Is Today The Day The NYT Bombed Paterson Out Of A Campaign?
Does today mark the end of Gov. David Paterson’s political career? Let’s just say I think this, or these, can reasonably be considered bombshells. Actually it may be more accurate to say the NYT has carpet-bombed the Gov., so to speak. Everything below is from the homepage of the NYT.com which has been updating with various stories throughout the day. The latest, and worst, first:
The cabinet official who supervises the State Police has resigned in the wake of reports of intervention by the State Police and Gov. David A. Paterson into a domestic-assault case against a senior Paterson aide.
The official, Denise E. O’Donnell, commissioner of the state Division of Criminal Justice Services, issued a statement Thursday after inquiries from The New York Times.
“The fact that the governor and members of the State Police have acknowledged direct contact with a woman who had filed for an order of protection against a senior member of the governor’s staff is a very serious matter,” she wrote. “These actions are unacceptable regardless of their intent.”
And the line everybody has basically been waiting for for two weeks [emphasis mine]:
The resignation, at 2 p.m., came on a day when New York’s political establishment reeled at the news of Mr. Paterson’s involvement, with some of the beleaguered governor’s few remaining allies publicly suggesting that he should end his campaign for election.
But Lawrence B. Saftler, the lawyer for the woman, contradicted both those claims Thursday. Mr. Saftler said that the woman was called, unbidden, by a female intermediary on behalf of Mr. Paterson on Feb. 7 and told that the governor wanted her to call him, which she did.
Mr. Saftler said the conversation had nothing to do with rumors about the governor’s private life. He said, as he had on Wednesday, that the conversation lasted about a minute, that Mr. Paterson had asked if the woman was all right, and concluded by saying, “If you need me, I’m here for you.”
And this from even earlier, though after this morning’s A-1 story:
In the world of lawyers and advocates who specialize in domestic violence and family law, a moment-to-moment concern is that a woman who has made an accusation — or gone to court for protection — will be intimidated by even the slightest pushback, whether it comes from the man she has taken action against, his family, his friends or his co-workers.
For that reason, these experts say, contact between a powerful official like Gov. David A. Paterson and a woman who testified that she had been violently assaulted by one of his top aides was inappropriate.
The good news (ish) is that the Governor is no longer missing from action. [h/t Gawker] But yeah. Next time rumors start flying that the NYT is working on a ‘bombshell’ story people…will probably do exactly what they did this time. Except, maybe, for the apology part.
