Jill Kelley: Hell hath no fury like a socialite scorned

Certainly it can hard to be “the other woman” in a political sex scandal. But who knew that it’s also no picnic being “the other woman’s” woman?

That’s the situation Jill Kelley has found herself in. But Kelley, the Tampa, Fla., socialite who sparked the investigation into ex-CIA Director David H. Petraeus’ extramarital affair with Paula Broadwell, which prompted his resignation, is not taking her situation lying down.

She’s suing the FBI and the Pentagon for violating her privacy.

POLITICAL SCANDALS: Sex, lies and lawsuits

As my colleague Shashank Bengali reported Tuesday:

Kelley says U.S. officials obtained unauthorized access to her personal emails after she reported receiving anonymous, threatening messages beginning in June 2012. She also alleges that officials unlawfully disclosed her name to the news media after Petraeus’ affair became public.

The FBI and Pentagon “willfully and maliciously thrust the Kelleys into the maw of public scrutiny concerning one of the most widely reported sex scandals to rock the United States government,” according to a complaint filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Washington. The complaint says Kelley and her husband, Scott, are seeking an apology and unspecified monetary damages.

The apology shouldn’t be that hard. Maybe some nice flowers?

Ah, but just what might those monetary damages be? Here’s a hint from the story:

[Kelley] was appointed honorary consul for South Korea -- a position that was revoked after bad publicity.

“The prestige, connections, and reputation associated with that position could easily, and ethically, have resulted in millions of dollars in commission payments over Mrs. Kelley’s lifetime,” the complaint alleges.

In other words, Uncle Sam, you might want to make sure that debt ceiling gets raised after all.

And, should Kelley win, in a strange way she’ll be part of a somewhat select group -- politicians felled by a sex scandal, and the women who, sometimes at least, profited from it.

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