The Politico does some digging.

As New York mayor, Rudy Giuliani billed obscure city agencies for tens of thousands of dollars in security expenses amassed during the time when he was beginning an extramarital relationship with future wife Judith Nathan in the Hamptons, according to previously undisclosed government records.

The documents, obtained by Politico under New York's Freedom of Information Law, show that the mayoral costs had nothing to do with the functions of the little-known city offices that defrayed his tabs, including agencies responsible for regulating loft apartments, aiding the disabled and providing lawyers for indigent defendants.

So as Giuliani went to visit his then super secret girlfriend Judith Nathan at her apartment in The Hamptons, his security detail (including round the clock police protection) incurred "hotel, gas and other costs" all on the tax payers' dime.

In other words, as David Dayen at The Right's Field calls it, Rudy was engaging in:

government-financed adultery.

Or perhaps alternatively: socialized shagging.

This story has already been picked up by traditional media outlets such as USA Today and even right-wing outlet Fox News, which is problematic for Rudy on several levels. Not only does it remind people of Giuliani's adultery, but, as Josh Marshall notes, it also hits him from a fiscal conservatism perspective as well. But perhaps worst of all for Rudy, this episode will likely associate him in people's minds with a certain someone to whom the GOP candidates shouldn't exactly be praying for comparisons. As Dayen notes:

The official secrecy, the abuse of the public trust - sound like somebody currently in the Oval Office that you know?

Because as it turns out, per The Politico, in an eerie echo (or foreshadowing as the case may be) of the excuse for secrecy routinely used by the man Giuliani seeks to succeed, when anyone started digging into the errant expenses...

At the time, the mayor's office refused to explain the accounting to city auditors, citing "security."

As for a response from the Giuliani campaign, all The Politico notes is:

A Giuliani spokeswoman, Sunny Mindel, declined to comment on any aspect of the travel documents or the billing arrangements.

A Giuliani aide who would speak only on the condition of anonymity denied that the unorthodox billing practices were aimed at hiding the expenses, citing "accounting" and noting that they were billed to units of the mayor's office, not to outside city agencies.

The aide declined to discuss Giuliani's visits to Long Island.

From the start, we knew that Giuliani would be a hard sell for the nomination if the media simply did its job and reported his extreme unfitness for office. Looks like, with a push from online outlets such as TPM, which currently features an extensive catalog of Rudy's ethical issues, and The Politico, we may be seeing the beginnings of the unraveling of Giuliani's entire "America's Mayor" persona and with it, any remnants of a rationale for his candidacy.