Christine Quinn, the Irish American front runner for New York mayor, has an explosive temper that cows her staff and intimidates opponents, The New York Times has revealed.

Her outbursts are so bad that aides have had her office soundproofed so that outsiders cannot hear them.

“Did she throw up on you” staffers ask each other daily referring to her explosive outbursts.

Quinn, who was interviewed for the piece, stated she did have a temper but that, “When I end up yelling, it’s not really deliberate,” Ms. Quinn said last week. “It’s usually out of some moment of passion or frustration or real desire to get unstuck.” She admitted she was a “control freak.”

She often threatens to “cut the balls off” male opponents and swears uncontrollably at times.

Quinn’s temper may become an issue in the campaign.She is far ahead in polls and looking increasingly likely to win the Democratic nomination and be hot favorite against her Republican opponent in November.

The Times recounted how she slammed Betsy Gotbaum, then the city’s public advocate, when legislation failed to move fast enough through the city council.

“You were like Bambi in there!” Ms. Quinn said and slammed her hand on a table. Gotbaum was stunned. “I didn’t merit that kind of unprofessional behavior,” she told The Times.

The Times says that Quinn, who would be the first openly gay mayor, is seen by many, even friends, as “controlling, temperamental and surprisingly volatile, with a habit of hair-trigger eruptions of unchecked, face-to-face wrath.”

She has threatened, repeatedly, to slice off the private parts of those who cross her.

She can also be vindictive. When Queens council member Elizabeth Crowley failed to include her name in a press release, Quinn cut off her funding.

Quinn defended her actions to The Times, “I don’t think being pushy or bitchy or tough, or however you want to characterize it, is a bad thing,” she said. “New Yorkers want somebody who’s going to get things done.”

“Sometimes I yell, sometimes I raise my voice,” she added. “I am trying to do it less, because it’s not always attractive. It’s not always the right thing to do.”

However, two dozen aides, opponents and people who interact with her say she often goes to far. “Her eyes get really wide, she points her fingers,” one official said. “She gets really close to you. It’s really in your face.”

Quinn however defends her behavior as the cost of getting things done. “Whatever job I have next, I’m going to be somebody who wants to get things done.”

“I want to be a better Chris Quinn,” she added. “I don’t want to be a different Chris Quinn.”