The New York Times Story That Brought Down Paterson

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The "story" which was rumored to bring down the govenor published Thursday

The New York Times assigned four reporters to a story involving possible abuse of power by the office of Gov. David Paterson and Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, who would like to replace Paterson as the Democrat candidate for governor, has promised to investigate the case.

The TIMES says that last fall, a woman went to court in the Bronx and testified that she had been violently assaulted by a man very close to the governor---37-year-old David Johnson.  She wanted an order of protection but it never was issued. 

She returned to court twice more and again had no results and even charged that the State Police had been harassing her, urging her to drop the case.  Later, she claims, a member of the governor's security detail visited her and urged her to drop the case. The State Police is confirming that a member of the security detail to visit the woman.

Through her attorney, she also claims that Paterson personally called her and following that she failed to appear in court again. The TIMES reports that the governor's role in all this is not clear but their correspondents say that the woman is frightened and that others with knowledge of the case are saying the alleged incident was a "brutal encounter."

The paper says Johnson, who was once a driver for Paterson but is now a close aide, has had similar incidents of altercations with women in the past.

A cabinet member who supervises State Police resigned late Thursday in protrest of the use of state cops to try and kill the court action.  Denise O'Donnell said she could not continue to serve in the cabinet after being lied to by the head of the State Police.

Several weeks ago, there were rumors making the rounds in Albany that Paterson was involved in a scandal that could force him to resign.  The question today is whether or not this is the case which prompted those rumors.