While State Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno has denied his surprising decision not to seek re-election had anything to do with the FBI's investigation into his finances, the FBI hauled away a "massive volume" of Bruno's records, dating back to 1995. The Post says the FBI seized the documents hours before Bruno's Monday afternoon announcement. In 2006, Bruno announced that he was under investigation, for various deals involving land, racehorses, and labor unions. Interestingly, the......

Jerry Seinfeld’s lawyers urged a judge yesterday to throw out a defamation lawsuit brought against him by litigious cookbook author Missy Chase Lapine. In addition to suing Seinfeld’s wife Jessica for plagiarizing her book about sneaking healthy food into kids’ meals, Lapine has also sued Jerry for slander after he likened her to an assassin on David Letterman's show: "If you read history, many of the three-name people do become assassins. Mark David Chapman and,......

Scandal-troubled Vito Fossella and his wife Mary Pat were seen at the 28th annual Advance Memorial Day Run. In their first public appearance since Fossella apologized for his DWI, the Advance reports the couple "were on-hand to show support for their son, Dylan, who was among the more than 1,000 individuals who ran the four-mile race." A witness told the Post the couple "kept their distance. They didn't look like they were together. It didn't......

Representative Vito Fossella may not be ready to fight for re-election to the House, but he will try to fight a DWI conviction: Fossella's defense lawyer "subpoenaed files" from the maker of the Intoxilyzer 5000, a device whose findings have been challenged before. Fossella was found with a blood level alcohol of 0.17, twice the legal limit, in Alexandria, VA. The scandal grew when the media wondered who the woman who picked Fossella up from......

Ah, there's nothing like tabloid sleuthing. The NY Post assigned a reporter and photographer to follow Representative Vito Fossella's girlfriend in Alexandria, VA and they hit the jackpot: They spotted her meeting up with Fossella and taking off on a "pre-Memorial Day rendez-vous." Two weeks after admitting he had a love child with Laura Fay and three weeks after apologizing for a DWI in Virginia, the married-to-someone else Fossella announced he would not run for......

Mary Pat Fossella has made her first public words after her Congressman husband's DWI arrest and admission about an extramarital affair and love child. She sent an e-mail to the Post:This has been a very painful time for my family and I. I have known Vito since I was 16 years old and this is not what I envisioned for him and my family. I had no idea of this world he was living. I......

Deciding that a DWI arrest and an extramarital affair resulting in a love child are too much burden going into November elections, Representative Vito Fossella has announced he will end his stint in Congress when his current term ends. He posted a letter explaining his decision--he wants to "concentrate on healing the wounds that I have caused to my wife and family"--on his website (the full letter is also below). Fossella's decision comes after......

Question: If a politician gets arrested for drunk driving and then has to cop to an extra-marital affair that spawned a secret love-child, does that mean he's unelectable? Embattled Republican congressman Vito Fossella doesn't think so; he's telling friends and advisers that that he thinks he can win re-election, the Times has it. After lying low for a little while, Fossella began tip-toeing back into the public eye this weekend with an appearance at a......

Representative Vito Fossella, whose public image has taken a battering after a DWI arrest and admitting to having a girlfriend and toddler in Virginia, was out and about at the Great Kills Memorial Day Parade yesterday. The Advance says he "was cheered, hugged, kissed on the cheek and had supporters jockeying to shake his hand." Fossella's friend State Senator Andrew Lanza said, "This is an unprecedented outpouring of warmth and support." However, Staten Islanders had......

Congressman Vito Fossella made two public appearances last night, one at a Gracie Mansion dinner for the NY Congressional delegation and another at a Conservative Party dinner in Staten Island. Staten Island Borough President James Molinaro felt Fossella's appearance meant the embattled representative would run for re-election, "It makes me think that he's a candidate. Why else would he bother?" One Democrat who attended the dinner agreed and told the Daily News, "This is a......

Representative Vito Fossella still has not uttered a peep about whether he's going to resign or stay on as a member of Congress in the wake of his DWI arrest and admission of having a love child and girlfriend in Virginia. But here's what's happening since yesterday!His crisis consultant says, "Congressman Fossella appreciates the support of so many people, including Guy Molinari, but he has not made any decision yet. And he continues to spend......

A close friend of Representative Vito Fossella says the troubled Congressman is far from thinking about resignation. Maybe! At first, former Staten Island Borough President Guy Molinari told the Staten Island Advance Fossella "has every intention of running." But then Molinari withdrew the statement, amending it to, "I wouldn't be surprised if the ultimate decision is to run again." The Post notes how Fossella was allegedly surprised that other members of the House GOP might......

After his DWI arrest led to admitting an affair and a 3-year-old love child in Virginia, Representative Vito Fossella returned to Staten Island to rampant speculation of his imminent resignation. Not only has the media predicted a resignation could come soon, the Advance reports House GOP leader Rep. John Boehner and Republican National Campaign Committee head Rep. Tom Cole have contacted Staten Island District Attorney Daniel Donovan to see if he's interested in the seat.......

