Metro

Gov is reeling over abusegate

Gov. Paterson last night said he has “no plans” to abandon his election campaign — even as those close to him said he was considering pulling the plug on it as early as today amid a roiling scandal involving a top aide’s domestic-violence case.

At Paterson’s request, state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo launched a criminal probe into claims of intimidation by the governor and state troopers against the aide’s ex-girlfriend.

At a hastily called news conference last night, Paterson said he was continuing his campaign, but, for the first time, left the door open to not running. He said he would be “listening to people” as he consults with fellow Democrats over the next few days about his future.

“I have no plans to step down,” he said, but added, “I’m in it for the long haul, but I’m not in it without having my colleagues feel that they can talk to me about this.”

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While the governor’s official schedule for today showed no public events, some sources close to his campaign said he was considering a late-afternoon news conference to announce he would suspend his election effort.

“Everyone with a brain wants him to suspend the campaign, no question about that,” said a Paterson campaign source.

At the press conference, Paterson refused to address the allegations and questions about why he spoke with Sherr-una Booker, the girlfriend of his top aide, David Johnson, a day before she was due back in court to pursue legal protection against Johnson.

Booker didn’t show up in court the next day, and the case was closed.

She alleged that she was choked and harassed by the now-suspended Johnson, then contacted by state troopers — and the governor himself.

In other developments in the scandal that has left the Capitol reeling:

* Maj. Charles Day, the head of Paterson’s security detail, was the one who reached out personally to Booker about the situation with Johnson, a law-enforcement source said. The source added that it’s “inconceivable that David [Paterson] didn’t know about it. It’s the head of his own detail.”

A second law-enforcement source said Day spoke with Booker “at least” twice, clearing the initial conversation with First Deputy Superintendent Pedro Perez.

* Paterson’s top criminal-justice adviser, Denise O’Donnell, resigned, charging that State Police Superintendent Harry Corbitt misled her when she asked him whether his agency had gotten involved in the allegations over Johnson last month.

* Prominent Democrats began a drumbeat calling for Paterson to step down, as Rep. Nita Lowey of Westchester said he’d lost the ability to be effective. Others pounded on him to end his election campaign.

* The Attorney General’s Office said that Cuomo — who is expected to run against Paterson for the Democratic nomination for governor this year — was working “to determine if criminal or other wrongdoing is involved.” Cuomo, using sweeping subpoena and criminal investigatory powers granted to him by Paterson, quickly unleashed a dozen investigators yesterday morning.

They were seeking to interview Booker; Johnson; top Paterson aide and Johnson friend Clemme Harris, a former state trooper; Corbitt; and any state troopers who may have sought to intimidate Booker with contact on a probe out of their jurisdiction.

A senior aide to Cuomo also ordered Corbitt to halt an “internal investigation” that had been ordered by Paterson, out of fear that troopers might be more interested in covering up their activities than in uncovering what had occurred.

Paterson administration sources said several top aides to the governor, including Chief of Staff Larry Schwartz and chief counsel Peter Kiernan, were, in the words of one, “horrified” by the revelations.

Johnson, a 37-year-old former Paterson intern, declined comment. Booker couldn’t be reached. Paterson announced late Wednesday, just an hour or so ahead of the story breaking, that he was suspending Johnson without pay over the allegations. He claimed he had just learned most of the allegations that day.

A week earlier, he dismissed the accusations as the angry claims of a jilted ex-girlfriend of one of his aides.

Paterson’s camp had insisted that Booker called him on Feb. 7, not the other way around, to deny she was spreading rumors about him. But sources claimed that she contacted the governor after being told by an intermediary that he wanted to speak with her.

The Rev. Al Sharpton called a meeting with black and Hispanic leaders for tomorrow to discuss Paterson’s future, sources said, adding that he held a preliminary sitdown last night with state Senate Majority Leader John Sampson and Senate President Malcolm Smith.

Booker, 40, a mother of two, contacted police last Halloween after a dispute with Johnson at their Bronx apartment, according to a police report.

She told cops that Johnson became enraged about her costume, and then choked and chased her, ripped her outfit off and shoved her into a mirror. A source sympathetic to Johnson insisted he left the house before a fight could ensue.

Cops said that there was nothing in the police report to indicate that Johnson was a gubernatorial aide, and that they took it as a harassment complaint because there were no visible injuries. The NYPD made a follow-up visit to the apartment on Nov. 4, but took no further action.

Booker went to Bronx Family Court three times, starting Nov. 2, seeking an order of protection against Johnson — and a transcript shows court officials commented about “bruises on your arms.”

“I’m concerned he’s gonna come back,” she told the court, adding that her 13-year-old son was worried about her.

Additional reporting by Murray Weiss, Larry Celona and Jennifer Fermino

fredric.dicker@nypost.com