MANHATTAN — Gov. David Paterson has called a report in the New York Post that he was having a romantic rendezvous with a woman who wasn't his wife an "outright lie."
The tabloid had reported that the governor was spotted "nuzzling, neck-kissing and cooing like a smitten schoolboy" at a New Jersey steakhouse Saturday.
"I saw him kissing her neck," Sharon Farrell, a lawyer sitting two tables away from Paterson at the River Palm Terrace in Edgewater, told the Post. "He was right on her neck, nudging, like back and forth."
But Paterson's people were calling that an "outright lie," according to the Daily News.
The woman was identified as Jennifer Jones, a 34-year-old mother of three from New Rochelle. She said she was just friends with the governor.
"Our kids spend time together. It's just upsetting," Jones told the News. She said she met the governor at the restaurant to talk about a youth soccer program, the News reported.
The restaurant staff told the News they saw nothing romantic happen.
"It was two people having a discussion during lunch," general manager David Feeback told the News
"Gov. Paterson was having lunch with a friend at a public restaurant and any insinuation of improper behavior is absolutely false," Paterson spokeswoman Marissa Shorenstein told the Post.
