Paterson aide meets with commission on Yankees tickets

ALBANY - David W. Johnson, the suspended top aide to Gov. David A. Paterson, met Wednesday with investigators looking into allegations that the governor lied about soliciting and using free tickets to a 2009 World Series game.

Johnson, director of executive services, helped procure the five tickets from the Yankees. He also allegedly filled out a check paying for two tickets after Paterson received questions from a newspaper reporter.

However, Paterson told the state Commission on Public Integrity that he wrote out the check before the Oct. 28 game because he always intended to pay for the tickets used by his teenage son and the son's friend.

Johnson, 37, of Manhattan, didn't answer reporters' questions after about an hour in the commission's Albany office. His lawyer, Oscar Michelen, said, "We are not going to address any substantive questions other than the fact that we did appear" before the commission. "The investigation is continuing . . . and we wait for the commission to see if they are going to issue a subsequent report."

Michelen and Paterson attorney Theodore Wells Jr. have criticized the commission for not interviewing Johnson before finding the governor violated the ban on receiving gifts.

The commission has said it issued a subpoena for Johnson to testify, giving the document to one of Paterson's government lawyers. However, Michelen said the envelope wasn't marked and Johnson never opened it.

Last month, Johnson was suspended from his $132,000-a-year-job after news of an Oct. 31 alleged domestic incident.

Paterson and State Police have been accused of interfering in a complaint filed against Johnson by a Bronx woman. After speaking with Paterson last month, she failed to appear in court and her request for an order of protection was dismissed.

The controversy led Paterson to scuttle his election campaign after just six days.