New governor must work to overcome sex scandal

At a news conference at the state Capitol, Paterson said he promised Spitzer when he accepted the job as lieutenant governor that he would be prepared to take command of the state if necessary. ‘I am prepared,’ Paterson said.

Spitzer stepped down Wednesday amid a call-girl scandal that made a mockery of his straight-arrow image and left him facing the prospect of criminal charges and perhaps disbarment.

The scandal erupted Monday after federal law enforcement officials disclosed that a wiretap had caught the 48-year-old father of three teenage daughters arranging to spend thousands of dollars on a call girl at a fancy Washington hotel on the night before Valentine’s Day.

Law enforcement officials said he had hired prostitutes several times before and had spent tens of thousands of dollars, perhaps as much as $80,000, on the high-priced escort service Emperors Club VIP.

Investigators said he had arranged for a prostitute named Kristen to take the train from New York while he was in the nation’s capital to testify before a congressional subcommittee about the bond industry.

The New York Times reported Wednesday that the woman, born as Ashley Youmans, legally changed her name to Ashley Rae Maika DiPietro and is now known as Ashley Alexandra Dupre.