Gov. Paterson said yesterday he’s considering bringing back his former chief of staff Charles O’Byrne – four months after O’Byrne quit under pressure for failing to pay $293,000 in taxes over a five-year period.
Paterson – facing withering criticism that his administration is adrift as his poll numbers plummet – called the return of O’Byrne “a fascinating idea.”
“Charles O’Byrne made a mistake. It’s one we can’t condone. But he paid for it and he underwent some pretty severe criticism for it,” Paterson said of his former right-hand man.
“It’s a conversation I’d be willing to have with Charles,” the governor told reporters after delivering an economic speech at the Harvard Club in Midtown.
Paterson said that an editorial in yesterday’s Post recommending the return of O’Byrne had gotten him thinking about the idea.
“I just read this today. Obviously, there’s been a lot of discussion about it. It’s certainly a conversation that I would have,” he said.
O’Byrne’s tax-cheat woes – in which he claimed he failed to pay taxes because of depression and “nonfiler’s syndrome” – were first reported by The Post.