New York's next governor bats away awkward question

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The man taking over the New York governorship after Gov. Eliot Spitzer resigned in a sex scandal batted off an awkward question on Thursday with a joke.

Asked at a news conference if he had ever patronized a prostitute, Lt. Gov. David Paterson feigned a look of concern and responded, "Only the lobbyists."

The joke may have caused offense in some quarters, but it prompted guffaws and applause from a crowd of reporters and state government employees in the state capital, Albany.

Spitzer announced on Wednesday that he would resign, two days after The New York Times reported he hired a $1,000-an-hour prostitute. Formerly the state's chief prosecutor, Spitzer built his career on a stance of moral rectitude, relentlessly going after crime on Wall Street and elsewhere.

Paterson takes over the job next Monday.

(Reporting by Emily Chasan; Editing by Daniel Trotta and Frances Kerry)