Dicker: 'Bombshell' Times report will likely be anti-climactic
ALBANY -- Rumors are still flying at the Capitol, where everyone is waiting to see what, if anything, the New York Times prints about Governor Paterson.
The newspaper is said to be working on a story about his personal behavior -- a report so blistering that Paterson would have no choice but to resign in its wake.
The Governor is denying the report, saying late today that the media and New York politics have sunk to new lows.
Most everyone else is simply declining comment. Asked about the alleged Times report at the Capitol Monday, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said, "I'm not addressing rumors here. They're rumors, that's why they're labeled that way."
CBS 6 political analyst and New York Post state editor Fred Dicker theorizes that after all the rumor and speculation, the Times report will likely end up being anti-climactic.
"There's clearly something going on," he said Monday evening. "The New York Times reporters, probably in a mistaken move, have told people that they are working on what they consider to be a big story. The expectation now is that 'that something' could be anti-climactic, that a lot of it may already be out in my paper, the New York Post, or in other papers in New York that have been pursuing this for awhile."
As for Paterson's denial of the still-unpublished New York Times reports, he said, "What the Governor is doing here is an obvious preemptive attack on the Times, and he's kind of giving away what the Times story will be about, marital fidelity and alleged drug use."
The Times is expected to meet with Paterson in private Tuesday to give him a chance to go over the chance to "go over the evidence," said Dicker.
It remains unclear when exactly the Times will publish the long buzzed-about report, but as Dicker said, "there's no way that the publication can't NOT publish something after all of this."
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[Hear Dicker's analysis from last week]
For days now, the Capitol has been abuzz with talk about just what's in the story the paper is supposedly about to print.
Here is the response Sunday night from the governor's Communications Director Peter Kauffmann:
"This is a new low even by the standards of planet Albany. The circus of the past week -- entirely fabricated out of thin air and innuendo -- is an embarrassment for all who have played a role in fueling it."
And from Press Secretary Marissa Shorenstein:
"There is absolutely zero truth to these rumors. The governor is not resigning."
Rick Lazio issued the following statement:
"The rumors about the Governor are a sad reflection of Albany politics. No public official deserves to be the subject of over a week of innuendo and nasty speculation. If the New York Times is working on or has a story then they should confirm or print it. If they do not, then they have an obligation to stop this rumor mongering right now. Common decency demands it."
