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Another Paterson Official Resigns

By Karen DeWitt

http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wrvo/local-wrvo-889137.mp3

Albany, NY – Another of Governor David Paterson's top aides has resigned, this time, his Director of Communications.

Paterson's Communications Director Peter Kauffman issued a brief statement, saying, he "cannot in good conscience continue" working for the governor, Kauffman said as a former Officer in the United States Navy, he takes integrity and commitment to public service very seriously.

Kauffman is the third member of the Paterson Administration to leave in recent days. The head of the State police Henry Corbitt abruptly retired, and the governor's chief criminal justice advisor, Denise O'Donnell, quit after allegations in the New York Times. The paper said Paterson had tried to cover up a domestic violence incident concerning a top aid.

Kauffman's resignation comes a day after an ethics panel found the governor solicited free tickets to a World Series game and lied about it afterward. Kauffman had been instructed by the governor at one point to tell a reporter that Paterson had been invited to the game by the President of the Yankees, but that turned out later not to be true.