Pick your applicable New York cliché. Its politicians fall faster than a New York minute. Bad apples spoil the Big Apple. It's called Babylon for a reason.

The phrase "scandal fatigue" is now floating around New York. What's that about a governor who might resign? Done that. What's that about the corrupted Harlem political kingpin? Old news. Sex scandal! Which one?

New Yorkers pride themselves on having seen it all before. But even they were taken aback by the past week in state politics.

Gov. David Paterson was forced to give up his reelection bid and still potentially his job. We learned Paterson tried to cover-up an aide's domestic abuse (and free Yankees tickets).

The dean of the state's congressional delegation, Rep. Charlie Rangel, gave up his powerful chairmanship following a House ethics rebuke. He was admonished for Caribbean junkets. But Rangel's bigger albatross consists of ongoing investigations into unpaid taxes and his four rent-controlled apartments (New Yorkers are lucky to get one).

We also learned of a sexual harassment charge against freshman upstate congressman, Eric Massa. Massa quickly announced he would resign. And in quieter news, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, appointed by Paterson, proved no Democrat dare challenge her.

All in one week. Not since Tammany Hall fell some eight decades ago has the state's politics seen such scandal and appeared so in flux.

Elected officials hold only two of New York's six statewide elected offices. It brings to mind a Boss Tweed line, "I don't care who does the electing, so long as I get to do the nominating."

Only Sen. Chuck Schumer and state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo have democratic mandates. Schumer is one of Washington's most hardheaded political pugilists. It says something that he represents New York's good side.

But it's the appointed officials who betray the state's increasingly sordid and unstable politics. Paterson replaced Eliot Spitzer. Spitzer resigned the governorship over his status as Client No. 9 in a prostitution ring. Paterson needed a deputy. New York political veteran Richard Ravitch became the first appointed lieutenant governor in the state's history.

There is state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli. He replaced Alan Hevesi. Hevesi resigned over accusations of using staff for personal errands and his power to barter access to the state's pension fund.

Only Gillibrand is not a product of past scandal. She replaced Hillary Clinton. But even Gillibrand's appointment came after an ugly internal Democratic bout, which embarrassed no less than Caroline Kennedy.

Gillibrand remains a magnet for Democratic disputes. Last week, former Tennessee Rep. Harold Ford decided not to challenge her. Ford, a new New Yorker, never recovered from a New York Times interview. Have you visited the five boroughs? Well, Staten Island once by helicopter. Jets or Giants? Giants, because he was friends with the owner. And when he said he was "pro-life" in the past, he did not mean abortion.

Ford refused to go quietly into the good night. He wrote a column in the Times charging the Democratic machine with bullying him to protect Gillibrand. Shortly after, billionaire Daily News owner Mort Zuckerman said he too would not run. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg took one last shot at Gillibrand. He said Zuckerman or Ford could have beaten her.

But that's the circus of New York politics. It's the extent of the state's scandals that is so unusual. Last month, for the first time in almost a century, the state Senate expelled one of its own. Hiram Monserrate lost his seat over a domestic assault conviction. Monserrate dragged his companion down the hallway of his apartment building. The victim had already been slashed with a glass.

It has not gone unnoticed that the most recent public embarrassments involve Democrats. The ethics issues have darkened an already dark Democratic year. But there indeed remains enough New York scandal to go around.

Former state Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, a Republican, was convicted last year of taking hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes from a businessman. There are also two sullied former GOP congressmen: Vito Fossella (lost his seat over drunk driving) and John Sweeney (lost reelection after reports of spousal abuse).

Scandals are hardly new to New York. Four decades ago, Rangel was the reform candidate against the corrupted Adam Clayton Powell Jr. But no living New Yorker has seen so many big pols fall so fast. Louisiana can now say it had the most scandalous politics.