Thread: Newly-Appointed NY Governor Admits To Affair

Newly-Appointed NY Governor Admits To Affair
Both Paterson, Wife Admit To Cheating

POSTED: 8:13 pm PDT March 17, 2008
UPDATED: 8:39 pm PDT March 17, 2008

New York Gov. David Paterson told the Daily News in an interview that he and his wife had extramarital affairs.

Both Paterson, 53, and his wife, Michelle, 46, acknowledged in a joint interview with the newspaper they each had intimate relationships with others during a rocky period in their marriage several years ago.

Paterson told the Daily News that he maintained a relationship with another woman from 1999 until 2001. He and his wife eventually sought counseling and repaired their relationship.

The couple agreed to speak publicly about their marriage in response to rumors about Paterson's personal life that have been swirling in Albany since Spitzer resigned, the Daily News reported Monday on its Web site.

Paterson rose from the lieutenant governor's office after Spitzer resigned last week amid allegations that he hired a call girl from a high-priced escort service. It was a dramatic fall for Spitzer, who was elected with an overwhelming share of the vote and who had vowed to root out corruption at the state Capitol.

http://www.fox5vegas.com/news/15625341/detail.html

Well, now we know where Payton Place is... it's the NY Gov.'s masion.

Dixie

It seems the pool of decent politicans in New York is getting slimmer by the day.

It seems the pool of decent politicans in New York is getting slimmer by the day.

That's assuming there were any decent ones to begin with

New NY Governor Admits Affairs Years Ago

By MICHAEL GORMLEY
Associated Press Writer

Posted: Today at 7:18 p.m.

ALBANY, N.Y. — A day after his predecessor's sex scandal propelled him into office, Gov. David Paterson revealed Tuesday that he had affairs with a "number of women," including a state employee, but said that does not affect his ability to lead.

Paterson had admitted one affair in a newspaper interview hours after taking office Monday, but gave a fuller accounting at a news conference with his wife at his side.

"Several years ago, there were a number of women," Paterson said. "The public wants to know who its elected officials are and sometimes, even though you are human, and you are someone who just has feelings and has faults, there comes a time, perhaps, when you have to tell the public."

Paterson said that the affairs happened during a rough patch in his marriage, and that the employee did not work for him. He insisted that he did not advance her career, and that no campaign or state money was spent on the affairs.

The admissions dampened the mood in the Capitol, where legislators had chanted Paterson's name and cheered after he was sworn in Monday. But there were many significant differences between Paterson's infidelity and the scandal that took down former Gov. Eliot Spitzer.

Spitzer, like Paterson a Democrat, has been accused of spending tens of thousands of dollars on high-priced call girls, including one last month. Federal prosecutors are deciding whether to pursue charges against Spitzer, who went after prostitution rings when he served as attorney general.

"I do not feel I have broken my commitment to the citizens of New York state," Paterson said.

Paterson, a Harlem Democrat, talked about one affair in an interview with the New York Daily News after he was sworn in Monday, but his comments Tuesday were the first showing that the couple's fidelity problems went deeper than he first acknowledged.

He and his wife, Michelle Paige Paterson, said they both had affairs during a time when their marriage was headed toward divorce. But they admitted the infidelity, sought counseling and said they have built a stronger marriage and family.

"We dealt with it as a family," his wife said. "A marriage has peaks and valleys. ... No marriage is perfect."

The governor said that the affairs took place since about 1999, and that one extended into the beginning of his term as Senate minority leader, which began in 2002. None involved prostitutes, he said.

Paterson said that he didn't reveal the affairs during his time as a senator, Senate minority leader or lieutenant governor because no one had asked him, and that he came forward because he didn't want the rumors to cloud his governorship.

"I didn't want to be blackmailed," he said.

"I think we have a marriage like many Americans, maybe even like many of you," the governor told reporters. "Elected officials are really just reflections of the people we represent."

Paterson, who is legally blind and New York's first black governor, served two decades in the state Senate. His former colleagues have said they expect he will be a more unifying force than Spitzer, who often butted heads with legislative Republicans in his 14 months in office.

"Just as people were getting a good feeling and a feeling Paterson was a breath of fresh air, this happens," said Lee Miringoff of the Marist College poll. "I think he spent some of his political capital from Monday because it becomes part of the same story: Who is he?"

"This all becomes who he is," Miringoff said. "It obviously doesn't do him any good with a lot of voters, but it's not a knock-out punch ... it's not the Spitzer situation."

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, a Democrat, said Tuesday he doesn't believe Paterson was weakened by the disclosure.

"This Albany press corps was in a feeding frenzy, looking for anything they could do to find it," Silver said. "And basically what David Paterson did was say, 'Stop bothering people. Here's the story. And that's it.'"

Republican Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, who is next in the line of succession to the governor's office should something happen to Paterson, said Paterson's personal life is Paterson's business only as long as it doesn't interfere with how he governs.

Asked whether he thinks Paterson's disclosure will be a one-day story, Bruno said: "I hope so."

Associated Press Writers Michael Virtanen and Valerie Bauman contributed to this report.

Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

http://www.localtechwire.com/news/natio ... y/2598005/

There's a huge difference between Paterson and Spitzer, as far as this goes.

Spitzer prosecuted a prostitution ring in LI, but somehow thought the same law didn't apply to him? He abused his office and broke the law. Paterson did not.

What goes on in a marriage is a private matter. What Spitzer did, did not involve his marriage.

NY gov says he tried drugs in his youth

Gov. David Paterson says he tried cocaine in his 20s

New governor also says he used marijuana when young

Last week, Paterson said he and wife had affairs

Paterson replaces governor who resigned amid prostitution scandal

NEW YORK (AP) -- New York's new governor, who disclosed last week that he and his wife committed adultery several years ago, said Monday he used cocaine in his 20s and smoked marijuana when he was younger.


Gov. David Paterson says he told another interviewer about drug use before he was governor.

In reference to cocaine, Gov. David Paterson, 53, said in a television interview that he "tried it a couple of times" when he was "about 22 or 23."

"And marijuana probably when I was about 20," he said on the NY1 cable news station. "I don't think I touched marijuana since the '70s."

"More Americans have tried a lot more during that period of time and gone on to lead responsible lives and hopefully have lived their lives to their fullest," he said.

Paterson was lieutenant governor under Gov. Eliot Spitzer, who resigned last week amid a prostitution scandal.

Last week, Paterson and his wife, Michelle Paterson, disclosed they each had strayed from the marriage years ago. The couple were separated for a "couple years" at the time, David Paterson said Monday.

In Monday's interview, Paterson pointed out he had acknowledged to a television journalist in 2006 that he had used illegal drugs.

The NY1 interviewer, Dominic Carter, noted that few people paid attention to Paterson's revelation then because he was running for lieutenant governor

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/03/24/ ... index.html

What in the hell is wrong with me!!!

I've been married for 25 years and have never had an extramarital affair. Furthermore, I've never had a prostitute, experminted with cocain, or used marijuana.