The Other Shoe Drops On Gov. Paterson

The bombshell that was supposed to drop earlier this month on NY Democratic Gov. David Paterson was something of a dud.  Which makes this actual bombshell that dropped on him yesterday quite surprising, and very very much the end of his political career.

Last fall, a woman went to court in the Bronx to testify that she had been violently assaulted by a top aide to Gov. David A. Paterson, and to seek a protective order against the man.

In the ensuing months, she returned to court twice to press her case, complaining that the State Police had been harassing her to drop it. The State Police, which had no jurisdiction in the matter, confirmed that the woman was visited by a member of the governor’s personal security detail.

Then, just before she was due to return to court to seek a final protective order, the woman got a phone call from the governor, according to her lawyer. She failed to appear for her next hearing on Feb. 8, and as a result her case was dismissed.

Many details of the governor’s role in this episode are unclear, but the accounts presented in court and police records and interviews with the woman’s lawyer and others portray a brutal encounter, a frightened woman and an effort to make a potential political embarrassment go away.

The case involved David W. Johnson, 37, who had risen from working as Mr. Paterson’s driver and scheduler to serving in the most senior ranks of the administration, but who also had a history of altercations with women.


On Wednesday night, in response to inquiries from The New York Times, Mr. Paterson said in a statement that he would request that Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo investigate his administration’s handling of the matter. The governor also said he would suspend Mr. Johnson without pay. 

So, we have the Governor's possible interference in the case of violent assault on a woman on behalf of an aide with a history of violence against women, to the point where the woman was scared away from continuing her case...and the matter is now going to state AG Andrew Cuomo, a stalwart against corruption and abuse of power and already popular because of his crusade against Wall Street.  Cuomo is already investigating a nearly ten-year long tale of NY State Police corruption, including -- you got it -- covering up for powerful Empire State politicians.

Paterson's screwed.  The fork is inserted and comes out cleanly.  He is done.  As he should be.  This is pretty repugnant and Paterson deserves to go.  Cuomo needs to throw the book at him.

Meanwhile, Wall Street sees a major opportunity to get Cuomo out of their hair as AG and into the Governor's mansion, where he really can't do too much more damage to them.  Cuomo hasn't officially announced anything about running for Governor, and Paterson had largely weathered the storm.  You can bet the last 12 hours that has completely changed that picture.

Count on it.