Gov. David A. Paterson personally directed two state employees to contact the woman who had accused his close aide of assaulting her, according to two people with direct knowledge of the governor’s actions.
According to one person who was briefed on the matter, Mr. Paterson instructed his press secretary, Marissa Shorenstein, to ask the woman to publicly describe the episode as nonviolent, which would contradict her accounts to the police and in court.
Mr. Paterson also enlisted another state employee, Deneane Brown, a friend of both the governor and the accuser, to make contact with the woman before she was due in court to finalize an order of protection against the aide, David W. Johnson, the two people with direct knowledge said. Ms. Brown, an employee of the Division of Housing and Community Renewal, reached out to the woman on more than one occasion over a period of several days and arranged a phone call between the governor and the woman, Mr. Johnson’s companion.
Please resign. Now.
UPDATE (J): Politico reports that Paterson could potentially face criminal charges for witness tampering and obstruction of justice. State AG Andrew Cuomo — viewed by many as the man who’ll ride to the rescue of Democrats in the fall — is already investigating the incident.
am glad to be a Hoosier. I thought Mitch was bad; gosh this guy has to be the one of the worst Governor ever.
anyone challenge the constitutionality of Ratovich if he became Governor? That is my main concern of Paterson resigning.
I read the NYTimes profile of the guy and he seems kinda awesome. Would NY Republicans really challenge the constitutionality of his rise to Governor? Especially considering he might actually be able to fix some things?
And isn’t the next in line that loathsome dude from State Senate? Would Republicans really force that dude on NY?
Basically…what up with Richard Ravitch?
it’s times like this when I really start missing Eliot Spitzer.
I’ll take expensive hookers over this kind of flagrant abuse of power any day.
If Cuomo doesn’t run, Spitzer should. After all that Paterson has put the state through since Spitzer’s resignation, I think the voters would forgive him, and he doesn’t have the Bush DOJ trying to sandbag him this time, so he might actually be able to get something done.
At least hookers are interesting. Interfering with domestic violence stuff is just evil w/out any of the T&A.
On the other hand, that report from Cuomo about the “rouge unit” of the State police was incredible. Great material for a James Ellroy novel.
This has to start hurting Cuomo at some point just for sharing the same party.
I don’t mean like Tek said above, I think Paterson’s problems are his, and the D brand will be fine. But if Paterson doesn’t resign, with Cuomo investigating, and then Cuomo (presumably) declaring for governor, I’m worried that Paterson can still do damage.
What are the chances that Paterson throws some baseless (and racially-charged) accusations at Cuomo during all of this, just out of spite? I can imagine Paterson trying to muddle the chronology on this, and try to downplay the scandal and make Cuomo look bad for investigating the man he seeks to replace.
Regardless, Cuomo has played this smart up to this point, and I’m sure he’ll make it to November without too much trouble. But that doesn’t mean Paterson can’t try to make it ugly. Cuomo will have to be careful with all of this.
Obviously much of his behavior during his Governorship has been bizarre. Obviously he should see the inside of a prison cell if he is guilty of this, although this sounds blown out of proportion. And obviously I wouldn’t vote for him.
But I do have to give Paterson some props for making politically suicidal but necessary cuts to spending (with some relatively modest tax hikes) to keep the state solvent. Thanks in part to some of the decisions he’s made, New York isn’t a complete disaster like California.