Affairs of State

A New York City congressman already in deep trouble admitted today he has a 3-year-old daughter outside his marriage, Radar reports. Vito Fossella, the Big Apple’s only Republican rep, was pulled over for DUI last week and rumors had since swirled that the former Air Force lieutenant colonel he called after his arrest was the mother of his child. More »

Most know her as the feisty DC Madam who riled up the media by releasing her clients' phone records, but a half-finished memoir obtained by Newsweek reveals Deborah Jeane Palfrey's personal side. A small-town girl turned "fuddy-duddy white lady," she overcame a stifling childhood to turn feminist entrepreneur.     More »

Ohio's scandal-hit AG has admitted having an affair, and apologized for his "human failings" in not cracking down on sexual harassment in his office, but doesn't plan to step down, the Columbus Dispatch reports. Marc Dann didn't name the woman, but his chief scheduler, whom he admitted spent the night at his condo, resigned yesterday. Dann fired two more aides and another quit after an internal investigation confirmed harassment charges. More »

Barbara Walters has revealed she had a long affair in the 1970s with Edward Brooke, America’s first elected black senator. In a bombshell admission on a forthcoming episode of Oprah , the grande dame of TV anchors says the married Brooke—a moderate Massachusetts Republican who served in 1967-79—was “exciting” and “brilliant,” the AP reports. More »

Americans love their ironic T-shirts, especially when they make coy references to politicians' sex scandals. The Internet is awash with "Client #9" and "Zippergate '98" gear, but the phenomenon isn't restricted to the digital age. It's version 2.0 of the traditional smear campaign—"as American as apple pie," one political analyst told Radar . More »

The bidding for a tell-all on former New York governor Eliot Spitzer begins at $350,000, the Daily News reports, though publishers don't appear certain of a big market for such a book. An agent for Peter Elkind, a Fortune writer and co-author of an Enron tome, said she expects a deal to be done today. More »

A second hooker has confirmed to federal investigators Eliot Spitzer's proclivity for prostitutes and unprotected sex but has also revealed another embarrassing detail: the disgraced New York governor's fondness for sex toys, the New York Post reports. More »

Vladimir Putin is said to be preparing to marry a 24-year-old star Russian gymnast, the Telegraph reports. Rumors of the 56-year-old president’s courtship to Alina Kabaeva have been swirling around Moscow for months, but were recently printed by a Russian newspaper that found a St. Petersburg event planner who said he was organizing a wedding for the couple. More »

Sharpe James, who was the mayor of Newark, NJ, for two decades, has been convicted of fraud by a federal jury. James conspired to sell city lots on the cheap to his mistress, who then sold them for hundreds of thousands in profit, reports the Star-Ledger . James and the former mistress, Tamika Riley, were both found guilty on all counts, and could spend several years behind bars. More »

Louisiana Sen. David Vitter will be spared an embarrassing trip to the witness stand in the trial of Deborah Palfrey, the so-called “DC Madam,” CQ Politics reports. The defense and prosecution both rested today, with the defense declining to call any witnesses. The Republican lawmaker, who has admitted using Palfrey’s service, was on the defense’s witness list. More »

Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his ex-chief of staff were charged today with perjury, obstruction of justice, and misconduct in office related to their denials under oath that they were romantically involved, the Detroit News reports. Kilpatrick, who faces eight felony counts, said at a press conference shortly after the county prosecutor announced the indictments that he expects "full and complete vindication." More »

Here's to the US sex scandal! Eliot Spitzer and Larry Craig make American politicians seem almost human, Gabor Steingart writes in Der Spiegel . He claims that prudish Americans are fueled by secret lust—"and, in the case of some politicians, naked lunacy." Which makes public shame "an invaluable benefit" to the body politic. More »

David Paterson, who succeeded Eliot Spitzer as governor of New York yesterday, has his own history of extramarital relations. He and his wife Michelle admitted in a joint interview with the New York Daily News that they were unfaithful during a rocky period in their 15-year marriage. But both denied the "sporadic rumor in Albany" that Paterson had fathered a love child. More »

Jim McGreevey has backed up his aide's claim that the two were involved in three-way sex with his estranged wife, contradicting her earlier denial. "This happened, this happened in the past, and now we need to move on with our lives," the former New Jersey governor told the AP. The McGreeveys' bitter divorce case is before the courts, and the aide is expected to be called as a witness. More »

Eliot Spitzer didn't patronize a pricey call girl ring just for the sex, Chris Smith writes in a  provocative New York post-mortem. What really attracted him was the covert op. The silver-spoon-fed Ivy Leaguer was always rebelling against being squeaky clean; as a young prosecutor, he got "hooked on the clandestine" while running stings on the Gambino crime family. More »

A Diane Sawyer special about sex workers will air this week after 2 years on the shelf, Rush & Molloy report in the New York Daily News, and the ABC newshound can thank Eliot Spitzer. Previously considered too sensational for prime time, the show is now closer to "ripped from the headlines." It highlights legal brothels like Nevada's Moonlite Bunny Ranch, where Sawyer "really hit it off with all my girls," the owner says. More »

Former New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey's wife Dina was all over the media last week blasting Eliot Spitzer for hypocrisy and empathizing with this aggrieved wife. That was too much for Teddy Pedersen, a former McGreevey driver and aide who says  “she’s out there being as dishonest as anyone could be.” Pederson says Dina had to know her hubby was gay all along because Pedersen had three-way sex with the couple on numerous occasions. More »

With the New York Times in the spotlight for breaking the Eliot Spitzer story, the paper’s urban-affairs correspondent tackles a flood of reader questions, ranging from whether Hillary Clinton will still get Spitzer’s superdelegate vote (“she loses it”) to how the Times got the story in the first place (“we do not discuss anything on sensitive reporting”). More »

Disgraced soon-to-be-ex-governor Eliot Spitzer's troubles could get even worse as prosecutors probe whether he used campaign funds for his meetings with prostitutes, the New York Times reports. Criminal charges linked to the payments could follow if federal investigators discover campaign money paid for the hotel rooms and transportation Spitzer used for his call-girl trysts. More »

Although Eliot Spitzer’s political career is over, it remains unclear what legal fate awaits the disgraced New York governor, the Wall Street Journal reports. Spitzer’s resignation wasn’t part of any deal, the feds confirm, but makes him less of a legal target. One possibility is a deferred-prosecution settlement, in which Spitzer would admit to the crime—but ultimately won't be prosecuted. More »