Gov. Paterson says he may have used campaign cash for hotel tryst.

Patterson certainly this piece of info in the face of the GOP hypyocrites that tarred and feathered Spitzer. It just leaves question to why Spitzer was targeted to leave office.


Gov. Paterson admitted Wednesday he may have improperly billed his campaign for at least one hotel tryst with a girlfriend.


The hotel tryst was apparently listed as "constituent services."


A Daily News review found that in a handful of other campaign expenditures,



Paterson may have used campaign funds to cover personal expenses and misstated their purpose in public disclosure forms.
The records also show he made reimbursements, but he acknowledged he may have failed to pony up in one instance.


A campaign payment to Lila Kirton, a high-ranking state employee who was one of his paramours, was listed as "professional services" - which is supposed to refer to legal advice, accounting or speechwriting.


Kirton, 49, of White Plains, is the only woman whose name has been confirmed by Albany sources.


She hasn't responded to calls for comment, and co-workers said they didn't see her yesterday at her $150,000-a-year job in Paterson's Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, where she is a holdover from Eliot Spitzer's administration.


On Tuesday, in an extraordinary Albany news conference, Paterson admitted he'd had affairs with several women, but insisted he never "knowingly" used campaign cash for his trysts. It's illegal to use campaign money for personal expenses.


In an interview with The News yesterday, he admitted that sometime when he was Senate minority leader from November, 2002 through 2006, he apparently used a campaign credit card for a liaison with a woman he wouldn't name at the Quality Hotel (now the Days Inn) on the upper West Side.


"I do remember that there was a time I might have had to use the [campaign] card because my other [personal] card didn't work," he said. He said the stay cost about $100, but didn't recall when it occurred.
Records show the campaign paid a $103.87 Quality Hotel bill on Dec. 20, 2002, listing the expense as "constituent services."


The campaign paid for three other stays at the Quality Hotel, including two in September 2001 and one in September 2003. They were either listed as "office" expenses or "constituent services."


Paterson said he "believed" he'd reimbursed the campaign for the Quality Hotel stay with the woman. The News could find no record of such a repayment.
"If I didn't, I will do it now," he said.


Russ Haven, legislative counsel for the New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG), said although it's against the law, the use of campaign money for personal expenses is extremely common because the law is rarely enforced.


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http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2008/03/20/2008-03-20_gov_paterson_says_he_may_have_used_campa.html

And are the hypocrites against Spitzer want to remove this governor who has admitted that he used his campaign funds and spent over $103.87 hotel expense for his tryst? And notice that the hotel was Quality Hotel and not the Hilton, Marriott, or Ritz Carlton. Finally, how many other elected officials used their campaign funds for personal reasons?