Free Republic

ALBANY — Aides to New York’s first African-American governor wanted a police entourage that looked more like their boss, so they made an unusual request to the State Police: Replace at least 10 white troopers assigned to protect Gov. David A. Paterson with black or Latino officers. The request prompted an extraordinary battle between the Paterson administration and leaders of the State Police shortly after Mr. Paterson, a Democrat, took office in 2008, according to court testimony, e-mails and interviews. Preston L. Felton, at the time the acting superintendent of the State Police and the first African-American to lead the...

Gov. David A. Paterson reimbursed his campaign committee this week for two stays at a Manhattan hotel that he has acknowledged using to carry on an extramarital affair, his aides said Friday. Mr. Paterson used his campaign’s American Express Platinum Card to pay for the hotel stays — one night in November 2002 and another in April 2003, totaling $253 — but he has no recollection of the circumstances, and no records could be found to shed light on them, according to the aides. Henry T. Berger, an election lawyer for Mr. Paterson, also told reporters that the governor used...

On Monday, through a twist that few could have foreseen, Lt. Gov. David A. Paterson will be sworn in as the 55th governor of New York — an accidental governor thrust into a position of extraordinary power by the sudden, gaudy downfall of his former running mate, Eliot Spitzer. His rise from relative obscurity to center stage has come with astonishing speed, and with it, Mr. Paterson is about to face something new: serious scrutiny of his legislative record, political connections and handling of government money over two decades. A review of Mr. Paterson’s time in office reveals many of...

Attorney General Eliot Spitzer has chosen David A. Paterson, a powerful Harlem state senator, to be his running mate in the 2006 governor's race, advisers to Mr. Spitzer said yesterday. But the selection stunned and angered some influential black Democrats, who had favored another candidate and had not been consulted on the choice. After considering a university president, a Wall Street executive and others to run for lieutenant governor, Mr. Spitzer offered the job a week ago to Mr. Paterson, the Senate minority leader, and Mr. Paterson accepted, the advisers said. The Spitzer camp portrayed the choice as a master...