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Almost a week after State Sen. Malcolm Smith first disclosed that a former staffer had served him with a paternity suit, the usually affable and verbose politician has been laying uncharacteristically low.

Through a statement from his lawyer, Stephen Drummond, Smith confirmed this week that the paternity matter is before a court. The suit was first reported last Friday in the Daily News, which said Smith had committed to financially supporting an unidentified child if a test determines he is the father.

“The Senator and his wife look forward to a just and reasonable judgment,” Drummond said Thursday. “Other than that we have no comment.”

Smith had not returned repeated calls for comment over the past week. After numerous inquires, Drummond finally released a statement, which represented a departure from Smith’s usual policy of handling media inquiries promptly and personally.

His office, which typically floods the media with press releases, has been relatively quiet. Even on the March 1 deadline for Katrina refugees to leave the Radisson Hotel, an issue in which Smith has been deeply involved, the fax machine did not spew out any comment or response with his name until after the end of the business day.

It would appear Smith, who has a wife and two children, is trying to keep a potentially embarrassing matter as private as he can.

Fellow politicians seem willing to oblige. Several Queens elected officials contacted for this story either did not return phone calls or refused to comment. Through a spokeswoman, State Sen. Ada Smith (D-Jamaica) wondered why a reporter would even ask her about the subject, considering she was not the one who slept with Smith.

The reaction to the possible affair differs from the frenzy that swept through Albany several years ago when sex scandals involving State Sen. Guy Velella and Assemblyman Adam Clayton Powell IV caused legislators to express their outrage.

Assemblyman David Townsend (R-Rome), an outspoken critic of Albany culture during that time, said most people’s ire was confined to relationships between officials and young interns. But encounters between two consenting, adult staffers – if single –does not strike him as inappropriate.

If one or both are married, though, “Than you might have a problem,” he said. “I can see where that would create some other issues.”

While the Assembly has overhauled its policy regarding interns, restricting their ability to interact socially with their bosses, the Senate has yet to establish such guidelines. The Senate does have a sexual harassment policy, but it does not specifically forbid consensual flings between co-workers. One Albany official described the rules as “haphazardly thrown together.”

Smith had been in the running to take the Minority Leader position since State Sen. David Patterson (D-Manhattan) decided to pursue the Lieutenant Governor post. Albany sources said it was too early to tell how the paternity suit could affect his chances.