After 3 Sex Scandals in 1 Week, N.Y. Gov's Spending Issues No Big Deal
Within the past week, the governor and former attorney general of New York has resigned over a sex scandal that also reportedly may have involved illegal payments to prostitutes.
His replacement, sworn in on Monday, has already admitted to extramarital affairs that may at least once or twice have involved unreimbursed expenditures of campaign funds on minor tryst-related costs. And, we are told, the former governor of the neighboring state of New Jersey, who resigned in 2004 after admitting a homosexual affair, is claiming in a divorce case that he and his wife had three-ways with a campaign aide (she denies this).
However, despite the hoopla over the sex-scandal trifecta, a few possible campaign-spending improprieties by the new New York governor, David Paterson, are no big deal in this part of the country, a lawyer for a consumer rights group tells the Washington Post.
“Obviously, he should reimburse his campaign committee, but in the world of New York state politics and election law, it does not at this point appear to be a big deal,” says Russ Haven, legislative counsel for the New York Public Interest Research Group. “These kinds of things don’t even make the Richter scale compared to the other stuff people do.”
Besides sex scandals, all three of the current and former Democratic governors have another thing in common, too: They are law school graduates.
Watching these developments from the only remaining member of the tri-state area surrounding New York City that doesn’t have a current or former governor competing for top dishonors in the sex scandal game, the Hartford Courant’s Capitol Watch blog offered an opposing perspective earlier this week: “With all these issues in the news, the Connecticut Republican Party reminds us that today is the 41st wedding anniversary for Gov. M. Jodi Rell and her husband, Lou.”
Additional coverage:
The Swamp (Chicago Tribune): “Playgirl calling ex-Gov. Spitzer: Get ‘yer chin up”
New York Sun: “Paterson Discusses Sex Life ‘To Get Straight With New York’ “
Associated Press: “Gay Ex-Gov Wins Round in Divorce Court”
San Francisco Chronicle: “Sex Scandal Lineup”
