New York - Paterson 'very disappointed' that he dropped out of gov race

Albany, N.Y. - Gov. Paterson this morning said that he's “very disappointed'' that he pulled out of the race for governor last month, but then said again, “I don't plan to be in it.''

Paterson, appearing on an hour-long “town meeting'' on the WOR's John Gambling show, stopped short of predicting he could have won a Democratic primary with highly popular Attorney General Andrew Cuomo if he hadn't become engulfed in a series of scandals, but he contended, “I thought it would be competitive.''

“I thought I was surging, beginning to be heard on a number of issues. Then around the middle to late January there were these swirling rumors, all of which were unsubstantiated ... I thought that created a very difficult situation for me,'' he continued.

Paterson repeatedly referred to his chances of winning “re-election'' even though he was never elected as governor, having been chosen as lieutenant governor on a ticket headed by the now-disgraced ex-Gov. Eliot Spitzer.

Paterson, during an, at times, rambling description of the events that led to his political collapse, claimed that it was he and not the media who was responsible for the explosive disclosure that he had talked with Sherr-una Booker about her efforts to obtain an order of protection against longtime Paterson aide David Johnson, who she said had beaten her.

“I don't want to go into it, but the person who informed others that there was such a conversation was me, that's all I'm going to say,'' said Paterson, who is under criminal investigation by the attorney general's office for possible witness tampering.

Paterson, meanwhile, sought to minimize yesterday's abrupt resignation of Communications Director Marissa Shorenstein, insisting, “It's not indicative of a bigger problem.''

Paterson said Shorenstein, his second communications director to resign in as many weeks, quit because “both of us are being questioned by an investigation and we're not supposed to talk to each other so it's very hard to have a communications director when you cannot communicate with them (sic.)”

However, Shorenstein, like Peter Kauffmann before her, made it clear that she resigned in part because she believed Paterson lied to her in connection with public statements she had made on the governor's behalf.

Paterson at one point said he didn't think the media had been unfair to him in covering the on-going scandals but then claimed, “the media makes it appear that you should speak to the media before you speak to the investigation'' that is looking into the charges.

Paterson has claimed that he can't talk about on-going investigations involving Booker, his allegedly illegal receipt and subsequent perjury involving receipt of World Series tickets from the Yankees, and the now-scuttled award of the lucrative Aqueduct racino franchise to the Aqueduct Entertainment Group.

But legal experts have said that's not the case.

Paterson also said that the on-going scandals have been “very difficult'' for his family, noting, “Obviously, there's been a lot of intrusion. We are a family that has survived this but I can't say it hasn't had its effects on members of the family.

“We didn't have time to prepare, we were thrust into this situation,'' Paterson, who is the married father of two children, continued.

NY Post