ALBANY — Gov. David A. Paterson personally directed two state employees to contact the woman who had accused his close aide of assaulting her, according to two people with direct knowledge of the governor’s actions.
Mr. Paterson instructed his press secretary, Marissa Shorenstein, to ask the woman to publicly describe the episode as nonviolent, according to a third person, who was briefed on the matter. That description would contradict the woman’s accounts to the police and in court.
Mr. Paterson also enlisted another state employee, Deneane Brown, a friend of both the governor and the accuser, to make contact with the woman before she was due in court to finalize an order of protection against the aide, David W. Johnson, the two people with direct knowledge said. Ms. Brown, an employee of the Division of Housing and Community Renewal, reached out to the woman on more than one occasion over a period of several days and arranged a phone call between the governor and the woman, Mr. Johnson’s companion.
After the calls from Ms. Brown and the conversation with the governor, the woman failed to appear for the court hearing on Feb. 8, and the case was dropped.
These accounts provide the first evidence that Mr. Paterson helped direct an effort to influence the accuser.
So when Paterson said Friday "I give you this personal oath...I have never abused my office — not now, not ever," he was either lying or in complete denial
Either way, he's a dead man walking now.
Dem leaders will make it clear to him he's gotta go.
Kinda like when Barry Goldwater and a few other Repubs broke the news to Nixon in 1974 that it was time to hit the bricks.
And they would be right.
UPDATE: And as Atrios says, what Paterson has done is much worse than the sex scandal that brought Spitzer down.
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