I’d act shocked, but this was entirely predictable:
it now seems as if New York Gov. David Paterson had more than one extramarital affair, at least one of which was with a younger woman who worked for him. Recently. As in, during the past few years. This is, to say the least, politically damaging to the governor, an enormous gift to political comedians, and could very well, depending on the press coverage, lead to Gov. Joseph Bruno.
So let me see if I can get the sequence of events right:
1) A republican U.S. Attorney manages to get an elected democratic governor to resign amidst a prostitution scandal that at least some sources have said was specifically targeted towards him (as opposed to targeting the prostitution ring and happening upon the New York Governor);
2) David Paterson, the democratic Lt. Governor, takes is sworn in as Governor and under NY law he is not replaced as Lt. Governor, instead that position is now filled by the New York Senate Majority Leader, a right-wing republican;
3) Shortly after being sworn in Governor Paterson is forced to confess to an extramarital affair under threat of “exposure”; and
4) Governor Paterson’s “confession” is not enough to stop the rumors and allegations about his alleged affairs, leading some political observers to wonder if he’ll also have to resign, which would leave the Governor’s office to…a right-wing republican.
You can’t accuse them of not having a plan, I’ll give them that.
Front page
That's why I said Spitzer shouldn't have resigned
Not until they put him in handcuffs and dragged him off to jail.
Diaper Dave never resigned.
The Democrats should have immediately accused the press and George Bush’s inJustice Department of targeting him just as they did to Siegleman.
Every sentance coming out of Spitzer’s mouth should have included “Vitter” and “Siegleman”.
I dunno...
Joe Bruno is in a really politically powerful position where he is, and he’s not subject to term limits. He becomes governor, and he’ll have to give up his nice, secure legislative leadership position that he’s held for at least as long as I’ve been in New York (and I’ve been here a dozen years), and becomes vulnerable to being booted out at the end of the term.
I don’t know how harmful this really is for Paterson. Spitzer had to resign because his behavior was very much contrary to his image as a moral policeman. Plus, the illegality bit.
I’m not so sure how harmful this really is with Paterson. Especially given the new allegations of a three-way with the McGreeveys.
What’s not going to be good, however, is if this sandbags his ability to get the budget through the legislature. Not that we’ve had one on time for decades now, but there are cuts that will have to be made.