N.Y.‘s New Governor Admits to Affair

Before the media barracuda had time to really start swarming, Eliot Spitzer’s successor, Gov. David Paterson, preempted scurrilous investigations into his skeleton closet by tossing a big one out for all to see.  As Paterson told the New York Daily News on Monday, he had a long-standing affair years ago during a rocky period in his marriage.

New York Daily News:

“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.

Read more

AP photo / Mike Groll

Taking charge: Gov. David Paterson headed the press off at the pass by talking to the New York Daily News about his affair.