Gov. Paterson admits to sex with other woman for years
Goldfield for News Gov. David Paterson admits to sleeping with another woman while he was married to wife, Michelle.
David Paterson married Michelle Paige in November 1992. Click for more photos of Michelle Paterson.
The thunderous applause was still ringing in his ears when the state's new governor, David Paterson, told the Daily News that he and his wife had extramarital affairs.
In a stunning revelation, both Paterson, 53, and his wife, Michelle, 46, acknowledged in a joint interview they each had intimate relationships with others during a rocky period in their marriage several years ago.
In the course of several interviews in the past few days, Paterson said he maintained a relationship for two or three years with "a woman other than my wife," beginning in 1999.
As part of that relationship, Paterson said, he and the other woman sometimes stayed at an upper West Side hotel — the Days Inn at Broadway and W. 94th St.
He said members of his Albany legislative staff often used the same hotel when they visit the city.
"This was a marriage that appeared to be going sour at one point," Paterson conceded in his first interview Saturday. "But I went to counseling and we decided we wanted to make it work. Michelle is well aware of what went on."
In a second interview with Paterson and his wife Monday, only hours after he was sworn in to replace scandal-scarred Eliot Spitzer, Michelle Paterson confirmed her husband's account.
"Like most marriages, you go through certain difficult periods," Michelle Paterson said. "What's important is for your kids to see you worked them out."
The First Couple agreed to speak publicly about the difficulties in their marriage in response to a variety of rumors about Paterson's personal life that have been circulating in Albany and among the press corps in recent days.
They spoke in the governor's office even as scores of friends, family members and political supporters were celebrating in the corridors of the Capitol his ascension to the state's highest post.
Given the call-girl scandal that erupted last week and forced Spitzer's stunning resignation, Paterson conceded that top government officials are bound to come under closer scrutiny for their personal actions.
The governor flatly denied what he called a "sporadic rumor in Albany that I had a love child" by another woman. "That's just not true," he said.
"Don't you think he'd take care of a child if he'd had one?" Michelle Paterson said, in obvious disgust over that persistent rumor.
The romantic relationship he did have, Paterson said, lasted until sometime in 2001. He did not identify the former girlfriend.
Asked if he had stayed with anyone else since 2001 at the same West Side hotel, Paterson said, "From time to time I used to take Michelle to that hotel."
Der 53-jährige Demokrat David Paterson wurde am 17. März in Albany als neuer Gouverneur des US-Bundesstaates New York vereidigt. Paterson ist Nachfolger von Eliot Spitzer. Dieser war in der vergangenen Woche im Zusammenhang mit einem Sexskandal zurückgetreten. Spitzer war Kunde eines Callgirl-Vermittlungsdienstes.

Der Zeremonie wohnten die Gouverneure von New Jersey, Massachusetts und Connecticut, die früheren Bürgermeister New York Citys Ed Koch und David Dinkins, der derzeitige Amtsinhaber Michael Bloomberg, die ehemaligen Gouverneure George Pataki und Hugh Carey sowie die derzeitigen Senatoren Charles Schumer und Hillary Clinton teil.

In seiner Antrittsrede forderte der neue Gouverneur zur Einigkeit auf und bot den Republikanern eine Zusammenarbeit an. Die Amtszeit von Paterson läuft bis zum Jahresende 2010. Er übernimmt das Amt mit der Bürde einer Haushaltslücke von 5,1 Milliarden US-Dollar.

Paterson ist der 55. Gouverneur in der Geschichte New Yorks und der erste Farbige auf diesem Posten. Er war von 1985 bis 2006 Mitglied des Senats des Staates New York, in dem er Harlem repräsentierte, bevor er 2006 stellvertretender Gouverneur wurde. Der fast blinde David A. Paterson wurde am 20. Mai 1954 in Brooklyn geboren und ist verheiratet. Mit seiner Frau Michelle hat er zwei Kinder. Er studierte Geschichte an der Columbia University und Jura an der Hofstra Law School.

In einem Interview mit der New Yorker Zeitung „Daily News“ gestand er aber auch inzwischen ein, über Jahre hinweg eine Beziehung zu einer anderen Frau gehabt zu haben.