Of all the slip-ups that can damage even the most talented of politicos is the high crime of hypocrisy.  (I think my favorite way to pronounce of the word was in the movies many years ago by the bellowing calls of "Hypocrisy" - (Pronounced "HIGH-POCK-RISY!" by the character Big Daddy in "Cat on a Hit Tin Roof."

But in a scene that seemingly could only be found in the movies, it seems that a video making its way through YouTube - and what video doesn't? - is skewering our perennial favorite Supervisor Jim DeMartini for a very messy public entanglement he's having with a woman who is, well, not his wife.

The case involves DeMartini and 21-year-old Serena Essapour (that makes the older of the pair.  Much, much older.)  

She is (get this!) accused of impersonating DeMartini, and being charged with identity theft, misuse of personal information and grand theft by using his information to obtain credit cards. According to DeMartini, Essapour ran up about $10,000 in charges, with some of the bills going to her Turlock home - that after DeMartini had helped her by giving her $6,500 to buy a car.

Here's the way Jeff Jardine of the Modesto Bee put it (better than I could):

DeMartini, I'm told, took Essapour to lunch on numerous occasions. That in itself suggests nothing more, but it certainly leaves the opening for questions.  Why would a seasoned political junkie like DeMartini, who is married, give money with no expectation of repayment to Essapour so she could buy a car?

And while DeMartini is the victim of alleged identity and grand theft, he broke the cardinal rule of politics at any level.  He allowed himself to get close to a young woman, and he could pay for it - with interest.

But the story gets better, as the YouTube video mentioned above is pointing out.  DeMartini was one of Congressman Gary Condit's main tormentors, going on and on about the immorality of Condit's conduct and demanding he resign.

Here's a clip from a July 10, 2001 report on Fox News:

"You can't have a scandal like this and expect to win re-election," said Jim DeMartini, the Republican Committee Chair of Stanislaus County.  "He can go ahead and stay in office and twist in the wind, and we're gonna (sic) get him in the next election," DeMartini said. "He's got a lot to answer to. This story is still not over with."

On a July 11th, 2001 appearance on CNN, DeMartini added:

"His credibility's shot. He's been lying to the police and to his constituents for months."

It gets worse.  Here's a clip from the August 3, 2001 edition of USA Today:

Meanwhile, James DeMartini, chairman of the Stanislaus County GOP, vows to make Condit's conduct during the Levy investigation the focus of the next campaign, if Condit runs again.  DeMartini says Condit committed a cardinal sin in politics by lying to one of his own constituents - Chandra Levy's mother, Susan - when Condit initially denied having a romantic relationship with Chandra. DeMartini says Condit's conduct was an unforgivable breach of trust.

"We're never going to let the people of this district forget what he's done," DeMartini says. "Every place he goes, we'll be there."

Now, don't get us wrong.  No one here misses Gary Condit, who always struck us as a downright dark character.  But the point here is that DeMartini is being hoisted on the same kind of conduct questions that drove Condit from public life.  Perhaps a similar fate awaits him.

All this makes me think that there is an even better way to describe DeMartini's conduct and opportunism, and it's my favorite quotation about the subject:

Hypocrisy is the tribute that vice pays to virtue.