New York Governor David Paterson will end his election campaign, according to a Democratic Party official, following published reports that he and state police officers spoke with a woman who had filed domestic abuse charges against one of his aides.
Paterson, 55, the former lieutenant governor who took office after Eliot Spitzer resigned in March 2008, plans to make the announcement later today, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because Paterson hasn’t made his decision public. The governor announced his candidacy on Feb. 20 at a rally in Hempstead, New York.
“Let’s see if the decision not to run stops the bleeding,” said Kenneth Sherrill, a political science professor at Hunter College in Manhattan. “My sense is that a lot of people in Albany really want to see him out of office.”
The decision to forgo a campaign comes as the state faces a budget deficit of at least $8.2 billion in the next fiscal year. Sinking public approval ratings had provoked a likely September primary challenge from state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, whom Paterson asked this week to probe the allegations.
On Feb. 24 the New York Times reported state police officers and Paterson spoke with a former girlfriend of David Johnson, 37, whom the newspaper described as one of Paterson’s closest aides, after she accused Johnson of assault and sought a court-issued protective order against him.
Paterson suspended Johnson without pay, the governor said in a Feb. 24 statement.
Paterson represented New York City’s Harlem neighborhood in the state Senate for 21 years, becoming Democratic senate minority leader in 2002, before Spitzer chose him as his running mate in his successful 2006 gubernatorial campaign.
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