Posted on 09/20/2002 4:00:17 PM PDT by Jalapeno
FRANKFORT, Ky.(AP) — Gov. Paul Patton on Friday tearfully admitted to having an "inappropriate personal relationship" with a woman who is suing him for sexual harassment. He denied he used his influence to assist or damage her business, a nursing home, as she has alleged.
"I have now apologized to the people of Kentucky and asked for your forgiveness," the married governor said. "I do believe that now I am on the right path.
"It's not easy for me to discuss private failures in a public forum but I do so because I want to be honest with the people of Kentucky and try to earn their trust and respect again."
Patton, whose wife Judi, stood by his side at a news conference Wednesday, canceled his public appearances Friday publicly acknowledging the relationship.
Patton, 65, a Democrat and chairman of the National Governors Association, called political associates and supporters earlier Friday to alert them to his intentions, according to three people who spoke with the AP on the condition of anonymity.
One of the sources said Patton was distraught and expressed remorse for betraying his friends and family.
Conner said she met Patton for sex numerous times in 1997 through 1999. She said Patton continued to call her and said she broke off the relationship in October 2001 and found state regulators at her nursing home in Clinton two months later.
Early in the week, Patton told WHAS-TV of Louisville that he did not have sexual relations with Conner.
The Courier-Journal of Louisville reported Friday that hundreds of calls had been made from the governor's office to Conner's telephones at her home and businesses.
On Wednesday, Patton was sued by Conner, alleging that he provided extraordinary state assistance to her and her business because of a sexual relationship. The lawsuit also alleged that when Conner broke off the relationship, Patton turned state regulators loose on her nursing home.
Patton acknowledged knowing Conner and her former husband, Seth Conner, during a news conference this week, but denied any improper conduct.
Conner's lawsuit alleges that she had a relationship with Patton beginning in the fall of 1997 and ending two years later. During that time, Conner alleged Patton made "lewd" calls to her and that he made harassing calls after she ended the relationship.
The phone records show 440 calls from phones in the governor's offices to Conner's numbers.
A spokesman for Patton noted that Conner was also the county contact person for the governor's office and such people are in regular contact.
Birchtree Healthcare has filed for bankruptcy and is the subject of a foreclosure suit. The Cabinet for Health Services pulled Medicare and Medicaid payments from the nursing home in July.
Conner, 40, has said Patton's retribution has ruined her personally and financially. She is a Patton appointee to the state lottery board.
"If the governor is admitting this, I'm happy about that," Conner told WHAS-TV of Louisville on Friday. "But that doesn't make things right. He's used his position to hurt me, my business and the residents" of the nursing home.
Weist said he prayed with the governor over the phone.
"I prayed that Paul would receive peace," he said. "I asked him had he dealt with this with God. He said he had."
Well, there you have it. I guess we all need to forgive him since God has already forgiven him.
As if the fact that he had sex with this woman, rather than his lies and his destruction of her business as revenge, was the real issue.
A "Patton for President in 2004" boomlet begins!
He was suppose to have beaten Bunning in 2004....
Allow me to correct my spelling error: it's Jim Bunning (not Bunting), Hall of Fame pitcher for the Phillies, Tigers, Pirates and Dodgers, and arguably (with the coming retirement of Jesse Helms) the most forthright conservative voice on the Senate floor. ACU rating for the last two years: 100%.
Hope he'll get an easier ride to re-election now.
The rumor around here, is that this woman is probably just the first of many who may come forward. (sound eerily familiar?). I think Patton may be in worse trouble than Clinton because of the events surrounding this lady. When they were having the affair, she was getting appointed to all kinds of specials posts such as the lottery board. Her nursing home was audited by state workers about a month before she broke up with him. They found 9 minor violations. 2 months after the breakup, they went back in again and found over 40 violations. (several major) Eventually they kept coming back until they found over a hundred, and shut her down!
Unfortunately, if he were to resign, our LT Governor, Steve Henry is even worse. He has been investigated several times already. He married Miss America, Heather Renee French, a couple of years ago. They had a baby about 8 months after the marriage. The rumor around some in Frankfort for years, was that Henry was gay. Of course it was a surprise when he got together with America and got married within a couple of months. Many here think he just got married to be "legitimate" when he runs for govenor next year. Henry was 40 something and had never been married. What are the odds of him getting to marry a Miss America. Heather Renee was a republican, but changed her party affiliation to democrat when she married Henry.
Oh well.... When will people learn to quit electing democrats!
Begala, that scum-sucking piece of crap said "Are you talking about the governor of Texas?", in an obvious reference to President Bush.
One hundred times on the blackboard -
IF the story's about a politician behaving badlyAND no party affiliation is mentioned
THEN ... he's a Democrat!
Moving right along, note that the tearful Dem gov is 65 and the harassed nursing home owner is now 40. That's a 25-year gap, almost equal to the 27-year gap between Sinkmaster and Monica. The old codger was getting into some young stuff. No wonder he called her 440 times.
This guy is a stalker.
I still remember when Harry Thomasson expressed surprise that Slick Willie went off-script from the "apology" Harry wrote for him. The phrase "that woman" was thrown in by Slick because at that early stage what he feared most was the "old lecher" or even the "child molester" label that he was certain would come because Monica was, in fact, a 21 year-old child and he was the 50+ year-old President. His goal was to make sure everyone (ie., the scumbag liberal newsrooms) viewed Monica as a "grown woman, capable of making her own choices", etc. Naturally, it worked like a charm for ole Slick. And the scumbag liberal newsrooms breathed a sigh of relief, thankful for the "out".
That Slick was one-of-a-kind.
What courage? He denied the affair until a newspaper investigated him and showed that he had made 400+ phone calls to this woman! That's about as courageous as Clinton admitting an affair with Monica after the DNA had him dead to rights.
At least it still holds that what goes around, comes around. Thankfully we have a wonderful, moral Republican, Rep. Ernie Fletcher, running for Governor in 2003. But now I am afraid that Patton will use this excuse to resign and give Steve henry the governorship so he can shake down all the state contractors and employees for his campaign for Governor.
This is so damn typical of Kentucky politics. It's one big reason I left the state 20 years ago.
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