NY Governor reveals extra-marital affairs

By Staff Writer, PinkNews.co.uk • March 19, 2008 - 11:20

46-year-old Paterson is making headlines as both the first black Governor of New York and also the country's first blind Governor.

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Hours after being sworn in as the new Governor of New York, David A. Paterson seemed intent to avoid himself an Eliot Spitzer-like media blitz and tossed his own skeletons out of the closet.

Paterson told the New York Daily News that he and his wife both had affairs during a rough patch in their marriage.

As he was sworn in, Paterson was hailed as a man of integrity, a word formerly used to describe his predecessor Eliot Spitzer, who stepped down last week after he was linked to a prostitution ring.

Seeming to pre-emptively dig through his own past before the media had a chance to, Paterson said he carried on an affair with "a woman other than my wife" beginning in 1999 that continued for two or three years.

He said the two patched up their marriage through counselling.

His wife Michelle confirmed that she too had an affair during that time in a joint interview with her husband, saying, "like most marriages, you go through certain difficult periods."

Taking further pre-emptive measures, Paterson told the Daily News he and the unnamed woman used to meet at a New York hotel, but that he never used state or campaign funds to pay for the rooms.

46-year-old Paterson is making headlines as both the first black Governor of New York and also the country's first blind Governor.

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