The noose is tightening around Representative Vito Fossella's political career: Many insiders think he should resign immediately, especially so the Republican can work on a replacement candidate for reelection this fall, and the Staten Island Advance editorial demands that he resign, "Far too much damage has been done to his personal reputation and credibility at this point for him to recover and be an effective public servant. And there is too much potential for......

Yesterday Representative Vito Fossella said he would make another announcement about his DWI arrest today, and it was quite the bombshell for the Staten Island GOP machine: He admitted to having an affair with retired Air Force Colonel Laura Fay and fathering a three-year-old daughter with her. Here's his statement: I have had a relationship with Laura Fay, with whom I have a three-year-old daughter. My personal failings and imperfections have caused enormous pain to......

The NY Times visited the corner of 61st Street and Amsterdam to find out what New York adolescent girls at the alterna-Beacon School think of "role model" Miley Cyrus. Recently the 15-year-old actress was caught flaunting her bare skin online and in print. While some of the young ladies were fans (or rather, they "love-hate" her), the Vanity Fair photoshoot had them blurting out words like "whore" and "slut". There is, apparently, a fine line......

Errol Morris in a conversation with Anthony Swofford after the screening of Standard Operating Procedure at the Tribeca Film Festival. Academy Award-winning director Errol Morris was on hand last night for a Tribeca Film Festival screening of his new documentary Standard Operating Procedure, a nuanced exploration of the detainee abuse scandal at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. Those familiar with Morris’s innovative oeuvre won’t be surprised to hear that, far from a tendentious indictment of......

Photo of Spitzer and Sen. Schumer, by aboutmattlaw at flickr Former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer has emerged from his upstate seclusion and now has his nose back to the grindstone--this time in the private sector. There was no need to polish his resumé, however, as his new boss is his father. Bernard Spitzer, who is 83 years old and suffering from Alzheimer's, amassed a half-billion dollar real estate and money management empire during......

According to the tabloids (and the Miami Herald), apparently, former Governor Spitzer would not only solicit high-priced call girls in Florida but that he'd keep his black mid-calf socks on during the deed. Take that, NY Times story about finding the good in Spitzer's term as Governor! Of course, these socking claims come from GOP operative Roger Stone, who may or may not have left a rude voicemail on Spitzer's dad's phone, calling Eliot a......

Governor David Paterson hoped his and his wife's admission that they had extramarital affairs meant that everyone could move on. Other politicians certainly want to move on and constituents generally don't think it's a big deal (Hookergate fatigue?), but now that the tabloids have license to run with it, it means details (and long cover headlines) galore! One of the women Paterson had an affair with worked for under Governor Spitzer, when Spitzer was......

Likely many a person coming to New York City with a dream, Ashley Alexandra Dupre, also known as Governor Spitzer's February 13 call girl "Kristen," wanted to be famous. But did she want to be infamous enough to be on the cover of the NY Post as a "BAD GIRL"? And how bad can she be, if she has a tattoo of a cross on her right hand? In addition to the photo on......

Photograph of Room 871 from DC Examiner The complaint filings the U.S. Attorney's Office made in the Emperors Club VIP prostitution ring show details about Client 9, which allegedly is Governor Eliot Spitzer. Here are some of the highlights:Client 9 paid $4,300 for the services of "Kristen," described as "An American, petite, very pretty brunette, 5-feet-5 inches and 105 pounds.”Client 9 was "paying for everything -- train tickets, cab fare from the hotel and......

With rumors buzzing that Governor Spitzer will resign in light of his involvement with a prostitution ring, the residents of New York could very well join the residents of Connecticut and New Jersey in the "My Governor Resigned Due to Scandal Club." On July 1, 2004, Connecticut Governor John Rowland resigned after it was discovered that contractors who did business with the state also did work on his weekend cottage free of charge. Rowland......

Photograph of Governor Spitzer, with his wife Silda Wall Spitzer, during his apology to his family and the citizens of New York by Mary Altaffer/AP Governor Spitzer made a statement this afternoon referring to his apparent link to a prostitution ring." He had canceled his events and made this brief and cryptic statement:Over the past nine years, eight as attorney general and one as governor, I have tried to uphold a vision of progressive......

After a 16-year absence from the beauty pageant circuit, Miss Brooklyn returned this year -- which meant that maybe, just maybe, a Brooklynite would become Miss New York, or even Miss America. Of all the 17 to 24 year olds in Brooklyn, last week's pageant was only seven-strong, and the winner is causing a commotion in the borough. The Brooklyn Paper is reporting on the scandalous move of crowning a "queen who's not from Kings."......

The Japanese ad agency being sued by one of its former employees for forcing him to go to brothels is countersuing, saying that Steve Biegel was fired for poor performance, not because he complained about sex shenanigans at work. Details of Biegel's lawsuit were released late last week and included info on ad shop CEO's peculiar affinity for crotch shots of women, including one he took of Maria Sharapova and passed around the office. That......