-a-month lifestyle, a source close to the couple has told The Post.

..."One time, she's on the phone with Al and she's saying, 'Uh huh, uh huh, well, Al, it's 15 grand a month, that is the number,' " recalled the source, who said he often visited the Pirros' luxurious Harrison home. "Jeanine then continues, 'I don't want to hear that you're short this month. Fifteen grand is the number.'

"And I heard Mike [Santangelo] say the same thing, that Jeanine told him that Al has got to come up with $15,000 a month for household expenses whether from his lobbying or real-estate deals or whatever, that that was the deal after Al got out of prison."

..."Jeanine loves the lifestyle that Al's income provides her. You can't believe how much money this lady spends," the source said.

"She has $15,000 suits in the closet that she hasn't worn yet, with the labels still on them. She has the mansion, the house in West Palm Beach, she'd talk about getting her Botox treatments on a regular basis -- nothing but the best for her."


(For those keeping score at home: Yes, divorce is legal in New York State, as is alimony. Apparently, this is not an option for the Pirros.)

By the way, I think this quote from the Pirro story in Thursday's New York Times tells you all you need to know about Republicans and moral relativism -- i.e., the moral relativism we're seeing in the Mark Foley scandal:

"This was one of the reasons we wanted her to run for Senate -- all this awful Al Pirro stuff would cloud her credentials to be the top law enforcement officer," said one Republican Party official who spoke only when granted anonymity.

Got that? The concern isn't that an ethical multi-car pileup like Jeanine Pirro is running for office at all. The concern is that having her as a candidate for attorney general is a bit much. The U.S. Senate? Passing laws for the entire nation? Vetting Supreme Court justices? No problem!

But I guess we can't really understand her decisions until we've walked a mile in her stilettos:

...In 1995, a Florida woman sued Al Pirro, claiming he had fathered her 12-year-old daughter.

Pirro denied the claims. Years of litigation ended in 1998 when a DNA test confirmed he was the girl's dad.

In 2000, he was convicted of hiding $1 million in income from the IRS -- including claiming his Ferrari, his wife's Mercedes, their pot-bellied pigs and even his paternity suit bills as business expenses.

He went to prison for 17 months, admitting to abusing booze and drugs so he could enter treatment and shorten his sentence....

Last year, FBI wiretaps caught mobsters alleging that Albert Pirro leaked information about investigations by the Westchester district attorney's office.

This summer, as his wife tried to gain traction in her run for state attorney general, he was twice stopped for speeding....


Hey, how could she not want to stand by a guy like that?

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