Manhattan Adult Entertainment: NY Gov. Paterson: Time to ’step back’ from election bid
… The issue is going to be whether he will be so damaged, can he lead the state? That’s going to be the big question here,” said state Sen. George Winner, R-Elmira. “I think it’s going to be very difficult for him to be able to govern given this firestorm.”
But others said Paterson will have the burden of a campaign fight against Cuomo off his shoulders and should be able to focus on governing, not politics.
“What it does, it allows those us who have really been deeply concerned about the impact this is having on our ability to do this job, we can now breath and to do exactly that,” said Sen. Ruth Hassell-Thompson, D-Mount Vernon.
Paterson, the state’s first African-American governor and first legally blind governor, succeeded Eliot Spitzer as governor in March 2008 after Spitzer resigned amid a prostitution sting. A former state senator, he was credited for steadying the state Capitol after it was rocked by the Spitzer scandal.
See the full article from “USA Today”