Paterson Kind of Makes the Case for Himself to Step Down 
 
 The Paterson administration is in all-out damage-control mode to mitigate the fallout from the Times' actually bombshell-y bombshell story. An aide to Paterson tells the Daily News today that, though the Times reported that Paterson placed a call to a woman seeking an order of protection against Paterson's close confidant David Johnson, who allegedly beat her on Halloween, what actually happened is the woman called Paterson. 
 
 The aide said it was the woman who called the governor on Feb. 7 to assure him that rumors circulating about Paterson were not being spread by her. "The only time David Paterson spoke to this woman between Oct. 31 [when the incident is said to have taken place] and Feb. 8 is when she called him on Feb. 7," the aide said. He said the woman was able to reach the governor directly after getting his number from someone who had it. 
 
 If that turns out to be true, it would certainly diminish Paterson's personal involvement in the scandal. (There's still the incident of a state policeman from Paterson's security detail coming to her home, but it's unclear at this point who sent him, and what was discussed.) Perhaps Paterson himself could shed some light on who placed a call to whom, except that he's suddenly not very talkative. As a guest on John Gambling's WOR radio show this morning, Paterson went with the old, "I don't want to comment about an ongoing investigation" bit. When Gambling asked Paterson when he knew about the alleged assault on the woman by Johnson, Paterson performed evasive maneuvers. 
 
 ... 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 myself about, and I’m sure will ask anyone else, and, um, and so I don’t want to step in front of it." 
 
 Paterson did, however, explain why he has suspended Johnson without pay, even though he's waiting to "let the facts come out." 
 
 There are allegations that have to be looked into right now, and in the interim anyone who is potentially involved to that level you wouldn’t want them trying to do their job at the same time." 
 
 Interesting. 
 
 Paterson suspends top aide Johnson, asks AG to probe state police role after alleged attack on woman [NYDN] 
 
 Paterson Clams Up [Daily Politics/NYDN] 

 
 
 Finally, the New York Times has published a David Paterson story so horrendous, corrupt and unflattering that surely it must be the David Paterson Story. See, those other two pieces about aide David W. Johnson and Paterson’s relatively minor power abuses are so much newsier, now that this third story exists about how Paterson allegedly abused his power by sending state police to convince Johnson’s ex-girlfriend to drop assault charges against Johnson. 
 
 The Times reports: 
 
 The alleged assault happened shortly before 8 p.m. on Halloween in the apartment she had shared with Mr. Johnson and her 13-year-old son for about four years, according to police records. She told the police that Mr. Johnson, who is 6-foot-7, had choked her, stripped her of much of her clothing, smashed her against a mirrored dresser and taken two telephones from her to prevent her from calling for help, according to police records. The woman was twice granted a temporary order of protection against Mr. Johnson, according to the proceedings in Family Court in the Bronx. 

 Ah, here’s the stuff we’ve been waiting for lo these many weeks. The Times actually rolled out a separate story a week ago introducing the key player here: David Johnson, who started working for Paterson as an intern, eventually became his driver, and now serves as one of his most senior aides despite having “also on three occasions been involved in altercations with women.” 
 
 One minor detail they saved for tonight: If you believe Johnson’s latest victim, the State Police — and the governor himself — may have tried to cover things up. 
 
 Last fall, a woman went to court in the Bronx to testify that she had been violently assaulted by a top aide to Gov. David A. Paterson, and to seek a protective order against the man. In the ensuing months, she returned to court twice to press her case, complaining that the State Police had been harassing her to drop it. The State Police, which had no jurisdiction in the matter, confirmed that the woman was visited by a member of the governor’s personal security detail. Then early this month, days before she was due to return to court to seek a final protective order, the woman got a phone call from the governor, according to her lawyer. She failed to appear for her next hearing on Feb. 8, and as a result her case was dismissed… The lawyer, Lawrence B. Saftler, said that the conversation lasted about a minute and that the governor asked how she was doing and if there was anything he could do for her. “If you need me,” he said, according to Mr. Saftler, “I’m here for you.”… “I’m glad you’re doing this,” the woman told the court referee overseeing the case, “because I thought it was going to be swept under the table because he’s like a government official, and I have problems even calling the police because the state troopers kept calling me and harassing me to drop the charges, and I wouldn’t.” 
 
 The superintendent of the State Police says a trooper did meet with the woman, but only to, er, give her “options” about proceeding with a legal case. Paterson met the Times last week, and when they questioned him about this, he was angry — not that Johnson had allegedly choked the woman and tore at her clothes, but angry that one of the Times’s reporters had gone to the woman’s home to investigate the story. 
 
