By MATT CHANDLER
Buffalo Law Journal

Amid a brewing scandal and mounting pressure from political operatives, Gov. David Paterson was expected to give up his campaign to run for a full four-year term in the fall, multiple media outlets reported Friday. As this issue was going to press, he was expected to announce his intention not to seek election.

The decision follows the Thursday resignation of Denise O'Donnell as the state's deputy director of public safety. The Western New York native abruptly quit her $165,000-a-year post following reports that Paterson and the State Police became involved in a domestic-violence matter involving a top Paterson aide.

In a statement released Thursday, O'Donnell suggested that Paterson and some Troopers had acted improperly in contacting a former girlfriend of David Johnson's who said she'd been assaulted by Johnson, a senior adviser to Paterson.

"The fact that the governor and members of the State Police have acknowledged direct contact with a woman who had filed for an order of protection against a senior member of the governor's staff," O'Donnell said in the prepared statement, "is a very serious matter. These actions are unacceptable regardless of their intent."

O'Donnell had held the post since early in 2007. Before that she spent 17 years working in the U.S. attorney's office, the last four as U.S. attorney for the Western District of New York. She also spent several years as a litigator with Hodgson Russ LLP and taught at the University at Buffalo Law School. O'Donnell is married to state Supreme Court Justice Hon. John O'Donnell.

Wednesday, Paterson suspended Johnson without pay. A week earlier, Paterson had chastised the New York Times for writing about Johnson's "youthful indiscretions" as well as the recent charges of domestic abuse, and urged the public not to rush to judgment against Johnson.

"The more recent allegations reported on by the Times would be extremely troubling if true - but the conclusions reached by the Times report are not supported by the facts," Paterson said Feb. 17. "There is no independent evidence presented that would substantiate any claims of violence committed by David Johnson against a woman, a fact underscored by the absence of a single judicial finding that any such incident ever took place."

Thursday, Paterson said he had asked Attorney General Andrew to investigate the matter.

"Serious questions have been raised about contact the State Police may have had with a private citizen who filed a complaint against a member of my staff," Paterson said in the three-paragraph statement.

Cuomo confirmed that his office will investigate the matter.