It looks like New York Gov. David Paterson was more deeply involved than previously known in attempts to make a domestic violence case against a top aide go away.
The New York Times and the Post each have a story today reporting that he helped prepare a press statement for the woman who was allegedly assaulted.
The Times describes it this way:
He said that the couple’s breakup months earlier had been unfriendly but not violent, and that any charges related to the altercation had been dropped.
The language that was drafted, according to the people, was sent in an e-mail message to Mr. Johnson’s former companion, Sherr-una Booker, through an intermediary, a woman who was a friend of both Mr. Paterson and Ms. Booker.
Booker reportedly refused to go along with the statement.
It’s previously been reported that Paterson talked on the phone with Booker, who was allegedly assaulted by Paterson aide David Johnson, the day before she failed to appear for a court date in the case.
Paterson has been mostly mum on the details of the case, which is being investigated by Judith Kaye, formerly the state’s top judge. But on March 17, he told Don Imus that, “I would never, nor did I ever, try to persuade anyone not to take the natural course of the law that would protect them.”