 Oh, did I mention that Paterson’s chief of staff in 2001 had to intervene in one of the fights between Johnson and his then-girlfriend? 
 
 Just to make this a tiny bit more awkward for him, he’s promised that he’ll ask the attorney general to launch a full investigation of his administration’s handling of the case. The name of that attorney general? Andrew Cuomo, who happens to be leading Paterson in the New York Democratic primary by … 42 points. But that’s a minor detail: Paterson became political roadkill ages ago, so the only question here is whether it’ll force him to resign early or whether he’ll ride this tide to a landslide defeat later this year. Go ye, follow the link and read. 

 A new report that New York Governor David Paterson and his state police bodyguards personally intervened in the domestic violence case against a close aide appears likely to end the governor's tottering political career. 
 
 The New York Times reported Wednesday night that Paterson called the alleged victim of a “brutal” attack before she missed a key court appearance. The woman, who is not named, also reportedly complained that the State Police had been “calling me and harassing me to drop the charges.” 
 
 The story draws to a close a modest revival in the political fortunes of the New York governor, who came to power after Governor Eliot Spitzer resigned in a sex scandal. Paterson appeared earlier this month to have dodged a bullet when an earlier, much-anticipated Times review of his tenure cast him merely as disengaged. But Paterson’s political operation had already begun to fly apart, with money drying up and a top aide departing. And New York observers said Wednesday night that the Times report is the final straw. 
 
 “If these allegations are true that he directly intervened in a criminal investigation, I don’t think there’s any way he can recover from this,” said a New York Democratic political consultant, Scott Levenson. “There’s going to be an increasingly loud drumbeat within the Democratic Party for David Paterson not to seek re-election.” 
 
 Paterson released a statement late Wednesday through a spokesman, Peter Kauffmann, calling for investigations by the state police and by Cuomo himself of “any allegation of improper influence.” 
 
 The Times report centers on a longtime Paterson aide, David Johnson, who rose from driver to close political adviser and who has now been accused of violence against women on three occasions. 
 
 On the most recent incident, the woman reportedly told police Johnson “choked her, stripped her of much of her clothing, smashed her against a mirrored dresser and taken two telephones from her to prevent her from calling for help.” 
 
 She was granted two temporary restraining orders against Johnson, but failed to appear in court to seek a third order – after receiving a call from Paterson, his spokesman confirmed to the Times, the day before the scheduled court date. 
 
 If you need me, I’m here for you,” Paterson told the woman, according to her lawyer, Lawrence Saftler, the Times reported. 
 
 Paterson said in a statement that he is “asking the Attorney General to investigate the matter to ensure in the public's mind that a comprehensive and independent inquiry has been conducted” and suspending Johnson. The reaction is a stark departure from his defiant attitude toward earlier reports, including one accusing Johnson of violence against women. 
 
 “David Johnson's growth as a political professional has surprised even his greatest advocates, and I am proud that he has demonstrated what someone can accomplish when given a second chance,” Paterson said then, saying that “the conclusions reached by the [earlier] Times report are not supported by the facts.” 
 
 “This is a lethal combination,” said another New York Democratic consultant, Hank Sheinkopf, noting that allegations of out-of-control aides and a politicized police force had also played a role in Spitzer’s fall. 
 
 “This creates the potential for a clarion call for Andrew to effectively be drafted by the Democratic Party Establishment,” he said. 
 
 Ironically, the alleged cover-up attempt reported by the Times appears to have come in response to the Times’s own reporting on the governor. 
 
 Paterson’s “call also came as The Times was examining the background of Mr. Johnson, whose increasing influence with the governor had disturbed some current and former senior aides to Mr. Paterson,” the paper said in a story written by William K. Rashbaum, Danny Hakim, David Kocieniewski and Serge Kovaleski.
– The latest New York Times story on David Paterson, alleging that he tried to cover up an aide's assault charges, looks to be the real deal: Ben Smith, Politico: It "appears likely to end the governor's tottering political career." Allahpundit, Hot Air: Actually, "Paterson became political roadkill ages ago, so the only question here is whether it’ll force him to resign early or whether he’ll ride this tide to a landslide defeat later this year." Dan Amira, New York: In explaining that he suspended aide David Johnson because Johnson couldn't do his job with the allegations hanging over his head, Paterson "kind of makes the case for himself to step down," as the headline puts it. Juli Weiner, Vanity Fair: "The Internet at large can now redact its criticisms of reporters William K. Rashbaum and Danny Hakim—the very same team that broke the Spitzer-prostitution ring story—and turn its rightful ire toward David W. Johnson, completely horrible person."