New York Democratic Gov. David Paterson is not planning to resign, his spokeswoman said yesterday, calling blog reports “entirely fabricated.”
“This is a new low, even by the standards of planet Albany. The circus of the past week — entirely fabricated out of thin air and innuendo — is an embarrassment for all who have played a role in fueling it,” Marissa Shorenstein said by e-mail.
Paterson, a former legislator and lieutenant governor, became governor in 2008 after former Governor Eliot Spitzer, also a Democrat, resigned amid a prostitution scandal.
Since last week, media blogs, including the Huffington Post, have said The New York Times was on the brink of publishing a story so scandalous that Paterson would have resign.
Paterson trails Democratic Attorney General Andrew Cuomo in opinion polls ahead of a potential September primary.
When he became governor, Paterson admitted being unfaithful to his wife and to past cocaine use.
Since last week, questions have also been raised about whether Paterson gave undue weight to political ties in choosing a consortium to run video lottery terminals at the Aqueduct horse track in Queens.