New York, Jan 31 (IANS) After his predecessor Eliot Spitzer quit when his $1,000-an-hour romps with call girl Ashley Dupre became public two years ago, current New York Governor David Paterson too is facing rumours of sexacapades.
The state's first African-American governor, who is also legally blind, said to have been found in close encounter with many pretty women, including one in the closet of his mansion, the New York Post reported.
So will the governor join the recent list of American politicians brought down by their sexploits - from President Bill Clinton who barely managed to survive impeachment, to New York Governor Eliot Spitzer to South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford to former vice presidential candidate John Edwards?
The paper says the governor is on the prowl for women other than his attractive wife Michelle Paterson. Interestingly, just a day after his inauguration in March 2008, both the governor and his wife had admitted to extramarital affairs.
After reporting recently that the governor was caught nuzzling the neck of a family friend at a New Jersey steakhouse, the New York Post now says Paterson has again been spotted in what it calls "one Close Encounters of the Closet kind."
The governor was found with an unidentified woman in a utility closet of his mansion in capital Albany by his security guards, the newspaper said.
Revealing details of the encounter, the newspaper said a trooper of the governor's security was startled while making a routine round of the utility closet which normally remains closed.
"The trooper opened the door and the first thing he saw was the governor and a woman inside and the two of them snuggling together, embracing. There was nothing more than that, snuggling, and they had their clothes on.
"The trooper was startled and he later said that the governor was startled too, and so he quickly left. He then reported the incident to his superior,'' the newspaper quoted a source as saying.
After the alleged incident, the newspaper said the governor got police patrolling of his mansion changed to limit the time troopers spend inside it at night. He also got the rules changed to reduce records of the names of his visitors.
However, the governor's spokesperson Marissa Shorenstein has denied the incident.
"There is absolutely zero truth to these rumuors. There was no incident. The policy was changed roughly a year ago to protect the privacy of the Paterson family,'' the New York Post quoted the spokesperson as saying.
Recently, Obama's budget director Peter Orzag became an embarrassment for the president for fathering a daughter with Greek shipping heiress Claire Milonas even as he announced his engagement to an ABC journalist.