New N.Y. governor and wife admit extramarital affairs

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The new governor of New York admitted to past extramarital affairs and one by his wife on Tuesday, seeking to quash even more wild rumors and move past the tumult caused by his predecessor's resignation amid a sex scandal.

In an excruciating 25-minute news conference in the state capital of Albany, David Paterson, 53, and his wife Michelle Paterson, 46, fielded questions from reporters about their affairs a day after Paterson was sworn into office.

The former lieutenant governor replaced Eliot Spitzer, who resigned following a New York Times report that he was under federal investigation for patronizing a prostitution ring.

Jealous after learning of his wife's infidelity several years ago, Paterson said he began affairs of his own while a state senator, and he revealed the matter now in part to avoid being blackmailed by anyone threatening to reveal the secret.

They did not reveal names. Paterson said he never had affairs with subordinates and never used state funds to pay for expenses related to the liaisons. None of his partners had business with the state, he said.

"I haven't broken any laws. I don't think I've violated my oath of office. I saw this as a private matter, that both of us committed acts of infidelity," Paterson said.

The Patersons overcame their problems through counseling and the Democratic governor said he hoped to put the issue to rest so he could get on with the state's business, including closing a $5 billion budget gap.

"We're very much in love now," Paterson said, adding that he and his wife would have preferred to take these secrets "to our graves" but were confronted about their past when he assumed the top post in state.

"We could have gotten divorced. We were well on our way there. And if we had gotten divorced, we wouldn't be having a press conference here today," he said.

"When we appear in public now, you are seeing the real relationship -- the one that we had the day we got married, and the one that we have now, maybe even a little enhanced by much better communication," he said.

A day earlier, Paterson was feted as the new governor, winning over politicians with a joke-filled and conciliatory speech that reached out to Republicans. Paterson became the state's first black governor and he has talked of overcoming the challenge of near-total blindness -- he cannot see out of his left eye and has 20/400 vision in his right eye.

Paterson first revealed one affair in an interview with the New York Daily News published on Tuesday. In it he flatly denied rumors that he had a child out of wedlock.

When asked at the news conference, Paterson said he had affairs with more than one woman. Michelle Paterson was not pressed for details but was asked about the message she wanted to send her children.

"In marriage you're going to have peaks and valleys, but you want to show them how you get through them. There's no marriage that's perfect," she said.

Michelle Paterson has a daughter from a prior relationship and she and the governor have a son together.

(Additional reporting by Elizabeth Flood Morrow in Albany; Editing by Eric Walsh)