New York governor weighs his campaign amid scandal

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Embattled New York Governor David Paterson said on Thursday he will talk with fellow Democrats to consider whether to continue campaigning for re-election amid growing scandals surrounding him.

"I am not suspending my campaign," Paterson told a brief news conference on Thursday evening when asked if he would end his campaign.

"But I am talking to a number of elected officials around the state, as I would fellow Democrats, to hear their opinions," he said. "I've got an open mind about this thing. I want the Democrats to win in November ... I will weigh what they have to say."

His comments came hours after a senior state official who supervises police resigned following a newspaper report that the governor and police officers may have improperly intervened in assault allegations against another Paterson aide.

Denise O'Donnell, deputy secretary for Public Safety, said in her resignation statement that contacts by the governor and state police with a woman seeking a protective order against Paterson aide David Johnson were "unacceptable regardless of their intent."

The unidentified woman seeking the protective order accused Johnson of violent assault last fall, the New York Times reported on Thursday.

The woman said state police harassed her to drop her case, and police confirmed a member of the governor's personal security team visited her, the Times said.

Paterson telephoned her before a court hearing earlier this month. After the call, she failed to appear and her case was dismissed, the Times said.

Paterson was already fighting for his political life before this latest report. With low approval ratings, he has resisted calls from fellow Democrats to drop his re-election bid in November. He took office two years ago when former Governor Eliot Spitzer resigned in a prostitution scandal.

O'Donnell said she first was led to believe local police were handling the case against the Paterson aide and that state police were not involved.

"It was only last night when I learned from press reports the contrary details, including the involvement of the State Police," O'Donnell wrote. "For these reasons, I am resigning my position as Commissioner of the Division of Criminal Justice Services and Deputy Secretary of Public Safety effective today."

Johnson, a Paterson confidant, has been suspended.

Paterson, during a radio interview earlier on Thursday, declined to say whether he had called the woman.

"I don't want to talk about that," he said, adding that he has referred the case to the state attorney general.

"I'll just let the facts come out, and I think that will be the best way for it to work," he said.

State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's office said it was examining whether "criminal or other wrongdoing is involved."

Cuomo, who far outpaces Paterson in campaign funding and public opinion polls, is expected to challenge Paterson for the Democratic governor's nomination this year.

(Additional reporting by Mark Egan, Joan Gralla and Jonathan Stempel; editing by Mohammad Zargham)