Paterson Discusses Sex Life ‘To Get Straight With New York’
March 19, 2008
Saying he wanted to clear his conscience and avoid being blackmailed, Governor Paterson acknowledged in a press conference today that he had multiple extramarital affairs over a period of years, including with one woman on the state payroll.
“I didn’t want it hanging over my head. I didn’t want to be compromised,” Mr. Paterson said, standing beside his wife, Michelle Paige Paterson.
He said he didn’t break any laws and denied using taxpayer money to support the relationships. He said he might have used campaign funds but not “knowingly.”
Mr. Paterson told the Daily News he met with a woman at the Days Inn at W. 94th Street in Manhattan. His campaign records show payments to the hotel in 2002 and 2003.
His disclosure of infidelities came a day after he was sworn into office to complete the four-year term of Governor Spitzer, who resigned last week after it emerged that he spent tens of thousands of dollars on high-end prostitutes. Mr. Paterson has denied that he has used prostitutes.
Mr. Paterson said he had affairs with a “number of women” after discovering that his wife had been unfaithful to him. “I was pretty upset,” he said. “I was using poor judgment.”
One of the women with whom Paterson admitted to having an affair — between 1999 and 2001 — was employed at the time in the office of the Attorney General under Mr. Spitzer.She’s now employed in the executive chamber and serves under Mr. Paterson, who said he would leave it up to her to decide whether to leave the administration. Two Spitzer administration officials identified the woman as the director of community affairs for the office of intergovernmental affairs, Lila Kirton.
He said during another affair he contacted the employer of the woman, who was sick, and urged the employer to keep her employed while she recovered, he said.
He said the relationships ended shortly after he became minority leader of the state Senate in 2002
Source: NY Sun
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