Spitzer Hooker: Hey, I'm Still Here!

Apparently unaware her 15 minutes are up, Eliot Spitzer's high-priced prostitute has checked her email and updated her MySpace page. The media dutifully complies by presenting this as news.

Somehow she's still reaping the benefits as some knuckleheads are still buying her "music" online.

Whatever.

Speaking of Spitzer, the man he tried to ruin, Joseph Bruno, has announced his retirement.

Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, the state's most powerful Republican, announced last night that he won't seek re-election in November - and will step down as leader as soon as today.

Bruno, 79, of upstate Rensselaer County, who has been under federal investigation for two years in connection with his outside business dealings, first made the announcement at a closed-door meeting of Republican senators, many of whom appeared stunned.

Bruno, a senator for the past 32 years, the majority leader since 1995, a successful businessman and a former Army boxing champion, said he had decided not to seek re-election because, "It is time to move on with my life and to give my constituents an opportunity for new representation, and my colleagues in the Senate who have supported me an opportunity for new leadership.

Bruno has some possible legal issues and some consider this a way to gracefully exit and avoid indictment.

Some political insiders said they suspect Bruno, whose party holds just a one-seat majority in the Senate, decided not to seek re-election as part of an arrangement to avoid indictment by the Northern District US Attorney's Office.

His aides strongly denied that.

The feds have been probing his private business dealings, including his representation of a Connecticut-based investment company that did business with major New York unions.