Did Paterson, Ex-Girlfriend Travel Together?
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- March
- 25
After saying he ended an affair with a state employee years ago, Gov. David Paterson traveled with the woman last year to South Carolina to help on Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s presidential campaign and both billed the trip to the state, the The Albany Times Union reported today.
While the story doesn’t name the aide, it is believed to be Lila Kirton, the White Plains state aide who Paterson allegedly had an affair in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
But aides said it does not appear the duo traveled to South Carolina together last year, as records suggest. The trip may have been as part of a larger state delegate that attended the Somos el Futuro conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico in mid-November.
Records show that the Paterson and Kirton, director of community affairs for former Gov. Spitzer, billed the state for stays at a hotel identified as Intercontinental Hotel in Carolina last November. Intercontinental Hotels and Resorts has a hotel in Carolina, Puerto Rico, and the conference was held at the Intercontinental San Juan Resort and Casino.
Paterson’s bill listed the transaction date as Nov. 11, 2007; Kirton’s bill was dated Nov. 12, 2007.
The conference in Puerto Rico was held Nov 8-12, 2007.
They also booked JetBlue flights on the same day, Oct. 31, 2007.
It is believed they did, in fact, travel to South Carolina for Clinton, but in early February and the expenses were covered by Clinton’s campaign—not the state. And there is no record of similar stays in South Carolina.
Paterson has campaigned on Clinton’s behalf in South Carolina and in Iowa. Kirton has served on on Clinton’s “New York Women for Hillary Council.”
Still, a review of their state-issued credit cards by Gannett News Service shows that Paterson and Kirton billed the state for hotel stays in Albany at the same hotels in at least two instances—on June 19, 2007 and on Jan. 9, 2008.
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, March 25th, 2008 at 11:38 am by Joseph Spector.
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Jay Gallagher has covered Albany for Gannett News Service since 1984 and has been Albany Bureau chief since 1989. He`s a native of the Boston area and likes to point out that in this millennium, the score is Red Sox 1 championship, the Yankees 0. 
Cara Matthews has been a statehouse correspondent in the Albany Bureau since August 2005. Prior to that, she covered Putnam County government and politics at The Journal News for nearly five years. Before that, she worked at newspapers in Connecticut and covered the state Legislature for one of them. 
We are thankful that Eliot Spitzer, the hypocrite, whore loving politician who kept his black socks on during sex is a thing of the past. But we must make sure that none of his good ole boys, campaign donors and like minded buddies ever see day one in albany. Spitzer’s last action as governor was the appointment of a Mount Vernon attorney named brandon Sall. Brandon Sall has no experience connected to transportation, engineering or politics. His experience is in handing cash to Spitzer. He bought an appointment. We need you to help deny him that appointment by signing this petition:
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/nobrandon/
SAY NO TO PAY TO PLAY POLITICS
And GOOD RIDDANCE ELIOT
Alas, the Brandon was quietly appointed to the board by the luv giv’s puppet back in May.
Guess what, there are lots of ways to PAY TO PLAY. Or play to PAY.
GIBBS, CHARLES F 2000 198,655
DICICCO, BRUCE M 250 61,350
SALL, BRANDON R 500 23,162
SHEPARD, WILLIAM T 250 20,808
BORDOFF, NINETTE 500 16,000
KIRSTEIN, ALLAN E 500 13,172
WEISBERG, JOAN L 150 10,425
DAVIDSON, MIRIAM 250 9,865
SCHWAB, EILEEN C 500 4,975
SOLOMON, JEROME S 250 4,568
ROKACZ, JOSEPH 250 3,250
BARKHORN, KARIN 500 2,500
LITWER, SUSAN 100 1,000