Monday, October 02, 2006

A Pirro-ette

Well, it looks like Jeannine's troubles have only just begun. You may recall the rather embarassing leak last week of an investigation into conversations she held with Bernard Kerik over planting a bug on her husband's boat.

Said husband was suspected of having an affair with his lawyer's young and attractive wife, Lisa Santangelo:Jeannine Pirro and Lisa Santangelo

Admittedly, that takes balls. Here's the man defending you from a federal tax evasion inquiry, and you go around banging his wife.

Well, frying pan into the fire stuff was revealed overnight.
Financial disclosure statements from Pirro's time as Westchester district attorney have been subpoenaed by a federal grand jury, according to a spokeswoman for Pirro.

The grand jury asked the Westchester County Board of Ethics to turn over more than 100 pages of Pirro's financial disclosures from 1998 to 2005. [...]

The New York Post also reports a federal prosecutor is looking into whether Pirro allowed plea deals from defendants who used the lawyer who once represented her husband.
Apparently, ol' Jeannine was, um, funding her husband's affair. The smoking gun they are looking for is kickbacks from the lawyer Michael Santangelo in exchange for the plea deals she agreed to so willingly, and also to see if, as she claimed, the boat was jointly held. Al Pirro and Michael Santangelo has business dealings apart from his representation in Federal court. It's possible those business deals would come under scrutiny as well.

The only good news for Pirro was a rally yesterday on Staten Island, but even that was tainted by this scandal. Many leading Republicans, including New York City mayor Mike Bloomberg and Republican gubenatorial candidate John Faso came in support of Pirro as she trolled for votes in perhaps the only borough she stands a faint chance of carrying in the city.

Conspicuous by their absence were the two men who encouraged Pirro to run, first against Hillary for Senate (and we all saw what happened there) and now against Andrew Cuomo for Attorney General: Gov. George Pataki and former New York City Fuhrer...I mean, mayor, Rudy Giuliani.

Add them to the increasingly long list of unprincipled cowards under the GOP banner...