Oh, the Woe of Disabled Evildoers

We are often taught to give the disabled extra accommodation to help them better fit into the mainstream workplace. We are encouraged to be extra kind to the disabled because of their unfair and frail state of living. We are often surprised when we learn the disabled can be just as devious and evil as their able-bodied peers. David Paterson is the current, non-elected Governor of the State of New York — he came into power when Eliot Spitzer was ousted over a hooker scandal — and as a Black and Blind man, we put as much hope in David Paterson as we did Barack Obama to bring some safety and sanity back to governance.

Oh, the woe David Paterson has brought unto the citizenry he is supposed to be leading lead by pristine example:

ALBANY — Gov. David A. Paterson personally directed two state employees to contact the woman who had accused his close aide of assaulting her, according to two people with direct knowledge of the governor’s actions.Mr. Paterson instructed his press secretary, Marissa Shorenstein, to ask the woman to publicly describe the episode as nonviolent, according to a third person, who was briefed on the matter. That description would contradict the woman’s accounts to the police and in court.

Mr. Paterson also enlisted another state employee, Deneane Brown, a friend of both the governor and the accuser, to make contact with the woman before she was due in court to finalize an order of protection against the aide, David W. Johnson, the two people with direct knowledge said. Ms. Brown, an employee of the Division of Housing and Community Renewal, reached out to the woman on more than one occasion over a period of several days and arranged a phone call between the governor and the woman, Mr. Johnson’s companion.

After the calls from Ms. Brown and the conversation with the governor, the woman failed to appear for the court hearing on Feb. 8, and the case was dropped.

These accounts provide the first evidence that Mr. Paterson helped direct an effort to influence the accuser.

We are shocked, but not surprised, by Paterson’s behavior. He should’ve known better than to be so involved in the private misdoings of his staff.

Paterson also knew he was a marked man. Obama wanted him not to run for Governor and Paterson dismissed the President.

We Who Know New York Politics knew it was only a matter of time before the foundation around Paterson began to mysteriously chip away and crumble: It has; it did. Paterson is now nothing.

Now, Andrew Cuomo is free to run for Governor and win — giving Barack Obama a strong ally in a major State — and none of this woe had to come to Paterson if he’d only lived up to his bright promise and proud family history of leadership in politics by doing the right thing and bowing out of the race for re-election.

Now the legacy of David Paterson becomes investigations against him, accusations that will maul his staff and he has zero hope of recovering any sense of his good family name.