New York Newspapers to Paterson: Resign Now
He's not running for election. They urge him to go all the way.
.No, it appears David Paterson won't survive this. The New York governor has told Democratic leaders he won't run for reelection. The New York Daily News--as well as the New York Post--earlier called for his immediate resignation, but his aide says that's not happening. Not going quite as far, Friday's editorial in The New York Times demanded a thorough investigation of the governor. What pushed the Post and the Daily News over the edge? They said he's lost the state's trust and is hopelessly unqualified.
- For Everyone's Sake, Please Leave, writes the New York Daily News editorial board:
Having demeaned his high office, having exposed a character flaw that plays out as a truth deficit, Paterson is punchline rather than punch. He does not have the capacity to confront the state's economic challenges...It was Paterson who gave David Johnson, a man with a limited professional resume and a history of abuse complaints, an undeserved place at the center of the gubernatorial inner circle.
It was Paterson who - while claiming to be the victim of orchestrated rumors - gave misleading descriptions of an abuse complaint that was lodged and dropped by Johnson's girlfriend.
It was Paterson who spoke with Johnson's girlfriend by phone before she abandoned the prosecution - in which she had said the governor's security detail was pressuring her to be quiet.
- Enough, Governor, writes the New York Post editorial board:
David Paterson is not qualified to be governor of New York. And he can spare the state he has sworn to serve a lot of unnecessary turmoil and pain by simply stepping aside. Without further delay...
The scandal, of course, is just the latest in a string of Paterson fiascos -- ranging from his allegedly politically motivated awarding of a casino contract to months of nonfeasance in the conduct of his daily duties -- that has reduced state government to a sad, shabby joke.
Simply put, David Paterson is unqualified to hold the office he inherited when the equally scandal-scarred Eliot Spitzer resigned it two years ago.