Paterson believes political enemy is behind scandal rumors

New York Gov. David Paterson (D) on Thursday attributed the spate of stories about his personal life and possible resignation to the fact that "somebody" is trying to satisfy a political grudge.

When CNN host Larry King asked Paterson how speculation about his personal life had snowballed into a debate over a possible scandal within the governor's mansion, Paterson replied, "You know something, Larry? I won't kid you. I think I have thought about who might be after me, but for me to speculate about it would be as wrong as the speculations that were made about me."

King then followed up, asking Paterson whether he believed "some sort of plot, conspiracy" against him was afoot. The New York governor again signaled he believed a political enemy was trying to scuttle his career.

"What do you think? What goes through your mind? We won't name names. Is somebody after you?" King asked.

"Well, clearly somebody is," Paterson replied. "Three different media outlets were contacted in the first quarter of the Super Bowl and they called us before the first quarter could end to confirm that the governor's resigning over a scandal. And there was no such conversation about resigning, because none of this is true. It's a flat-out lie."

Paterson has been at the center of the national media spotlight this week, as many believed The New York Times was soon to release a career-ending piece about the governor — a story disclosing a scandal that could ultimately prompt Paterson's resignation.

The Times stayed mum on its contents, causing a number of reporters to speculate the governor might be in trouble for personal, romantic indiscretions, or that he might be under federal investigation. But it now seems the Times was merely readying a long profile on the governor's life, not a piece that would in any way implicate him in serious wrongdoing.

The story still has yet to reach newsstands, putting Paterson in the precarious position of denying rumors regularly. He repeated on King's show Thursday night that he had not developed a drug problem, had never snuggled with a woman in a closet inside the governor's mansion and had not taken a family friend on a date to a New Jersey steakhouse — all charges recently leveled against the embattled governor, who appears to be in serious reelection trouble this year.

Consequently, Paterson on Thursday railed against the Times for stoking the speculation and refusing to admit it was only penning a profile piece.

"They didn't start the rumors when they sat down with me for an hour and a half to talk about the profile piece," he told King. "They did not ask me questions about any of this. But I would think — look, I’m going to leave for the journalist like yourself and other analyzers of the media to come to a conclusion."

However, Paterson soon continued his criticism, hinting he could pursue legal action as fallout from this month's controversy begins to affect his reputation.

"I'm not a journalist. But I am an elected official. And I think I have a right to say this," he said. "The human decency, if not journalists ethics, I think would compel an organization when they see a person being slandered for over two weeks now — I've been waiting for three weeks for this article to come out — to clear the air and at least say that the charges that are being made are not in the perimeters of our investigation."

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