New York Adult Entertainment: Is New York the Most Corrupt State?
Spitzer, the former crusading attorney general who campaigned on a pledge to shake up Albany’s ossified culture, was caught consorting with a prostitute. After Spitzer’s resignation, Paterson was thrust into the spotlight. Paterson thought it best to come clean about his past infidelities and drug use, and was given a pass by an electorate and media exhausted of scandal. But ever since, he has been under a microscope. When Sen. Hillary Clinton resigned to become secretary of state, Paterson dragged out the process of choosing her successor, ultimately settling on a new congresswoman from a swing district upstate, Kirsten Gillibrand. By passing over more experienced women, such as Rep. Carolyn Maloney, he invited the prospect of a primary challenge, and the Democrats might lose both the Senate seat and Gillibrand’s House seat. With Paterson’s approval ratings at Cheneyesque lows, President Obama urged the governor not to run for reelection. Paterson dug in his heels but finally dropped out when The New York Times revealed that Paterson confidant David Johnson had been convicted of selling drugs as a youth and had been more recently accused of domestic violence, and that Paterson and the state police had spoken with Johnson’s accuser.