Paterson, Still in Race, Will Mull His Future – City Room Blog

Updated, 7:40 p.m. | Gov. David A. Paterson said late Thursday that he would continue with his election bid, despite calls for him to suspend or end his campaign in the wake of reports that he and the State Police intervened in a domestic-assault case against a senior aide. But he said he would seek the opinions of other elected officials before deciding his long-term future.

%u201CI am not suspending my campaign, but I am talking to a number of elected officials around the state, as I would, fellow Democrats, to get their opinion,%u201D he said at a brief press availability in Manhattan. He would not answer specific questions about the case, saying it is under investigation.

At the end, he said: %u201CI have no plans to step down.%u201D

Updated, 5:35 p.m. | The cabinet official who supervises the State Police has resigned in the wake of the reports of the governor%u2019s and State Police%u2019s intervention in the abuse case.

The official, Denise E. O%u2019Donnell, commissioner of the state Division of Criminal Justice Services, issued a statement Thursday after inquiries from The New York Times.

%u201CThe 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%u2019s staff is a very serious matter,%u201D she wrote. %u201CThese actions are unacceptable regardless of their intent.%u201D

The resignation, at 2 p.m., came on a day when New York%u2019s political establishment reeled at the news of Mr. Paterson%u2019s involvement, with some of the beleaguered governor%u2019s few remaining allies publicly suggesting that he should end his campaign for election.

Ms. O%u2019Donnell, a former federal prosecutor and social worker, wrote that she found the breach %u201Cparticularly distressing%u201D in an administration %u201Cthat prides itself on its record of combating domestic violence.

Alan Zale for The New York Times Denise E. O%u2019Donnell in 2006.

%u201CThe behavior alleged here is the antithesis of what many of us have spent our entire careers working to build,%u201D she added, %u201Ca legal system that protects victims of domestic violence and brings offenders to justice.%u201D

Ms. O%u2019Donnell wrote that the State Police superintendent, Harry J. Corbitt, had misled her last month about the involvement of the State Police in the case, in which the senior Paterson aide, David W. Johnson, was accused of hitting his companion:

Superintendent Corbitt told me the staff member had an argument with his girlfriend, that a domestic incident report had been filed, but that there was no arrest and that the matter was being handled as a local police matter by the New York Police Department.

My immediate concern was what role the State Police would take in the investigation and I was assured by Superintendent Corbitt that the State Police were not involved.

It was only last night when I learned from press reports the contrary details, including the involvement of the State Police.

For these reasons, I am resigning my position as commissioner of the Division of Criminal Justice Services and Deputy Secretary of Public Safety effective today.

Mr. Corbitt, who serves at the pleasure of the governor and could not have been fired by Ms. O%u2019Donnell, said in a statement that he stood by his account.

%u201CThe State Police was not involved in the investigation of the incident in October 2009,%u201D he wrote. %u201CI provided Deputy Secretary O%u2019Donnell with factually correct information, but the conclusions she appeared to draw from these statements were incorrect. I am confident that the investigation of the Attorney General will quickly reveal the nature of the contact between a State Police official and the woman involved in the incident with David Johnson.%u201D

Ms. O%u2019Donnell, 62, a native of western New York who spent 10 years as a social worker focusing on issues like child abuse before becoming a lawyer, was named United States Attorney for the Buffalo office by President Clinton. After leaving office, she became a litigation partner at the firm Hodgson Russ. In 2006, she ran for state attorney general, but dropped out after failing to garner support. She was appointed to her current post by Gov. Eliot Spitzer in 2007.

Though Mr. Paterson has asked Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo, his likely opponent in the Democratic gubernatorial primary, to investigate the matter, many Democratic officials around the state said on Thursday, even before Ms. O%u2019Donnell%u2019s resignation, that there was little the governor could do to restore confidence in his ability to lead.

While no prominent Democrats have yet called on Mr. Paterson to resign, sentiment appears to be growing rapidly for him to suspend his campaign, regardless of the outcome of Mr. Cuomo%u2019s inquiry.

%u201CI think it%u2019s become apparent that he should not seek re-election and should announce it soon,%u201D said Representative Steve Israel of Long Island, who called Mr. Paterson in the morning to urge him not to run. %u201CThere%u2019s a case to be made that he can leave Albany with his head held high, having focused exclusively on the crises that confront the state, rather than facing the distraction of a tough campaign.%u201D

Mr. Israel is a longtime friend of Mr. Paterson%u2019s who was among the governor%u2019s finalists last year to fill Hillary Rodham Clinton%u2019s Senate seat.

Hakeem Jeffries, a Democratic assemblyman from central Brooklyn, said he believed Mr. Paterson should suspend his campaign at least until Mr. Cuomo had finished his inquiry. But Mr. Jeffries also suggested that the results of Mr. Cuomo%u2019s investigation might not matter, politically speaking.

%u201CThere is a growing sentiment, even among African-American elected officials, that this latest incident is not just the beginning of the end, but perhaps may be the end,%u201D Mr. Jeffries said. %u201CThere%u2019s no other evidence that we need to see. This is not going to work.%u201D

Even some of the governor%u2019s closest allies %u2014 including black elected officials and Democratic activists from New York City %u2014 believe there is little he can do to salvage his political career.

The Rev. Al Sharpton, one of Mr. Paterson%u2019s strongest allies, said he had called a meeting of black elected officials for Saturday, the day before Mr. Paterson is scheduled to hold a campaign rally.

Mr. Sharpton said that John L. Sampson, the Senate Democratic leader; Senator Eric Adams, a Brooklyn Democrat; and Representative Gregory W. Meeks, a Queens Democrat, would be among those in attendance.

%u201CWe%u2019re going to talk about the obvious fallout from this,%u201D Mr. Sharpton said.

Mr. Paterson was not invited to the meeting, Mr. Sharpton said. The minister, whose influence has been widely viewed as one of Mr. Paterson%u2019s few remaining buffers against Mr. Cuomo, would not say what he thought the governor should do next, commenting that he did not want to pre-empt Saturday%u2019s meeting.

Another ally of the governor, Assemblyman Darryl C. Towns, paused and sighed heavily when asked to suggest a course of action for Mr. Paterson.

%u201CI don%u2019t know,%u201D said Mr. Towns, a former chairman of the Legislature%u2019s caucus of minority lawmakers. %u201CI don%u2019t know.%u201D

Assemblyman Carl E. Heastie, who is also the chairman of the Bronx Democratic Party, refused to say whether he still supported the governor or whether Mr. Paterson should step aside.

%u201CNo comment, no comment, no comment,%u201D was all Mr. Heastie would say.

%u201CThis may be the last straw,%u201D said one person who is close to the governor, but who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue. %u201CIf the governor played any role at all in this scandal, he won%u2019t survive.%u201D

Assemblyman Joseph D. Morelle, a prominent upstate Democratic official and chairman of the Monroe County Democratic Party, said that the facts of Mr. Paterson%u2019s communication with the woman who said she had been assaulted by Mr. Johnson needed to be aired in %u201Cdays, not weeks and months.%u201D

%u201CIf there%u2019s any impropriety, I think it raises serious questions about whether he can continue to serve,%u201D Mr. Morelle said of the governor.

Jeremy W. Peters contributed reporting.