He threw away his marriage for a co-ed staffer half his age, and now Dan Halloran, the city councilman already under indictment in an alleged plot to rig the mayoral race, could lose his seat after another seamy office romp.
Halloran, 41, a cocky Queens Republican and a practicing pagan, has been carrying on with 23-year-old Denise Batista since she was an intern in his council office, sources told The Post.
The brunette beauty was seen covering her face at Halloran's Flushing home when FBI agents led him out in handcuffs during his predawn arrest April 2, when he was charged in Democratic state Sen. Malcolm Smith's alleged plot to bribe his way onto the GOP mayoral ticket.
Ellis Kaplan
MORE HOTWATER: Councilman Dan Halloran, facing bribery charges after his April 2 arrest, runs errands at his Queens home with Denise Batista, his second young staffer-turned lover after former aide Meaghan Mapes.
Halloran could be hit with disorderly-conduct sanctions — including dismissal — if found to have violated the council's ethics policy with Batista or a previous deputy chief of staff with whom he had a relationship.
Batista, a student and tennis player at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, first hooked up with Halloran while she was working for him, an "absolute no-no" under city and council rules, a council source said. Batista has since quit her intern gig.
The relationship comes on the heels of Halloran's 2010-2011 romance with Meaghan Mapes, his pretty former $30,000-a-year deputy chief of staff. The affair with Mapes, then 21, was revealed by The Post this month.
That relationship imploded Halloran's marriage. His wife, Cynthia, filed for divorce in 2011. It has not been finalized.
Council Speaker Christine Quinn told The Post over the weekend that she plans to launch an ethics probe into Halloran's extracurricular activities with the two staffers.
"The council takes [potential] sexual harassment and discrimination very seriously," said Quinn spokesman Jamie McShane. "Speaker Quinn will immediately refer [this] to the council's Standards and Ethics Committee."
The council source said: "The council's sexual-harassment policy is clear: It's inappropriate and improper for a supervisor — in this case the council member — to engage in a romantic and sexual relationship with a subordinate. It's an absolute no-no.
"If [Halloran] used his position [to] get girls and uses it to take advantage of girls or hire interns or staff, then it's morally wrong and legally wrong, and the voters deserve better."
Mapes, who started law school in Virginia last year, was long gone from Halloran's office when Batista entered the picture, sources said.
It became clear to other staffers last fall that Batista, who filed and answered phones, was dating her boss.
"There was this 'here we go again' " feeling among staff, said a source close to Halloran.
It's unclear when Batista started her unpaid internship with Halloran — a practitioner of the Theodish religion, a heathenism offshoot in which members wear medieval garb, can be publicly flogged, toss spears and drink whiskey from horns.
Batista and Halloran soon began showing up at events, including last year's Bell Boulevard Christmas-tree lighting, in his white Jaguar.
"Halloran had her resign so it wouldn't be a problem anymore," said a source close to the pol.
When he was courting Mapes, Halloran often spent the night at her off-campus St. John's University apartment, sneaking in a side door.
This time around, Halloran isn't hiding his relationship. He has posted pictures of Batista, a yoga enthusiast, on Facebook and in March changed his status on the site from "it's complicated" to "in a relationship."
On Friday, the couple were spotted leaving his home in his Jaguar and returning an hour later holding Starbucks cups and groceries.
Later that day, Batista declined to comment to a reporter and peeled off in her BMW SUV.
Halloran did not respond to multiple requests for comment. A spokesman for him declined to comment.
Halloran pleaded not guilty on April 23 in the alleged bribery scheme to get Smith on the city's mayoral primary ballot. He could face up to 45 years behind bars if convicted. He has been stripped of his council committee posts, but has said he has no plans to resign.
Additional reporting by Natasha Velez and Jeane MacIntosh
matthew.nestel@nypost.com
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