Paterson Leaked False Dirt on Caroline

Tax/nanny issues a mirage
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 4, 2009 12:23 PM CST
Paterson Leaked False Dirt on Caroline
New York Gov. David Paterson speaks during a news conference in Albany, NY, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2008.   (AP Photo)

When Caroline Kennedy ended her Senate campaign, David Paterson’s administration leaked confidential and misleading information about her, the New York Times reports. Paterson aides told reporters that Kennedy had “a definite tax issue” and “a nanny problem” that “she didn’t want to become public.” But those issues—a few hundred dollar tax lien in 1994, and an expired visa for a nanny hired in the '80s—were minor and resolved long ago.

Eliot Spitzer’s aides used similar tactics against state Senate majority leader Joseph Bruno, forcing many to resign under charges that they’d violated the state’s Public Officers Law. Those repercussions are unlikely in this case, even though Paterson admits the leaks were wrong. “People who work for you should know better,” he said, but “I’m not throwing anyone under the bus.” (More Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg stories.)

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