David Paterson Fights Back
In an exclusive interview with The Daily Beast’s Lloyd Grove, New York’s beleaguered governor takes the gloves off—dismissing Harold Ford and taunting Andrew Cuomo.
After a week of fighting off rumors that he was quitting his job over a bombshell New York Times story rife with allegations about his private life, the Times has denied that such a story is in the works, and New York Governor David Paterson is full of beans.
“The quickest way to get 150 percent effort out of me is when I’m attacked or under pressure,” Paterson said Tuesday afternoon in an exclusive interview with The Daily Beast, when I asked him if he feels energized when he’s up against the wall. “People have told me that, but when you’re in the middle of it, you don’t really know,” he added.
As for New York’s first lady, Michelle Paige Paterson, who has also been drawn into the fray, “Michelle is probably even better than me,” he said, noting that his wife has been married once before. “She once told me, ‘If I could get through my divorce, I can get through anything!’ ”
In a wide-ranging phone conversation, Paterson also dismissed the prospective Senate candidacy of Harold Ford Jr., and taunted his still-undeclared Democratic primary opponent, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, suggesting Cuomo is “afraid.”
“He’s in the candidate protection program,” the governor said dryly. “He doesn’t talk about anything. I hear he made a comment about the Super Bowl the other day, but he was talking about last year’s Super Bowl. He doesn’t talk about anything current.” Warming to his theme, Paterson continued: “Political strategy tells me that’s a very smart thing to do, and everyone pats him on the back for it.
My question is, fine, it’s politically smart, but when you are that afraid, that political, what are you going to do if you get elected? Now you have to deal with the legislature. What’s this new openness and transparency? What’s going to change in Albany if everybody is political and the whole process is failing right now because it’s overly politicized?”
The Cuomo campaign-in-waiting declined to respond to Paterson’s swipe.
Regarding former Tennessee congressman Ford’s prospective primary race against Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, whom Paterson appointed last year to replace Hillary Clinton, the governor clarified remarks he made last week that were interpreted as supportive of Ford (he’s “worthy,” Paterson had said) and a slight against Gillibrand.
“I just don’t think Harold Ford knows the issues of this state, the problems of this state,” Paterson told me. “He’s not even close to her or in her orbit.”
The governor acknowledged that last week’s media frenzy—sparked by unsubstantiated claims in the tabloids and various blogs about alleged canoodling in closets and restaurants —has knocked his underdog campaign off stride and temporarily hurt his fundraising efforts against the cash-rich Cuomo.
“Toward the end of last week, things started to get back on track when no one denied my understanding that the Times did not ask me about these problems,” Paterson said, referring to a 90-minute interview session he had with Times Albany reporter Danny Hakim last week. In a remarkable column on Sunday about a story that has yet to be published, Times public editor Clark Hoyt supported the governor’s assertion that it wouldn’t contain seamy anecdotes of the sort splashed by the New York Post.
“We’ve made a few [fundraising] calls where there’s kind of a wait-and-see thing because these rumors are swirling,” Paterson said. “And their effectiveness is not in their accuracy but in the anxiety they produce—not only for me, but for people in this tough economy who don’t want to put money into something they don’t think is working. I’m no different than anyone else. I understand the distraction. That’s why the rumors were hatched.”
Hatched perhaps by the Cuomo campaign?
“I don’t know that,” Paterson said, noting that nearly two years ago, when he as lieutenant governor replaced disgraced Gov. Eliot Spitzer, “there was some hysteria, right before I came into office, over a crazy story about me being pulled over while driving a car. It was Albany-based. Now I don’t think Andrew had anything to do with that.”
Gov. Paterson: "Somebody Is After Me"
Those lurid rumors flying around about New York Gov. David Paterson? "None of this is true. It's a flat-out lie," he said in a wide-ranging interview with CNN's Larry King on Thursday night.
Since word of an imminent New York Times story electrified New York political and media circles last week, Paterson has been on the defensive. But day after day, the putative piece has failed to appear -- allowing gossip and conjecture to flourish.
Sex? Drugs? Graft? Theories about the article's focus have taken on lives of their own.
Asked whether the onslaught of rumors means "somebody (is) after you," Paterson was blunt. "Clearly somebody is. ... I won't kid you. I think I have thought about who might be after me."
He declined to name the suspects, but he encouraged the media to turn its focus from the whispers to the whisperers.
"Maybe those in the media might investigate why the sources are saying what they're saying."
During the sit-down, Paterson also knocked the Times for its handling of the frenzy.
"The human decency, if not journalists' ethics, I think would compel an organization when they see a person being slandered for over two weeks now ... to clear the air and at least say that the charges that are being made are not in the perimeters of our investigation."
Absent a public clarification, the governor pleaded for the Times to publish its piece at once, "so I could be out of my misery."
It's not clear whether the governor will get his wish. He said that New York Times Albany Bureau Chief Danny Hakim, whom he identified as the writer of the article, told him he was not sure when it would run.
Paterson also blamed some of his plight on the fresh memory of former Gov. Eliot Spitzer's prostitution scandal, saying that his predecessor's dalliances conditioned the public to assume sexual misbehavior in the governor's office: "I think people have still a sort of sensitivity to that, to the point that people would tend to believe anything they hear these days." He added, "I think that's victimized me."
At one point, King teed up an opportunity for Paterson to say that the Times article will vindicate him, but the governor didn't swing.
King said: "And you're positive that nothing of this is ever going to come forward and prove true?" Paterson replied: "Asked and answered."
On the question of drug use, Paterson opted not to issue a new denial, telling King he had "denied that just the other day." Similarly, he turned down the host's offer to rebut the charges against him "one by one," saying, "I've already denied these charges in several media outlets."
He cited the need to deprive the rumors of momentum for his reluctance to engage in specific denials.
Between the accusations and deflections, the governor squeezed in a few jokes. Echoing a quip he made earlier in the week that "the only way I will be leaving office before (my term ends) is in a box," Paterson told King, if "you hear I've resigned, it means you're invited to my funeral."
The gallows humor continued later with a timely reference to former President Bill Clinton's heart episode. "I hope he comes on your show tomorrow to dispel the latest rumor, denying that I had anything to do with his heart condition," he told King.
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Sources: The Daily Beast, CNN, Google Maps
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