A day after Paterson took the reins of government, he revealed that he had not been faithful to his wife. The couple both had affairs.
Gov. David A. Paterson acknowledged on Tuesday that he had had several extramarital relationships, including one with a state employee, but said he had done nothing illegal and had been faithful to his wife in recent years.
Mr. Paterson said he made the disclosure because he wanted to clear his conscience and avoid being blackmailed. He said he hoped his openness about his past affairs would help him to gain the trust of New Yorkers and move forward to focus on governing.
“I didn’t want to be compromised, I didn’t want to be blackmailed, I didn’t want to hesitate taking an action because the person on the other end might hurt me or my family,” Mr. Paterson, a Democrat, said during the tense and often awkward appearance with his wife, Michelle Paige Paterson, at his side. “I just thought this was the time to come forward and reveal this.”
Mr. Paterson said no state funds had been used as he carried out his affairs. He said he may have used his campaign credit card for some expenses that he did not detail, but said, if so, he would have reimbursed his campaign for the spending.
Mr. Paterson’s revelation comes less than a week after Gov. Eliot Spitzer, who was caught on a federal wiretap arranging to meet with a prostitute, resigned, and a former governor of New Jersey, James E. McGreevey, and his estranged wife publicly traded claims about the nature of their sex life together.
Mr. Paterson said he had asked Mr. Spitzer to delay the effective date of his resignation until Monday as he grappled with how much to disclose about his past infidelities.
“I didn’t know that I was even going to be here until last Wednesday,” he said, referring to the office of governor. “I put it back a few days to try and organize things, and this is one of the issues I just want to get straight with New York’s citizens so that they know who their governor is and that their governor takes this office seriously.”
...Just after the swearing-in, while Mr. Paterson’s supporters were still celebrating, the new administration was plunged into its first crisis, as a Daily News columnist inquired about a past affair and Mr. Paterson and his mostly untested advisers debated how to handle the matter.
The governor and his wife told the columnist that they had each strayed during the marriage, and then Ms. Paterson, an executive at the Health Insurance Plan of New York, canceled a morning appearance in Manhattan and came to the capital to meet the crush of reporters.
Last week, Paterson put his sex life on the table.
This week, he's talking about his past illicit drug use.
NEW YORK -- New York's new governor, who disclosed last week that he and his wife both committed adultery several years ago, said Monday that he used cocaine in his 20s and smoked marijuana when he was younger.
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.
...In Monday's interview, Paterson pointed out that he had acknowledged to a television journalist in 2006 that he had used illegal drugs.
It's good that Paterson was already on the record as a user of cocaine and pot.
He wasn't hiding it. However, I do think it was a mistake for him to say, "More Americans have tried a lot more during that period of time."
I don't think the governor should be sounding like a kid making an excuse. His assertion that "more Americans have tried a lot more" is irrelevant. Rather than assuming full responsibility for his activities, he chose to say that illicit drug users have "gone on to lead responsible lives."
Hear that kids?
You can use drugs and break laws and be governor.
If there are any other skeletons in Paterson's closet, he should bring them out now. It's better that he get any other negative tales out there rather than letting the press or his political opponents control the narrative.
With all these recent revelations and scandals, I feel that I know more about the governors of New York and New Jersey than I do about Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle.
Can you imagine Doyle being involved in a prostitution ring?
Thankfully, I cannot.
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