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Mar 19, 2008 6:04 pm US/Eastern
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Paterson Ripped For Being Too Honest With Media
Expert: Governor's Admission To Extra-Marital Affairs Was Overkill; New Yorkers Split On Issue
Reporting
Cindy Hsu
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
Was Gov. David Paterson too honest with the media about his extra-marital affairs? The governor addressed the issue again Wednesday and this time admitted he may have said too much.
On Wednesday Paterson appeared with Mayor Michael Bloomberg at a press conference, where reporters asked if he'd want to change anything about the way he handled Tuesday's announcement about his affairs.
"Maybe it was too much information, but I was just trying to demonstrate what was my responsibility," Paterson said.
Paterson and wife Michelle surprised reporters Tuesday by fielding questions about their affairs for more than 20 minutes.
"I was angry jealous, I was jealous and I exercised poor judgment," Paterson said Tuesday.
"We dealt with it as a family, and, yes, I did seek counseling," his wife added.
Those who watched had mixed reactions.
"He got all the dirty laundry out there, didn't leave anything for anyone to second guess him or come up in about a week or so, oh what about this what about that," Upper East Side resident Jeff Sternhell told CBS 2 HD.
"I'm just totally disgusted with everything, with the politicians and everything and that this is coming into politics, their private lives," said Pearl Frank of Fairlawn, N.J.
"Because they were honest it made me believe in him a little bit more, and make sure that he really wanted to come clean so he could focus on what's important," added Venus Mullen of North Plainfield, N.J.
Paterson said he had several motives for being as honest and straightforward as he was.
"I didn't want to be compromised. I didn't want to be blackmailed," Paterson said. "I didn't want to hesitate taking an action because the person on the other end might hurt me or my family."
Anne-Renee Testa has been a relationship counselor for more than 20 years. She says Paterson's honesty was refreshing, but she didn't like his reasoning for his affairs.
"It was sort of like she did it, so I did it and for me excuses are for losers, I don't get that," Dr. Testa said.
Testa says while the Patersons are under the microscope right now, millions of people are going through the same challenges.
"When you consider 75 percent of men cheat and 50 percent of women cheat, basically, it's not only in public life it's everywhere," Testa said.
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