Top NY Official Resigns in Wake of Allegations

NEW YORK (Feb. 25) -- Embattled Gov. David Paterson is embroiled in a new scandal that has already resulted in the resignation of a top state official and the suspension of one of his top aides.

Denise O'Donnell, deputy secretary for public safety, stepped down today from her Cabinet-level post on the heels of news that New York state police officers intervened in a domestic abuse case involving David Johnson, 37, a senior adviser to the governor.

According to a lengthy New York Times report containing all of the revelations, Paterson intervened as the case progressed, making a phone call to the woman just before she was to return to court to seek a protective order against Johnson. Months earlier, a police report obtained by the Times said Johnson attacked the woman brutally, allegedly choking and stripping her and smashing her head against a mirrored dresser.

In response to the new charges, Paterson suspended Johnson pending the outcome of an investigation launched by Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, a fellow Democrat who may challenge Paterson in this year's governor's race.

"Serious questions have been raised about contact the state police may have had with a private citizen who filed a complaint against a member of my staff. Any allegation of improper influence must be investigated thoroughly and completely," Paterson said in a statement Wednesday. "I am asking the attorney general to investigate the matter to ensure in the public's mind that a comprehensive and independent inquiry has been conducted."

Paterson also said in his statement that state police would conduct an internal investigation into the woman's allegation that she was intimidated by state troopers as she sought a protective order against Johnson last fall. According to the Times, the state police confirmed that a member of the governor's personal security detail made up of state police visited the woman, whose identity has not been released.

O'Donnell resigned at 2 p.m. this afternoon.

"The fact that the governor and members of the state police have acknowledged direct contact with a woman who had filed for an order of protection against a senior member of the governor's staff is a very serious matter," O'Donnell wrote to the Times. "These actions are unacceptable regardless of their intent."

O'Donnell, who supervises the state police, said the state police superintendent told her incorrectly last month that they had not gotten involved in the case, which should have remained a local police matter.

The governor also expressed shock at today's report. "The New York Times printed what I learned in the last day were some very disturbing allegations regarding this case that apparently the Times nor my officer were aware of until yesterday," Paterson told WOR.

Meanwhile, Paterson's own interactions with the woman tied to his senior adviser prompted many questions as well. After his phone call with her, she missed her next court hearing, and the case was dismissed.

While a Paterson representative told the Times the woman initiated the call to the governor the day before her Feb. 8 hearing, the paper reported that Paterson also met the woman several times. He declined to speak about his personal ties with her, telling a local radio station he is waiting for the outcome of Cuomo's investigation.

"I don't want to talk about that because it just, you know, those are things that I'm sure the attorney general will ask," Paterson said today.

Paterson said he suspended Johnson because the serious nature of the woman's allegation against Johnson would make it difficult for him to "conduct business of the state or do his job effectively." In the hours after the report surfaced, pressure has mounted for Patterson to end his campaign, according to The Associated Press.

"If these allegations are true, that [Paterson] directly intervened in a criminal investigation, I don't think there's any way he can recover from this," political consultant Scott Levenson told Politico. "There's going to be an increasingly loud drumbeat within the Democratic Party for David Paterson not to seek re-election."

Paterson's office had no comment on his election bid or on calls for him to step down. Rep. Steve Israel, D-N.Y., a Long Island congressman and Paterson's longtime friend, told the Times he encouraged Paterson to drop his run for the governor's office.

"I think it's become apparent that he should not seek re-election and should announce it soon," Israel said. "Look, sometimes friends have to speak unpleasant truths, and as a friend, I told the governor there is life after Albany."

Paterson, who was appointed governor nearly two years ago, announced his run for the office Feb. 20, despite his low poll numbers and pressure from the White House to step aside.