ALBANY – Gov. Paterson’s wife has been slapped down by her employer for using com pany e-mail to plead for support for her embattled hubby in the wake of his botched handling of the Senate selection process.
Michelle Paige Paterson sent e- mails Tuesday to two dozen friends and associates – includ ing past and current aides to the governor – urging them to get in volved in letter-writing campaign to counter the “horrid” publicity he’s been getting.
“I am urging all of my friends to write letters to the three major newspapers about the horrid treat ment of David,” says the e-mail, a copy of which was obtained by The Post.
“Please decide to help in this cause and please spread the word to all of your friends and get them to write letters. This new [sic] media has gotten out of control and if peo ple do not protest, it will only get worse. Please help!!!”
The e-mail was written from an Internet address at the huge state- regulated health-care insurer, Em blemHealth, which runs GHI and HIP. Mrs. Paterson is its paid managing director for wellness programs.
An EmblemHealth spokeswoman said Mrs. Paterson should not have used the company’s system, and had been admonished for doing so.
Included in the e-mail is a letter supporting the governor that appears to be meant to be a template for the type of correspondence Mrs. Paterson wants sent to the papers.
EmblemHealth spokeswoman Ilene Margolin said, “It’s clear that Michelle made a mistake.
“She knows that she needs to keep her work as first lady and her work for the company separate, and we are reinforcing that,” Margolin told The Post.
A spokeswoman for Gov. Paterson said, “As any concerned wife would do, Michelle reached out to her friends for support. This should have been sent from a personal e-mail account.”
The governor has come in for blistering criticism from the news media after what even he concedes was his clumsy handling of the process to replace Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Much of the criticism focused on the claim by a person close to Paterson that Caroline Kennedy wouldn’t have gotten the Senate seat because of personal tax, nanny and marital problems. Kennedy’s friends denied she has any skeletons in her closet.
While Gov. Paterson said he didn’t know who had made the claims, The Post – in a column saying the governor was lying – identified the source as someone who was about as close to him in the daytime as his wife is at night.