Opinion

JUST THE FACTS – BUT NOW

Gov. Paterson needs to provide a full public accounting of top aide Charles O’Byrne’s tax woes – and he needs to do it immediately.

This would be true even if the state’s financial circumstances weren’t growing more critical by the day.

Yet they are, and thus Paterson needs to be rid of all unnecessary distractions as he moves to balance New York’s books.

Yesterday, Paterson fielded questions regarding his aide’s failure to file tax returns between ’01 and ’05 – but his answers were vague and inconclusive.

Thus the mystery remains.

No one has actually seen proof that O’Byrne, Paterson’s right-hand man, has paid his $200,000-plus tax-and-penalties bill in full, as he and the governor insist.

Nor can anyone be sure that O’Byrne was telling Paterson the truth when he told him he was clearing up matters.

This is especially problematic – given that Paterson’s blindness requires him to place an extraordinary degree of trust in O’Byrne.

Meanwhile, the state’s budget woes are growing from merely nightmarish to all-but-insurmountable. Paterson announced on TV yesterday that this year’s gap, pegged at $1.2 billion just this month, is now running as high as $2.5 billion.

Next year, he says, the state may fall short by $10 billion.

Paterson will need a mountain of political support to help him fundamentally restructure spending. But the O’Byrne mess will undermine him if questions remain.

(Remember, O’Byrne is the governor’s chief negotiator with the Legislature – and already a Senate panel has announced it will “review” the affair.)

Paterson needs to order O’Byrne to release any and all documents pertaining to his tax mess. Let the public see for itself if this issue has really been resolved.

If there’s nothing to hide, O’Byrne and Paterson shouldn’t mind total transparency. But if a coverup is underway, it’ll likely fail – as most coverups do.

Paterson, of all people, should understand this – given the circumstances of his own rise to the Executive Chamber.