Another top aide for Gov. Paterson has bolted amid a firestorm engulfing the administration.Paterson press secretary Marissa Shorenstein abruptly quit Wednesday.
She had been serving as acting communications director since Peter Kauffmann resigned in disgust on March 4.
Shorenstein, the fifth high-level administration official to bail in recent weeks, seemed to back up statements from those close to her that she was misled into making comments and taking other actions for the governor that weren’t true.
“Due to the circumstances that have led to my unwitting involvement in recent news stories, I can no longer do my job effectively,” Shorenstein said in a statement released Wednesday afternoon.
“Throughout my career, I have performed my duties professionally and with integrity, basing my actions on what I believe to be true at the time,” she added. “I therefore tender my resignation as press secretary to the governor.”
Sources say Shorenstein’s decision to walk away from her $154,000-a-year gig came after testifying recently before the state Public Integrity Commission.
The ethics watchdog has accused Paterson of pocketing free World Series tickets and then lying about it.
Shorenstein has already spoken with investigators for Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, who are probing whether the governor and state police had improper contact with a woman who accused a top Paterson aide of domestic violence.
Shorenstein, according to friends, had said she was duped into thinking that the domestic incident involving the aide was non-violent.
She was asked by Paterson, sources said, to send a draft statement to the woman, Sherr-una Booker, that stated the incident was no more than a messy breakup.
When asked Wednesday morning whether Shorenstein would be leaving his administration, Paterson indicated change was imminent.
“There are some difficulties with some of our staff members who are trying to work with me and at the same time cooperate with investigations when we’re not supposed to talk and we’ll deal with that,” Paterson said after a St. Patrick’s Day event in Manhattan.
When asked directly whether Shorenstein was leaving, Paterson replied: “We’ll discuss that later.”
Hard working and well liked, Shorenstein, 30, has been around the political scene for years. She worked on Al Gore’s 2000 presidential campaign and H. Carl McCall’s 2002 gubernatorial campaign. She also served as a mouthpiece for the Jets in the team’s unsuccessful bid to build a stadium on the west side of Manhattan.
A former professional ballerina, Shorenstein’s family has given tens of thousands of dollars to New York Democrats.
Her departure leaves Paterson without an experienced press operation at a time he is fighting for his political survival.
The scandal already forced him to announce that he already has announced he is not seeking election to a full four-year term this year.
The Daily News previously reported that Kauffmann, Shorenstein and others within the administration had told Paterson they would not longer issue statements on his behalf involving the investigations.
Besides Kauffmann, Shorenstein follows deputy public safety director Denise O’Donnell, state police superintendent Harry Corbitt, and his successor, Pedro Perez, out the door as a result of the scandal.
