Jeanine Pirro - Westchester DA and talk-show guest extraordinaire - is being investigated by the (Bush-appointed) US Attorney down there for allegations that she was going to hire someone to surveil her husband, whom she suspected of extramarital activities. Specifically, she hired former NYC Police Commissioner Bernie Kerik to bug the Pirros’ boat.

This is getting loads of play downstate, and is being reported locally, but I suspect this story won’t have legs. New York Magazine’s Early & Often says:

As political spouses go, Al is no Laura Bush. He spent eleven months in prison, fathered an illegitimate daughter during his marriage to Pirro, and was recently arrested for speeding…You almost have to admire the mixture of incompetence and fortitude that compels Jeanine Pirro to press on, Job-like, with her political career.”

The Times has a roundup of blog commentary from around the state’s nether regions, and many are concluding that, given Pirro’s hubby problem in general, this is the maraschino cherry topping the icing on the cake.

Here’s part of Pirro’s statement on the issue:

Nothing happened here that is, or should be, the business of the United States attorney’s office… Sometime last year, I came to believe that my husband was seeing another woman. I was angry and had him followed to see if what I suspected was true. Although I spoke about taping him, there was no wiretapping by me of anyone. There was anger, and frustration, and nothing more.

Ben Smith from the Daily Politics has the video of her presser via YouTube:

I feel bad for Pirro. There’s no excuse for something like this being investigated, or being publicized. Her husband is already a massive distraction, but she had managed to somehow compartmentalize her political career from that.

That’s all academic, though. I don’t think she has a chance.

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