NY Gov. Paterson Faces Frenzy of Rumors

(Feb. 10) -- It's like watching a dog chase its tail. New York politicians and reporters are caught up in a dizzying swirl of rumors about what's in a story The New York Times is doing on embattled Gov. David Paterson.

There were whispers of a "bombshell" to be dropped Monday -- then delayed until Wednesday -- about a scandal involving sex or drugs or maybe something else that would force Paterson to resign. Nobody really knows because the Times story doesn't exist yet. Even so, with every passing day that the article doesn't appear, the media circus gets a little wackier.

The governor's attempt to stop the merry-go-round of speculation seems to have backfired. A Tuesday news conference about the impending snowstorm inevitably turned to the subject of the rumored scandal. Paterson denied any wrongdoing, said the Times had not asked him about anything scandalous and vowed to continue his campaign to remain governor. All of which just drew more attention to the whole mess -- especially because Paterson also slammed the Times, saying the paper hadn't done enough to shoot down the rumors.

"They don't seem to be interested in addressing it or doing anything about it. I think it's appalling," Paterson complained.

"There he was, on live television, ostensibly to talk about the looming snowstorm, going on and on about the rumors, giving more and more oxygen to gossip when he should have just kept his mouth shut," wrote New York Daily News columnist Joanna Molloy, whose paper is among those that have had a field day with the allegedly scandalous story that has not been printed.

Paterson's office followed up with a letter of complain to Clark Hoyt, public editor of the Times. In an e-mail to Politico, Hoyt called the situation "quite bizarre."

"The Times hasn't covered David Paterson in the past week. Other parts of the media world have covered what they think or guess the Times is up to," Hoyt wrote.

The paper's City Room blog did address the matter Tuesday night, calling it a "self-feeding, self-referential frenzy." It said Paterson has "been asked questions by reporters about a story the reporters don't know exists, and he has denied rumors about what that story that he doesn't know exists might say."

New York magazine joined in mocking the absurdity of the situation on Tuesday with a Daily Intel piece by Chris Rovzar headlined: We Are Now Entering Day Five of Coverage of a Times Story That Hasn't Even Been Completed Yet.

"We won't write about this damn nonexistent Times report again until it actually gets published," Rovzar pledged. "That is, unless someone publishes another really juicy unsubstantiated rumor, which we may then simultaneously tutt-tutt about while reprinting it for your edification."

The New York Observer's John Koblin said that until the Times runs its story, "there is nothing to report except fake news." But he added, "As fake news goes viral, it becomes impossible to ignore." Koblin acknowledged that an "offhand tweet" he sent helped keep the rumor mill cranking, and he laid out how the gossip has spread through newspapers, blogs, Twitter, TV and word-of-mouth since last week.

The Atlantic collected some of the juiciest speculation about the Paterson story for those who haven't been keeping track of what's happening in Albany.

And if this isn't nutty enough, keep in mind how Paterson became governor in the first place. He was elected lieutenant governor in 2006 and took over the top job in 2008 when Eliot Spitzer resigned because of a prostitution scandal. A day after taking office, Paterson revealed during a news conference that he had cheated on his wife several years earlier. A week later, he told a TV interviewer he had tried cocaine and marijuana in his youth. Paterson's popularity plunged, and now he's in an uphill battle against Attorney General Andrew Cuomo for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination.

Spitzer's alleged madam, Kristin Davis, is also running for governor. And this just in from the New York capital: The state Senate has expelled Queens Democrat Hiram Monserrate, who was convicted of dragging his girlfriend down the hallway of his apartment building. Is it any wonder Paterson often calls it Planet Albany?

Given that background, some pundits think nothing the Times could print will live up to the expectations generated by a week of rumor-mongering.

The bar for career-ending scandals is set higher in New York than in many other states, noted Mediaite's Glynnis MacNicol. "At this point one shudders to think what would qualify as 'bombshell' where [Paterson] is concerned," she said.