Paterson calls personal misconduct rumors 'sleazy'

ALBANY - Despite rumors a forthcoming New York Times article would drive him from office, Gov. David A. Paterson said yesterday he believes the story will not deal with allegations of personal misconduct during his 23-month tenure.

Paterson told reporters after an interview with the Times that he had never been asked about the allegations. Speculation about the possible disclosure of damaging information led Paterson on Monday to deny acting improperly or contemplating resignation.

Showing a flash of anger, Paterson said Tuesday the episode had made him more determined to seek election this year. "The only way I'm not going to be governor next year is at the ballot box," he said. "And the only way that I'll be leaving office before is in a box."

In a news conference, Paterson again denied ever acting improperly as governor. He bristled when a television reporter attempted to link rumors about him to the 2008 downfall of Eliot Spitzer in a prostitution scandal: "That has nothing to do with my life."

Paterson said, "For the last two weeks, I've been the subject of a number of rumors that were traced to an article The New York Times was writing, a profile on me. I was interviewed for that piece today; no such questions related to any of that information was asked of me in the interview."

He added, "The article will be written about other subjects and not the ones that have been the source of the mass speculation and feeding frenzy and circus that we have witnessed the last couple of week."

Paterson also criticized the Times, saying it should have publicly disclosed what the story was about to refute the rumors. He said aides wrote a letter of complaint to the paper's public editor requesting an internal probe.

"I do think I was owed as a human being, if not professional journalism, the right and the opportunity not to have the people of the State of New York thinking their governor is about to resign when there hasn't been one shred of evidence that any of these charges that were made against me were even true."

Times spokeswoman Diane McNulty said the paper wasn't the source of the rumors. "Obviously, we are not responsible for what other news organizations are reporting. It's not coming from the Times," she said.

Some journalism experts said Paterson's criticism of the Times was unfair. They said news organizations don't disclose a story's content until publication because last-minute changes are commonplace.

"It's hard to see how The New York Times has slandered the governor by not saying anything before their story is published," said Tom Rosenstiel, director of the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism. "Silence isn't slander. . . . They don't know what's going to be in the story until it goes to press."