NY governor Paterson discloses extramarital affairs

WITH his predecessor’s term doomed by a sex scandal, New York Governor David Paterson came clean about his own skeletons just hours after assuming office by acknowledging he had affairs with several women, including a state employee.

Paterson was sworn in almost exactly a week after allegations first surfaced that former governor Eliot Spitzer was “Client 9” of a high-end call girl service.

Paterson and his wife Michelle told a news conference that both had affairs during a rough patch in their marriage several years ago.

“This was a marriage that appeared to be going sour at one point,” said Paterson. “But I went to counselling and we decided we wanted to make it work. Michelle is well aware of what went on.”

Paterson said he maintained a relationship with another woman from 1999 until 2001. He and his wife eventually repaired their relationship. Paterson and the other woman sometimes stayed at a Days Inn hotel on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, said the governor, adding that his Albany staff sometimes stayed there as well when they were in the city.

Paterson said he did not use government or campaign funds to pay for the romantic encounters.

“I do not feel I have broken my commitment to the citizens of New York state,” he said.

Paterson became the state’s first black chief executive and the nation’s second legally blind governor.

“We move forward. There is work to be done,” he said. “There was an oath to be taken. There’s trust that needs to be restored... and issues that need to be addressed.”