Gov. Paterson yesterday learned the true price of “free” Yankee World Series tickets: $62,125.
That’s the fine the state Public Integrity Commission socked him with for squeezing five seats from the Bronx ballclub for Game 1 of the 2009 Series.
Talk about a big lump of coal in your Christmas stocking.
Not that the governor hadn’t been far naughtier than nice.
In addition to seeking out the freebies — he was caught at that by Post State Editor Fredric U. Dicker — he tried to cover his tracks by lying under oath to state investigators.
Actually, Paterson is getting off a little easy: The maximum fine for the offense at issue is $96,375.
But the fine may not be the end of Paterson’s woes: Retired state Court of Appeals Chief Justice Judith Kaye, who looked into the matter when Attorney General Andrew Cuomo recused himself, referred the case for possible criminal prosecution.
On the other hand, Albany County DA David Soares has trouble bestirring himself when prominent Democrats are in trouble, so maybe Paterson will get a free ride in that regard.
With lame-duck Paterson halfway out the Governor’s Mansion door, Soares has already missed his chance to make the most of any charges he may bring.
In any event, you can almost feel sorry for Paterson. Almost.
After all, free World Series tickets for a sitting governor are hardly the stuff of the Crime of the Century. (Albany’s professional corruptocrats must be laughing up their sleeves at the pettiness.)
But it was the lies — even more than the tickets, perhaps — that did him in.
Paterson claimed he intended to pay for the kids’ seats all along and even went to the game with a check. But probers found that a check from Paterson was made out only after Dicker started asking questions about it — the day after the game.
And Ticketgate fits a pattern: Judge Kaye also found, for example, that Paterson misled officials in another troubling case involving then-top aide David Johnson.
Countless scandals, for that matter — many based on Paterson fibs — litter his 2½-year tenure.
Yes, at $62,125, those sure were pricey World Series tickets.
But they didn’t need to be.
It was David Paterson himself who drove up their cost.
Now he has to pay the piper.
And the Public Integrity Commission.