Gov May Face Criminal Charges Over Yankee Tix Snafu

Investigator Drops Bomb; Paterson's Camp: He 'Did Not Lie'

August 26, 2010 11:45 PM

New York Gov. David Paterson could face criminal charges for his role in getting free tickets to a Yankees World Series game last year. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

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NEW YORK (CBS 2) — A special investigator said Thursday Gov. David Paterson gave misleading testimony about getting free tickets to a Yankees World Series game last fall.

And he could face criminal charges, reports CBS 2’s Marcia Kramer.

Getting five free tickets to see the Bronx Bombers play in the World Series may prove to be a very costly mistake for the governor.

A special prosecutor working for Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said Paterson issued “inaccurate and misleading” testimony on whether he was going to pay for the tickets, which each cost $425. The report details how before Game 1, Paterson’s office sent a letter to the Yankees saying he was “attending on official business” and “tickets would not be paid for.”

And the case is now being referred to the Albany district attorney.

The Paterson camp released a statement on Thursday night which said: “The Governor did not lie when he testified about the Yankee tickets, and the report does not recommend the bringing of criminal charges or conclude that the governor intended to give false or misleading testimony. We are therefore hopeful that D.A. Soares will ultimately conclude that no criminal charges are warranted.”

A state trooper singing the national anthem at the state fair in Syracuse on Thursday could have been a flashback for Gov. Paterson. It was sung at Game 1 at Yankee Stadium. But that memory could now turn into a nightmare for the governor because state law prohibits freebies.

In the stinging report, independent counsel Judith Kaye said: “Evidence indicates that his decision to pay for the tickets for his son and his son’s friend was made following a press inquiry the day after the game.”

Read the full Kaye report here

Kaye added the governor also misled investigators about his claim that he brought a check to the game to pay for the tickets. CBS 2′s Sean Hennessey reports the investigation found “the check was not in Paterson’s handwriting” and had been backdated.

“It does look really bad and that’s where it does get Nixonian, where the cover-up feels much more significant than the crime, even though the crime is a clear violation,” said Susan Lerner, executive director of the watchdog group Common Cause New York.

Lerner said Paterson should have admitted he mistakenly violated the state’s public gift law, instead of “putting out various different stories? That’s where the problem comes from.”

For Paterson, the most damming finding was this: that “the evidence… warrants consideration of possible criminal charges by the district attorney.”

Ironically, Paterson contended he did nothing wrong.

“I feel that when the facts are displayed and the truth comes out I will be vindicated,” Paterson said earlier this year.

So now the governor has to sit on the edge of his seat waiting to see if the Albany DA brings criminal charges.

A spokesman for the DA said the case is under review.

A state ethics commission recommended last week that the governor be fined more than $90,000 in civil penalties.

Gov May Face Criminal Charges Over Yankee Tix Snafu

l1ckm4hs4ck

There isn’t enough sanitizer to clean this slimeball.
Ricardocabeza

Can Patterson even see what’s happening on the field? Seems like a waste of perfectly good tickets.
Heartland Patriot

I’m certainly not Gov. Paterson’s biggest fan, but I think he got himself on the hit list for trying to come up with an alternate deal to the Ground Zero Victory Mosque. Some folks want that thing built there VERY badly, and anyone with even a possibility of getting it moved (Paterson) that gets in the way is going to be in hot water with folks higher up the food chain (guess who)…like I said, I ain’t the man’s biggest fan, but I wish him the best of luck for trying to do SOMETHING good for New Yorkers.
doug denunzio

the idea that one can come from behind and win is also what affects the attorney general’s position in terms of several goals to accomplish it’s almost as if the case is viewed subjectively as a position of no or yes because there isn’t a clear-cut vote that can affect the judge one way or the other but if proven guilty there isn’t any merit to the case unless the general has a way of “manipulating” the case to say that Patterson did in fact use tickets that were illegally purchased over the internet that would lead to inappropriate actions on behalf of the party.
newmexicopastor

something smells rotten in albany.
doug denunzio

if the attorney general has a case that’s important to recognize.
Doc WINO

I see enough scum during our concerts…the front row, egads. That’s why i position myself next to an amp-stack. I look OVER the crowd while doing a solo…not at them.

And i made 8000.00 last night…you?
gary-BG

Well he pissed off the Muslims so now go after him seems odd he tried to move the mosque now he is a criminal. Got to learn don’t mess with the Chicago Mafia
toyotawhizguy

Awwww, leave Mr Patterson alone. Let him attend to the state’s business without distraction, and finish out his term. He’s not running for re-election anyway. We have enough turmoil in New York State as it is without this tripe. Doesn’t Mr. Cuomo have anything more important to attend to? Like father like son.
Doc WINO

Free tickets are our right. Teams give them to us as a marketing tool, have you ever noticed the well-dressed people behind home plate…viewers don’t want to see joes in wife-beaters.
Bruce

People get what they deserve, and in NY they deserve crooked politicians. You morons make excuses for these scumbags, when if you tried to see a WS game without paying you’d be in jail. Remember the quote – he didn’t ask for free tickets – he said he’d be there “on official business and tickets WOULD NOT be paid for.” Exactly what kind of “official business” might I ask? With his son along for the ride? Get real, idiots.

And the remark “the democrates (sic) would do anything to get this guy” is just stupid. He IS a Democrat, as is the Attorney General – who also happens to be running to REPLACE him. Cuomo is just as corrupt as any NY Dem politician.
SpfldJimbo

For God’s sake!……Major League Baseball, suing Arizona, running the other way from Black Panther voter intimidation. What next? A raid on the Girl Scouts, and seizing their cookies!

