Daniel Halloran has been scrutinized before

In public, City Councilman Daniel Halloran was not above making a splash of his endorsements.

Wearing a kilt and a broad smile, the 42-year-old lawyer and former prosecutor marched with then-Republican gubernatorial candidate Rick Lazio in the city's 2010 St. Patrick's Day Parade.

Earlier this month he joined other Republican council members in endorsing mayoral candidate Joe Lhota in his run for the top job at City Hall.

Behind the scenes, though, Halloran's methods have come under scrutiny.

The relative newcomer to politics who represents a northeast chunk of Queens that includes Whitestone, Bayside and Little Neck is facing federal charges along with five others of scheming to rig the upcoming New York City mayoral primary.

Halloran's attorney, Dennis Ring, said, "The councilman denies all allegations and looks forward to clearing his name and returning to court."

Halloran was first elected to the City Council in 2009 with the backing of the Conservative, Republican and tea parties.

Less than three years later, he became the GOP nominee to run for New York's 6th Congressional District. He was defeated by Grace Meng, a Democrat, in a tough election in which he blamed his loss on the redrawing of electoral districts to represent the growing Asian population in Queens.

During the campaign for the congressional seat, published reports said that Halloran failed to file his campaign-finance reports when he ran for City Council, and the matter was referred to the Albany district attorney's office. Halloran filed 21/2 years' worth of campaign reports soon after the reports became public.

In October 2011, Halloran dress downed a car dealer in Flushing over noise coming from its repair shop and threatened to retaliate if the dealership didn't control the noise. His tirade, filled with obscenities, was caught on tape.

Four months earlier, according to reports, Halloran was sued by a traffic agent, Daniel Chu, who accused the councilman of trying to get him kicked off the NYPD after he ticketed Halloran's Jaguar.

In December 2010, when a blizzard shut down much of New York City, Halloran garnered national attention when he said he had evidence that sanitation workers organized a work slowdown. The city's Department of Investigation launched an inquiry and found no such evidence.