Just Sworn In: NY Gov Patterson Confesses Adultery
No comment…
The thunderous applause was still ringing in his ears when the state’s new governor, David Paterson, told the Daily News that he and his wife had extramarital affairs.
In a stunning revelation, both Paterson, 53, and his wife, Michelle, 46, acknowledged in a joint interview they each had intimate relationships with others during a rocky period in their marriage several years ago.
In the course of several interviews in the past few days, Paterson said he maintained a relationship for two or three years with “a woman other than my wife,” beginning in 1999.
As part of that relationship, Paterson said, he and the other woman sometimes stayed at an upper West Side hotel — the Days Inn at Broadway and W. 94th St.
He said members of his Albany legislative staff often used the same hotel when they visit the city.
“This was a marriage that appeared to be going sour at one point,” Paterson conceded in his first interview Saturday. “But I went to counseling and we decided we wanted to make it work. Michelle is well aware of what went on.”
In a second interview with Paterson and his wife Monday, only hours after he was sworn in to replace scandal-scarred Eliot Spitzer, Michelle Paterson confirmed her husband’s account.
“Like most marriages, you go through certain difficult periods,” Michelle Paterson said. “What’s important is for your kids to see you worked them out.”
The First Couple agreed to speak publicly about the difficulties in their marriage in response to a variety of rumors about Paterson’s personal life that have been circulating in Albany and among the press corps in recent days.
They spoke in the governor’s office even as scores of friends, family members and political supporters were celebrating in the corridors of the Capitol his ascension to the state’s highest post.
Given the call-girl scandal that erupted last week and forced Spitzer’s stunning resignation, Paterson conceded that top government officials are bound to come under closer scrutiny for their personal actions.
The governor flatly denied what he called a “sporadic rumor in Albany that I had a love child” by another woman. “That’s just not true,” he said.
“Don’t you think he’d take care of a child if he’d had one?” Michelle Paterson said, in obvious disgust over that persistent rumor.
The romantic relationship he did have, Paterson said, lasted until sometime in 2001. He did not identify the former girlfriend.
Asked if he had stayed with anyone else since 2001 at the same West Side hotel, Paterson said, “From time to time I used to take Michelle to that hotel.”
While Michelle Paterson did not speak much Monday, she touched on the subjects of marriage and infidelity in an interview last week with my colleague, Heidi Evans.
“I feel life is very fragile,” she said. “You never know what could happen. That is why you shouldn’t judge people.
When asked if she worried about “other women,” given how much time she and her husband spend apart, she replied, “Not really. I have a philosophy in life: You have to let people live their life. I feel my husband loves me and is devoted to the family. And I know he loves me. I am not going to worry about that stuff.”
He and his wife went to the West Side Days Inn when they were trying to rekindle the romance in their marriage, he said.
They did so after a marriage counselor he used recommended they introduce “new and exciting things” into their relationship, Paterson said, and so they could be alone and away from their children.
“It’s convenient since it’s only four subway stops from my Harlem office,” Paterson said.
Asked if he had used government or campaign funds to pay for any rendezvous with his former girlfriend, Paterson said he had not.
All this, of course, would normally be considered part of the private life of any government official.
But after the sordid saga of Eliot Spitzer, and the ever-wackier escapades of former New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey and his estranged wife, Dina, it seems no political leader can escape the magnifying glass that is destined to be placed over his personal life.
Rest of the Daily News Article Here.
Be respectful of others and their opinions. Inflammatory remarks and inane leftist drivel will be deleted. It ain’t about free speech, remember you’re in a private domain. My website, my prerogative.
If you can't handle using your real email address, don't bother posting a comment.
Now all his immunizations are up to date, I guess. Smart political move, if a bit cynical.
March 17th, 2008 at 7:07 pm
Doesn’t any F’ing politician in the nation have any morals and integrity left?
March 17th, 2008 at 7:26 pmThis is like a bad dream. But I am not surprised.
Anybody keeping score? I think the demorats have scored a few third peirod goals to take the lead by a few.
If that moron Spitzer had spent twice the money on a High Maintenance Girlfriend, he wouldn’t have had a problem as long as it wasn’t campaign or state funds. Well, not a problem politically. That shrew of a wife would still take it out of his hide.
Are any Democrat marriages real?
March 17th, 2008 at 7:36 pm? How does he know that It’s a Woman? (THOUGHT) New York!!
March 17th, 2008 at 7:36 pmIn his first day in office as New York State’s newly sworn-in Governor, David Paterson successfully returned adultery to a “non-issue”, and being ONLY about sex … for democrat politicians.
March 17th, 2008 at 7:43 pm“I feel life is very fragile,” she said. “You never know what could happen. That is why you shouldn’t judge people.”
Except white, conservative, Republicans…
March 17th, 2008 at 7:46 pmWhy must I be like that? Why must I chase the cat?…Nothin’ but the dog in me!” - George Clinton 1983
March 17th, 2008 at 8:04 pmDoesn’t any F’ing politician in the nation have any morals and integrity left? This is like a bad dream. But I am not surprised.
Well, doesn’t it show integrity to be up front about something you did wrong? I don’t what his motivations are for this, whether it’s a political move or simply a sincere overture to establish public trust. Yet, he does get credit for not lying about it. And it doesn’t that he abused the power of public office to shield his activities. To clinch it, he and his wife have apparently worked out their issues.
I’ve seen enough decent people screw up that I wouldn’t hold something against this man, especially since it seems to have been settled a long time ago. The fact is that if he hadn’t admitted to this, we would all be accusing him of hiding something if it came out. However, since he has, we are going ahead and crucifying him for something that has already been redressed. And we’ve already decided that it’s a cynical political move, whether or not he is actually being sincere.
Now, of course, it is entirely possible (more than likely, really) the man is just being a shrewd politician, but at least he gets credit for rejecting the hubris of his predecessor.
March 17th, 2008 at 8:06 pm
David Marcoe:
March 17th, 2008 at 8:26 pmNo the country deserves better people than this running the nation.
I think you are missing the point to what it is that I am saying.
By doing that he and his wife just let the air out of any potential story that could have been leaked by opponents or sold by the ex-girlfriend looking to make a buck.
Smart on his part.
March 17th, 2008 at 8:59 pmMan, NY is scraping the bottom of the barrel. So they have two Governors that can’t even honor a wedding vow. How can you trust them at all?
Maybe this is a smart ‘political move’. But it is what it is, and I expect more from elected officials. But then again, I’m just a conservative in a country where morals don’t matter, apparently.
March 17th, 2008 at 10:04 pmthat’s something we don’t understand and don’t care over here, it’s private life, none has to judge it, except if it’s becoming an incitation to moral depravements such as sex parties, SM parties with minors in public places.
in any case that has nothing to do with the ability of a person to deal with political ambitions or manage a business
March 18th, 2008 at 3:07 amWhats the big deal? Just regular NY democrat politicians.
March 18th, 2008 at 6:49 am