Allegations of Dreier's sexual orientation surface

California congressman David Dreier appears to be avoiding public appearances after a Los Angeles alternative weekly printed a bombshell story this week alleging that the lawmaker had a gay affair with his chief of staff, the New York Post reported Friday. Dreier was supposed to receive an award at Wednesday's Directors Guild of America Awards at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York. Instead, he and cohonoree Rep. Howard Berman of California appeared in a video thanking the audience, the newspaper reported. The "outing" of Dreier was done in an article that appears in the most recent issue of L.A. Weekly. The newspaper cited well-known blogger Michael Rogers, a former employee of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, who wrote on his site that he had awarded Dreier the "Roy Cohn Award in recognition of 24 years of working against gay and lesbian rights while living as a gay man yourself." Another blog, titled Raw Story, interviewed Dreier's former Democratic opponent, Janice Nelson, who said she knew during the 2000 campaign that Dreier was living with his chief of staff, Brad Smith. She said she came forward after learning that Hustler magazine was planning an expose on Dreier's "secret gay life," the Post reported. According to Raw Story, Smith pulled down a salary of $156,000 a year. He was the highest-paid chief of staff to any House committee chair.