NY Gov. Paterson won’t drop campaign despite domestic-violence scandal involving aide

NY Gov. Paterson won’t drop bid despite scandal

NEW YORK — Despite calls from leading Democrats to step aside, Gov. David Paterson said Thursday night he won’t drop his election bid amid a growing scandal surrounding accusations of domestic violence against a key aide.

The embattled governor said he will be speaking to key New York Democrats about his political future but for now he’s continuing his campaign to be elected governor. Paterson rose to governor in 2008 when former Gov. Eliot Spitzer resigned in a prostitution scandal.

Paterson also said he will cooperate fully with a state attorney general’s investigation into contact his administration had with a woman who accused aide David Johnson of domestic violence. No criminal charges were brought after the Halloween 2009 confrontation.

“I’m not suspending my campaign, but I am talking to a number of elected officials around the state as I would fellow Democrats to hear their opinions,” Paterson said before the annual benefit gala of the group 100 Black Men at New York’s Hilton Hotel.

Asked if he would withdraw if fellow Democrats asked him to, Paterson responded: “I am obviously listening to them. I’ve got an open mind about this thing. I want the Democrats to win in November.”

“I’m in this for the long haul,” he said, “but I’m not in it without having my colleagues feel that they can talk to me about this.”

Paterson’s comments came after a day of developments surrounding Johnson and any role the administration and state police played after the Halloween confrontation.

Paterson’s top criminal justice Cabinet member resigned over the burgeoning scandal, saying conduct by the state police was “distressing” for an administration that has devoted itself to reducing domestic violence.

Elected officials and other candidates for office clamored for Paterson to end his campaign — formally launched just days ago — as the turmoil mushroomed around Johnson. A police report detailed in The New York Times discusses a confrontation between Johnson and a woman over her Halloween costume.

The Times reported Wednesday on court papers showing a phone call between state police and the woman. Paterson’s office acknowledges he talked to the woman but says she placed the call, and a spokesman for the governor denied anyone tried to keep the woman from pursuing a domestic-violence case.

The state police said in a news release that they won’t comment on any aspect of the case during the investigation by the office of Andrew Cuomo, the popular attorney general whom many would like to see run as the Democratic candidate for governor instead of Paterson.

Paterson’s office has not made Johnson available for comment.