By Jill Colvin
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — Gov. David Paterson has been slapped with a $62,125 fine for soliciting free tickets to a World Series Game, the New York State Commission on Public Integrity announced Monday.
The Commission concluded in March that Paterson violated the Public Officers Law when he accepted five free tickets to Game One of the 2009 World Series for himself, two aides, his son and son's friend.
Paterson is also facing possible criminal charges for allegedly lying to investigators about how he got the tickets.
"The moral and ethical tone of any organization is set at the top. Unfortunately the Governor set a totally inappropriate tone by his dishonest and unethical conduct," said Commission Chairman Michael Cherkasky in a statement. "Such conduct cannot be tolerated by any New York State employee, particularly our Governor."
The governor testified on February 2010 that he had always intended to pay for the tickets and had even written and signed a check, which he brought with him to the game. But the Commission didn’t buy his story.
A separate inquiry by independent counsel Judith Kaye also concluded that Paterson only decided to pay for the tickets after the game, when a reporter from the New York Post questioned whether he had.
Paterson attorney Ted Wells slammed the Commission's decision and accused it of staging a "political retribution."
"The Public Integrity Commission's decision to impose a punitive fine for perjury when its own hearing officer did not find that the Governor gave false testimony is outrageous," he said in a statement.
"The Commission has wildly misrepresented the facts, exceeded its legal authority, and generally confirmed what has long been obvious: that these proceedings were always about political retribution and never about the truth."
