New Gov. Paterson admits to extramarital affair

Well, that was fast.

Just days following Spitzer's admission of "wrongdoing" his replacement (who was only sworn in today) admits, in a joint interview with his wife, to BOTH OF THEM HAVING AFFAIRS.

Damn.

NY Daily News has the scoop:

In a stunning revelation, both Paterson, 53, and his wife, Michelle, 46, acknowledged in a joint interview they each had intimate relationships with others during a rocky period in their marriage several years ago.

In the course of several interviews in the past few days, Paterson said he maintained a relationship for two or three years with "a woman other than my wife," beginning in 1999.

As part of that relationship, Paterson said, he and the other woman sometimes stayed at an upper West Side hotel — the Days Inn at Broadway and W. 94th St.

Dude, is New York going to run through a string of electeds until they come to someone who is clean? I mean, not just in terms of marital fidelity but also ethics? Cos obvs Senate Majority Leader (by a thread) Joe Bruno ain't so hot on the ethical count. I guess NYers will just work their way down to the janitor who cleans up all their messes in the Capitol.

Also, this is just kinda gross:

Asked if he had stayed with anyone else since 2001 at the same West Side hotel, Paterson said, "From time to time I used to take Michelle to that hotel."

. . . He and his wife went to the West Side Days Inn when they were trying to rekindle the romance in their marriage, he said.

They did so after a marriage counselor he used recommended they introduce "new and exciting things" into their relationship, Paterson said, and so they could be alone and away from their children.

"It's convenient since it's only four subway stops from my Harlem office," Paterson said.

Nasty - I would not want to be their kid. I really don't need to know where my parents are trysting. And I don't think I would want the rest of NYC knowing that either. Why did they decide to come out about it? Because they wanted to preempt the leaking of it by reporters or political aides.

Well, I doubt that the NYS Republicans will be calling for his head immediately because that would just be a cold war with everybody outing everybody's bid-nasty. And I'm sure they've got very deep closets stacked high with bony bodies. It's actually smart of him to get it out in the news today because everyone's just excited to move beyond the Spitzer mess and get a new Gov. Plus other things have been dominating the press, like the meltdown of the markets and the buying of Bear Sterns. Cos well, sex is entertaining and everything but there's real things going on like job and home losses.

Props to Juan Gonzalez on the scoop.