Paterson Losing Support

Governor Paterson lost a respected member of his cabinet today in protest over allegations that Paterson and his personal state trooper contingent tried to (and may have succeeded) in getting a woman allegedly assaulted by Paterson's top aide to not pursue assault charges.

Here is the story from the Times:

Updated, 2:26 p.m. | The cabinet official who supervises the State Police has resigned in the wake of reports of intervention by the State Police and Gov. David A. Paterson into a domestic-assault case against a senior Paterson aide.

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

“The 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’s staff is a very serious matter,” she wrote. “These actions are unacceptable regardless of their intent.”

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

Ms. O’Donnell, a former federal prosecutor and social worker, wrote that she found the breach “particularly distressing” in an administration “that prides itself on its record of combating domestic violence.

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

O'Donnell says the State Police Superintendent lied to her about the involvement of the state police in the alleged cover-up.

So far, there have only been calls for Paterson to put an end to his re-election campaign.

But given the disgusting nature of these allegations, I would not be surprised to see more damaging facts come out and Paterson ultimately have to go.

Paterson was calling for Hiram Monserrate's expulsion from the State Senate for assaulting his girlfriend at the same time he was trying to get a woman who was assaulted by his chief aide to drop the assault charges against the aide and he was using the state police to help him in the cover-up.

Yeah, gotta say, that's worthy of a resignation.