ALBANY — Gov. Paterson’s chief of staff fired off an angry letter to The New York Times yesterday, demanding the paper investigate itself for preparing a story that led to rumors that Paterson was guilty of some kind of personal misconduct.
“Over the weekend, speculation about what your article might reveal reached a fever pitch, and stories emerged predicting that, because of the Times’ story, the Governor would be forced to resign this week,” Lawrence Schwartz wrote in his letter to Times public editor Clark Hoyt.
“The imagined justifications for this predicted outcome ran the gamut of the most salacious and outrageous accusations uninformed speculation could produce.”
Schwartz wrote that Paterson personally phoned Carolyn Ryan, the Times’ political editor, last week and asked her if the profile would contain anything that had been rumored, and was told that it didn’t.
But the editor, he said, “demurred on the issue of doing anything to stop [the rumors.]”
Paterson yesterday also gave an interview to a Times reporter who questioned him about campaign expenditures, his choice of restaurants and various hiring decisions.
“While these subjects may hold some interest for the public, I hope we can agree that none even remotely justifies suggestions of resignation or the howling storm of innuendo that continues to rage while the Times plods along in preparing its story,” Schwartz wrote.
Times metropolitan editor Joe Sexton said, “Obviously, we are not responsible for what other news organizations are reporting. It’s not coming from the Times.”
Meanwhile, a defiant Paterson told a news conference that the rumors have only fortified his plans to seek election this year.
“The more frustrated I get, the more I know I am going to be running,” Paterson said.
“The only way I’m not going to be governor next year is at the ballot box. The only way that I’ll be leaving office before is in a box.”
Paterson used the opportunity to blast the Times for not taking steps to tamp down the rumors
“They don’t seem interested in addressing it or doing anything about it,” he said. “It’s appalling.”
Paterson also took a shot at a Jan. 30 Page Six report that a state trooper caught him “snuggling” in a closet while the officer patrolled the 39-room Executive Mansion.
Post editor-in-chief Col Allan said the paper stands by its reporting.