Boy were we wrong! When the NY TIMES says it has a story that can bring down the career of a politician, they really mean it!
Last week, we lambasted the TIMES for a story they printed regarding NY Gov. David Paterson and his top aide David W. Johnson. According to the story, the TIMES was in an uproar because Gov. Paterson was employing Johnson, who had an arrest record as a teenager and a domestic violence charge as an adult. Although both charges won’t win Johnson the model citizen award, neither charge seemed directly linked to Gov. Paterson or even remotely close to ruining his political career. Once the story was published, Gov. Paterson went on the talk show circuit admonishing the TIMES for their attempt to ruin him and coerce him into dropping out of his reelection bid, boldly exclaiming he was in the race for the long haul — that is until more details began to emerge.
According to Sherruna Booker, the former live-in girlfriend to David Johnson, State Troopers from Gov. Paterson’s security detail contacted her directly once domestic assault charges were filed, to pressure her not to pursue charges. And that, friends, would be a no-no! “What you have here, if the allegations are true, and that someone from the detail reached out to this victim, then I think that that is, frankly, worse than anything I have heard about, ever,” said Michael A. L. Balboni, a former public safety aide to both Mr. Spitzer and Mr. Paterson with oversight of the State Police. “Taken together, it is an indictment against the organization as a whole.”
Under New York’s last Republican Governor, George Pataki, the commander of his personal State Police detail was found to have improperly intervened in an independent investigation of the Governor’s campaign staff. Under New York’s immediate past Governor, Elliot Spitzer, a Democrat who had been the state’s top law enforcement official, investigators found that state troopers were used in an attempt to dig up dirt on a political rival of the Governor’s. And now, New York’s current Governor, David Paterson, who was swept into office once Spitzer was run out of office, finds himself immersed in a similar scandal of his own.
So last Friday, Gov. David Paterson called a press conference to announce that he will NOT seek reelection after all, but will instead spend his remaining months in office trying to govern the state and deal with the charges before him.
Well…score a big win for the NY TIMES!
You're right on ALL points DJ!But as you pointed out_more information has now emerged regarding this sorry matter. In short, had "We" had more detailed info last week "We" would Not have been so critical of the NY TIMES.IMO, Paterson is already gone. He's just keeping the seat warm until the next election.