A Harlem Civil Rights Lesson for Scandal-Plagued Paterson

Chorus for governor's resignation continues to grow louder

All the headlines, polls, blogs and politicians calling for Gov. David Paterson to resign amid dueling scandals are forgetting one thing: He's innocent until proven guilty.
       
Leave it to Harlem, that touchstone for the civil rights movement, to remind New York's spiraling political-lobbying-media world of the right to due process. The lesson came late Thursday night when, despite strong sentiments among some to push Paterson to quit for the good of the party and state, black leaders in Harlem's famous Sylvia's soul food restaurant rallied around their son, agreeing that he deserves his civil rights.
       
"There was overwhelming support expressed for David Paterson with respect to his entitlement of a presumption of innocence until such time as the investigation is completed,'' said Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries of Brooklyn after the meeting.
       
It's not a simple proposition.
       
Even Paterson's longtime friends in his home base of Harlem give him only qualified and temporary support. Three top staffers have quit. And the group of black leaders weighing the future of the state's first black governor found themselves in a sharp debate.
       
The Rev. Al Sharpton, who called the Harlem summit, wouldn't answer a direct question afterward about whether he supported Paterson. The "emergency'' closed-door meeting was called amid new damaging revelations just six days after the same group met and issued more robust support of Paterson. Some had planned to push Thursday for Paterson to step down, partly for the good of their own political careers.
       
Yet, state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is still investigating the first scandal over whether Paterson illegally contacted a woman who had accused a trusted aide in a domestic violence incident. And in the second scandal, the state ethics board claims he violated a gift ban by seeking and using World Series tickets last year then possibly lying about it.
       
Assemblyman Keith Wright, the Manhattan Democratic chairman, called the political realm surrounding Paterson "beyond crazy.''       
Paterson isn't helping. He refuses to tell his story, saying that would interfere with the investigation he requested of Cuomo, who may run for governor.
       
Wright questioned the ethics board's charge and the competence of the whole investigation. The findings from a four-month investigation by the Public Integrity Commission was released during the maelstrom surrounding Paterson just one day after interviewing the key witness, Paterson's communications director. It is the same commission Paterson and the Legislature have tried to scrap for two years as ineffective and ethically compromised. Last year Paterson called for the resignation of every member.
       
Former lobbying commission chief David Grandeau is the former watchdog beloved by good-government groups that have long feuded with the commission that replaced him. He questions whether Paterson violated anything. Grandeau said the commission's probe seemed to speed up when Paterson was seen by some as ready to resign. Grandeau also said the probe appeared flawed by not interviewing a central figure, aide David Johnson, who handled -- or didn't -- Paterson's check to the Yankees to pay for tickets.
       
"It sounds to me like an organization in a rush to issue a coup de grace,'' Grandeau said.
       
Commission Executive Director Barry Ginsberg said Johnson may yet be interviewed.
       
"Nothing he's going to say is going to change what the governor said,'' Ginsberg said, noting the key interview with Communications Director Peter Kauffman the day before the report was released was enough to accuse the governor of violating the gift ban and possibly lying.
       
Ginsberg said it was important to get the report out before it was leaked by witnesses.
       
"We've been criticized in the past of moving too slowly, now we're criticized for moving too quickly,'' Ginsberg said.
       
More calls for Paterson's resignation followed. On Friday, Common Cause said Paterson deserves due process, but should resign because the scandals are keeping him from tending to the state's fiscal crisis.
       
Having a reasonable doubt has, it seems, become unreasonable.
       
The calls for Paterson's resignation are also coming from political opponents, most of whom the public desperately wanted him to engage: The Legislature and the special interests which often wag it.
       
Last week, many of those slamming Paterson said he should at least step away from budget negotiation with the Legislature and leave it to Lt. Gov. Richard Ravitch, whom Paterson appointed last year. That's fine for many lawmakers who have battled Paterson for months as he tried to cut spending and keep the state solvent.
       
The metaphor and simile cabinets are nearly bare after the last couple months of rumor and scandal. But one longtime Albany operative said it's been like being stuck on the Coney Island Cyclone after a couple of bad hot dogs, begging to get off the ride.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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