Less than 48 hours after the New York Times revealed in a bombshell story that the administration of Gov. David Paterson had intervened in the domestic violence case of a top aide, Paterson has decided to pull the plug on his campaign for governor, the Daily News and the Post are reporting.
No official announcement has been made, but the Post says one is expected later today. Two sources familiar with the decision confirmed to TPM that Paterson will end his campaign.
A Democratic source familiar with New York politics tells TPM the Times story was a “profound disappointment” to Paterson’s friends and staff. “There’s an ongoing discussion about resigning his office,” the source said.
National Democrats are confident that they can hold the New York governorship, an official with the Democratic Governors Association tells TPM.
In response to the Times story, which was published online Wednesday evening, Paterson’s deputy secretary for public safety resigned, saying she had been lied to about the involvement of the state police in the domestic violence case of top Paterson aide David Johnson.
Ben Smith notes that calls for Paterson to resign have been snowballing, with the Daily News running a front-page editorial today headlined “TIME TO GO.”
According to the Times story, state police intervened with a woman who was seeking a protective order against Johnson following an alleged assault on Halloween. The story also said that Paterson had spoken to the woman on the phone Feb. 7, the day before she failed to show up in court for a scheduled hearing.
The circumstances of that call are unclear, with Paterson claiming that it was initiated by the woman. The woman’s lawyer says Paterson called her.
(Additional reporting by Christina Bellantoni.)
