New York Looks Ahead to David Paterson After Eliot Spitzer Announces Resignation

NEW YORK (AP / WCBS 880) -- As Eliot Spitzer departs the governor's office in disgrace, his replacement will face political challenges in place long before the prostitution scandal that paralyzed the state Capitol in Albany.

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Lt. Gov David Paterson will inherit bruised relations with lawmakers in both parties who were offended by Spitzer's confrontational leadership style, a tight budget in a slowing economy and memories of divisive issues - such as a withdrawn plan to give drivers licenses to illegal immigrants - during Spitzer's less than 15-month tenure.

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But New York's first black governor, and the nation's first legally blind executive, plans to be well prepared for the job. He asked for a handover on Monday, five days following Spitzer's resignation. Spitzer stepped down after getting enmeshed in a call-girl scandal that made a mockery of his straight-arrow image and left him facing the prospect of criminal charges and perhaps disbarment.

This morning, Paterson says New York government is stable after the tumult of Eliot Spitzer's call-girl scandal and resignation. Between meetings at the Capitol this morning, Paterson said that if lawmakers can make the April first budget deadline, they will be - quote - ``back on track.''

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Paterson said he needed more time to prepare before taking office and wanted Spitzer to say a proper goodbye to his staff. Paterson plans to meet with lawmakers Monday to lay out his position and any revisions to Spitzer's budget. Spitzer had proposed $1 billion in health care cuts and other measures to hold spending growth to 4.8 percent, the lowest increase since the mid-1990s.

``In these situations, most politicians would be like vultures swarming around the body,'' said Rep. Steve Israel, who said he had spoken to Paterson. ``In contrast, David Paterson actually asked for more time to do his homework.''

Spitzer and his successor have very different leadership styles. While Spitzer was famously abrasive, uncompromising and even insulting, Paterson has built a reputation as a conciliator, and lawmakers quickly embraced the new order.

``The first thing he can, and I think he will, do is end the era of accusation and contempt and ridicule,'' said Democratic Assemblyman Richard Brodsky. ``I think everyone will be better off because of it.''

Some lawmakers worried the budget would be delayed thanks to the scandal, but it appeared to be on track for an April 1 deadline.

Barely known outside his Harlem political base, Paterson, 53, has been in New York government since his election to the state Senate in 1985. Though legally blind, he has enough sight in his right eye to walk unaided, recognize people at conversational distance and even read if the text is placed close to his face.

Paterson said in a statement that he was saddened by the scandal, but added: ``It is now time for Albany to get back to work as the people of this state expect from us.''

Spitzer resigned Wednesday, making an announcement without securing a plea bargain with federal prosecutors, though a law enforcement official said the former governor was still believed to be negotiating one. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case.

``I cannot allow my private failings to disrupt the people's work,'' Spitzer said. His weary-looking wife, Silda, again stood at his side as the corruption-fighting politician once known as ``Mr. Clean'' answered for his actions for the second time in three days.

The resignation brought the curtain down on a riveting three-day drama - played out, sometimes, as farce - that made Spitzer an instant punchline on late-night TV and fascinated Americans with the spectacle of a crusading politician exposed as a hypocrite.

The scandal erupted Monday after federal law enforcement officials disclosed that a wiretap had caught the 48-year-old father of three teenage daughters arranging to spend thousands of dollars on a call girl at a fancy Washington hotel on the night before Valentine's Day.

Investigators said he had arranged for a prostitute named Kristen to take the train down from New York while he was in the nation's capital to testify before a congressional subcommittee about the bond industry.

Later Wednesday, new details emerged about the call girl identified in court papers. The New York Times reported that her real name is Ashley Alexandra Dupre. She declined to comment when asked by the Times when she first met Spitzer and how many times they had been together.

Dupre apparently made an appearance in federal court on Monday as a witness in the case against four people accused of operating the Emperors Club VIP prostitution ring. It was unclear whether she would face charges in the investigation. New York attorney Don D. Buchwald confirmed to The Associated Press that he represents Dupre, but wouldn't comment further.

As developments emerged over the last three days, it became increasingly clear that Spitzer, politically, was finished.

Law enforcement officials said the governor - the millionaire heir to a New York real estate fortune - had hired prostitutes several times before and had paid tens of thousands of dollars, and perhaps as much as $80,000, to Emperors Club VIP, which charges as much as $5,500 an hour.

Senior Spitzer aides, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said federal prosecutors had told Spitzer Friday that he was linked to the prostitution ring.

But he didn't tell his wife until Sunday, and after several excruciating hours, they told their daughters, the aides said. By Sunday evening, Spitzer had called top advisers, friends and loyalists. The little band huddled in the apartment until midnight.

After making a watery-eyed, nonspecific public apology Monday with his wife by his side, Spitzer continued to talk to family and advisers through Tuesday. By Wednesday morning, aides said, he had decided to resign.

Spitzer and his wife rode in a black SUV from their Fifth Avenue apartment to his New York City office to announce his resignation, with TV helicopters capturing every moment of the trip.

Speaking in a strong and steady voice, he apologized for his actions and said: ``Over the course of my public life, I've insisted, I believe correctly, that people regardless of their position or power take responsibility for their conduct. I can and will ask no less of myself.''

He did not address the allegations in any detail in the less than three-minute statement, and he left without taking questions.

In a statement issued after Spitzer quit, U.S. Attorney Michael Garcia, the chief federal prosecutor in New York, said: ``There is no agreement between this office and Gov. Eliot Spitzer relating to his resignation or any other matter.''

Among the possible charges that law enforcement authorities said could be brought against the former governor: soliciting and paying for sex; violating the Mann Act, a 1910 federal law that makes it a crime to take someone across state lines for immoral purposes; and illegally arranging cash transactions to conceal their purpose.

Spitzer, a graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Law School, could also be disbarred. In New York, an attorney can lose his license to practice law for failing to ``conduct himself both professionally and personally, in conformity with the standards of conduct imposed upon members of the bar.''

It was a spectacular collapse for a man who cultivated an image as a hard-nosed politician hell-bent on cleansing the state of corruption. He served two terms as New York attorney general, earning the nickname ``Sheriff of Wall Street,'' and was elected governor with a record share of the vote in 2006. The tall, athletic, square-jawed Spitzer was sometimes mentioned as a potential candidate for president.