More on Paterson's affairs

Apparently Paterson also had dalliances with some state employees, including a woman who worked for Gov. Spitzer, who the new Gov. Paterson has also "inherited" (in his terms.) Why can't politicians keep it in their pants?!?!

In the earlier news conference, Mr. Paterson said he was speaking out because he did not want the state to become embroiled in another sordid distraction.

“I wanted to come forward because I didn’t want it hanging over my head,” Mr. Paterson said. “I didn’t want to be compromised, perhaps, by innuendo or some sort of message that you better not do something or we’re going to out you about the infidelity in your marriage.”

Mr. Paterson flatly denied that he had ever used any campaign money in connection with the affairs. “I would never use campaign funds for that purpose,” he said.

Mr. Paterson did most of the talking during the news conference. But twice Mrs. Paterson spoke in a hushed, soft voice. “There’s no marriage that’s perfect,” she said at one point.

But as I said yesterday, I think it's smart of him to get all this stuff out now in the interest of transparency, rather than wait for the GOP to pounce on it later.

I'm not someone who demands marital fidelity of elected officials, although it would be nice. Mostly I think this is stuff that is very personal and only when it impinges on how the govern or on policies, then that is when I care.

The weird thing is, in Spitzer's case, it's not as though he made anti-sex trafficking laws easier on the johns, he made them harder. As if perhaps to punish himself or because he didn't think he would get caught.

That's why Republican controversies like David Vitter and Larry Craig caught fire so quickly - because they both did things that opposed family values. And because Larry Craig had voted against many many gay rights bills. (And why haven't those two stepped down already?!? Vitter even has the nerve to claim that his case is totally different from that of Spitzer's even though Vitter went to a prostitute to indulge his diaper fetish. Totally distasteful.)

I don't expect personal concerns not to be reflected in politics - after all, people run for office because there are certain things they want to change, certain ideas and issues that are most important to them. But when I say that I hope bedroom trysts don't impact politicians' choices, I mean it in the sense that I'd hope that they don't decide to benefit that person's family or business in some way. That the individual hopefully doesn't persuade them to take a position counter to the interests of their constituents.

In light of the fact that politicians seem to be incapable of keeping it in their pants, I'd say that that's the minimum standard. Although of course, I have high standards for politicians whom I personally believe in. Because at the end of the day, they are human just like us. People don't magically attain a halo when they get elected, although some behave as though they do. They do however have the spotlight of public inquiry on them, and should try to behave as though they have halos.

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.

NY Gov. Spitzer linked to prostitution ring, apologizes

I am really blown away by this news. Spitzer made a name for himself as Mr. Clean, and he campaigned on a reform mandate - he cleaned up Wall Street, and organized crime. He even prosecuted prostitution rings as an Attorney General and passed an anti-sex trafficking law as Governor. He was a populist and an overachiever.

I am just shocked and well, I don't know. I thought that he was really one of the good guys. I guess it just goes to show that the higher you climb, the harder you fall. Ben Smith reports Spitzer has no allies left, having been a hard-hitting prosecutor of Wall Street, and with terrible relationships with his state legislative leaders.

His wife is standing by his side, and she looks gaunt and absolutely devastated. Silda Wall is a beautiful woman, and she does not normally look like this. Spitzer's married with 3 kids, and I just can't believe that someone this smart would be so dumb or unethical. The NYT story has the details and apparently one of his aides was crying while waiting for him to take the stage.

Spitzer didn't take any questions and didn't say he would resign, but I don't know that he can stay in there.

"I acted in a way that violated in my obligation to my family...I apologize first and most importantly to my family, and to the public, I promise better."

"I am disappointed and failed to live up to the standard I expected my expect I must dedicated some time to regain the trust of my family. I will report back."

Ben Smith is a must read today, and he has a look at the prospective successor, Lt. Gov. Patterson. Apparently if Spitzer resigns, and Patterson accepts, he would be the state's first black governor, and the first blind governor. If Patterson refuses, the state's governorship would go to NYS Senate leader Joe Bruno, Spitzer's arch-nemesis.

Wow. Just wow. It's kinda like if you found out that Eliot Ness was using prostitutes.

Here's the NYT with some details:

The man described as Client 9 in court papers arranged to meet with a prostitute who was part of the ring, Emperors Club VIP, on the night of Feb. 13. Mr. Spitzer traveled to Washington that evening, according to a person told of his travel arrangements.

The affidavit says that Client 9 met with the woman in hotel room 871 but does not identify the hotel. Mr. Spitzer stayed at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington on Feb. 13, according to a source who was told of his travel arrangements. Room 871 at the Mayflower Hotel that evening was registered under the another name.

Federal prosecutors rarely charge clients in prostitution cases, which are generally seen as state crimes. But the Mann Act, passed by Congress in 1910 to address prostitution, human trafficking and what was viewed at the time as immorality in general, makes it a crime to transport someone between states for the purpose of prostitution. The four defendants charged in the case unsealed last week were all charged with that crime, along with several others.

Here's some from the conservative Daily Sun.

Politico has links to the court affadavit.

The difference between this and the Larry Craig scandal? No one expected this - it wasn't whispered about, and this mistake, of all things, is one of the worst things he could have done. Because he has run as a strict moral crusader and advocate, he is probably done for. All his legislative success or anything else will be done.

Whew. I think I am just recovering from the shock.

Halliburton KBR employee gang-raped and imprisoned in Iraq . . . by her coworkers

Oh, I just threw up a little. As if Halliburton and their former subsidiary, Kellogg Brown and Root, aka KBR, weren't disgusting enough to begin with, they are apparently covering up the rape and abuse of one of their own employees, Jamie Leigh Jones, who was 20 at the time. . . by her coworkers. ABC reports:

Jamie Leigh Jones, now 22, says that after she was raped by multiple men at a KBR camp in the Green Zone, the company put her under guard in a shipping container with a bed and warned her that if she left Iraq for medical treatment, she'd be out of a job.

"Don't plan on working back in Iraq. There won't be a position here, and there won't be a position in Houston," Jones says she was told.

In a lawsuit filed in federal court against Halliburton and its then-subsidiary KBR, Jones says she was held in the shipping container for at least 24 hours without food or water by KBR, which posted armed security guards outside her door, who would not let her leave.

She managed to finagle a cell phone form one of the guards and called her dad, who contacted their Congressman, Tom Poe (R-TX) who supports getting to the bottom of this coverup. KBR won't even tell her who did it, and wants to avoid even airing this out in a courtroom, instead saying that the terms of her contract prevents her from filing in court!!!! Now I need to clear my head of this filth. I can't believe the degree to which KBR thinks that they are beyond the law.