SOMETIMES it just doesn’t pay to go on national TV and lie.

That’s what U.S. Rep. Gary Condit must be thinking as the Seattle contingent in his sex scandal—former squeeze Anne Marie Smith and her attorney, James Robinson—is taking legal action against the sleazeball politico over his recent remarks to television interviewer Connie Chung. Robinson was in California on Monday, where he filed a criminal complaint against Condit and two staffers alleging obstruction of justice. According to a report on the MSNBC Web site, the lawyer hopes a grand jury will investigate Smith’s claim that Condit and company pressured her to sign a statement denying she’d had an affair with the lusty congressman (she says they did; Condit, while denying any wrongdoing, never quite answered Chung’s question about whether he’d had an affair with Smith).

On the bright side, based on the embattled rep’s weasel-like performance in front of the ABC cameras, nobody has to waste any sympathy on him ever again. Goodnight, Gary.

James Bush jbush@seattleweekly.com