Clearly…this whole bunch are the “not ready for prime time” players.
david Lifferth

how could pattycakes Patterson be found guilty of going to SEE a ball game. It ain’t possible. He will get off, I mean a Democrat in Democrat state like NY? He’ll quickly change his views on the Mosque and all will be forgiven
Ed in Albany

Leave the guy alone – there are bigger fish to fry…
Jerry in Tampa

Why did he need MLB tickets anyway? The dude can’t see. He could have sat in his limo in the parking lot at Yankee Stadium listening to the game on the radio and got the same thrill. Oh I get it he wanted over priced snacks too.

richie

great quote jerry from tampa must be from new york too.cuomo a bigger bafoon then his father .the apple does not fall far from the tree marri o worst gov ever
taxed ny back to the stone age

Rev Al

Negro thief? No way Jose….
Lily Templstein

What?
$2,000 in tickets is ok?
Your idiots. If he takes this, what else?
Us west Coasters are with you in this mosque thingy but F your Gov!
He looks like a character from Blazing saddles and is corrupt!
He must hang out with our mayor Villacorrupta!
LA loves NY!
welovetheUSA

Please………..democrates will do anything to get this guy….tickets..who cares. Obama steals billions of tax payer money and you cheer the jerk.

TeabaggersSuck

Really? Obama stole billions in tax payer money? Really? Maybe you should school yourself on where tax dollars go. Just a suggestion. By the way, people like you do not love the USA.

CG

Dear Dumbass,

I’m glad you like wasting billions on stupid Keynesian theories, on unnecessary bailouts, and on a doomed model of healthcare that the UK is backing off of just as we are taking the plunge. But don’t you dare tell anyone that they don’t love the USA for arguing against the BS that obama/pelosi/reid have forced upon us.
notaboutteabagging

6) $1.9 million provided for California scientists to “capture, photograph, and analyze” ants.

39) $1.2 million for research how elderly people react to playing video games.

How about we give you a clear indication of how the moron is wasting our tax dollars. Satisfied? And this is just TWO examples.

You are an idiot, and your weak attempt to declare someone doesn’t love the USA because people have something bad to say about one man controlling the country that doesn’t do what the population wants him to?

Do a search for obama saying how he isn’t the president to do what “THE PEOPLE” want him to do, but he is president to do what is “RIGHT”.

LOL, really? We are voting 1 man into office to do what HE thinks is right? And given certain topics, the american public votes 73% against it and he still goes through with it and come up with a speech like that?

You clowns that put up with him speaking this dictatorship are worse than him.

R or D, I want someone in office that moves with the people, not against them.

Kevin C

Hes, let’s blow the lid off this and it get’s worse… my sources say he had 2 hot dogs and a beer that he didn’t pay for either!! Really is THIS an investigation worthy event, TICKETS!!! If I were a politician I’d be afraid to take a piece of gum these days.
Kevin C.

Hes, let’s blow the lip off this and it get’s worse… my sources say he had 2 hot dogs and a beer that he didn’t pay for either!! Really is THIS an investigation worthy event, TICKETS!!! If I were a politician I’d be afraid to take a piece of gum these days.
ghhillbilly

yea just because he is fighting against the ground zero mosque they are trying to get him on something illeagle what a shame
H to the P

I better give those tickets back then!
Moondot

Please. Baseball tix. With all that’s going on in the world? Could we have some priorities? This would not be on my list.

JR Cash

@Moondot:
So you’d be okay if this was $2,125 in coke? The ‘priority’ here is to have politicians who aren’t corrupt. Notch ‘integrity’ a little higher on your list next time.

JR

“Innaccurate and misleading?” So what? The leading lawgivers of the land in the 1990s, Wee Willy Clinton and Madame Hillary, did it ALL the time, including under oath. No one cared then. Only time people care about truth is when THEIR money is involved.

J.F.

No one cared because Clinton was actually doing a good job for the country, and economy. Patterson has done nothing but repeatedly shoot New York State in both feet. He is a worthless greedy idiot.

Devenio

As much as I’d like to see Patterson out of office, this amounts to a witch hunt. Really? Over a baseball game. Really?

DavidL

YOU don’t lie to federal officials in an investigation, nor do you lie in court. It is that simple.

If he is willing to lie in court, then how can he be trusted out of court?

jnsesq

Clinton did.
Scrumptious_Lad

Maybe he thought he wasn’t lying. Lying to the public by these lying thief politicians should be brought up to the grand jury. This is an obvious attempt at Soviet style witch hunt.
JR Cash

@Devenio:
Yeah, really. It doesn’t take a genius to know you shouldn’t take freebies if it’s against the law. And the little insignificant ‘baseball game’ we’re talking about was the WORLD SERIES, and the tix went for over TWO GRAND. This is a big no no, and an easily avoidable one.
Justin

Clinton did, and he is trusted out of court, by the folks who have paid him millions of dollars after he left office.

FL Doc

It is called, “Getting in, on the arm”. Years ago it was common practice for officials to wave a badge or I.D. to get into events for free while the “common folks” paid. It is against the law for all uniformed services and all other civil servants to use their position to gain any kind of “favor”.

You said, “Over a baseball game “. The value of the tickets was $2,125.00. Would you feel the same if some one put that much cash into his hand while trying to get the property next to your home rezoned to allow a 7/11 which would be open 25/7/365?
Dis Gusted

These is bogus, Democrats are just clearing the field for the annoited one Andrew Cuomo whose fahter destroyed the State of NY.
Someone ask “Andy’ why his father shut down a perfectly good Nuclear Power plant the day it was completed and how much did that cost the State of NY?

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Gov May Face Criminal Charges Over Yankee Tix Snafu

Investigator Drops Bomb; Paterson's Camp: He 'Did Not Lie'

August 26, 2010 11:45 PM

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