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NEW YORK DAILY NEWS  Groll/AP Gov. David Paterson, with his wife, Michelle, at his side, publically addresses his past extramarital affairs - a story first reported by the Daily News. Click for more photos.  Lila Kirton In an extraordinary public confession less than 24 hours after taking office, Gov. Paterson said Tuesday he has had affairs with "a number of women" in the not-so-distant past - including a current state employee. Standing shoulder to shoulder with his grim-faced wife, Michelle, the governor said his "conscience is clear" - now that he has come clean about his private infidelities. He said he hopes now to focus on the public's business. "I just want to get straight with New York's citizens, so that they know who their governor is, and that their governor takes this office seriously," he told reporters packed into the state Capitol's ornate Red Room. Coming a day after he succeeded Eliot Spitzer, who was toppled by a prostitution scandal, Paterson's startling admissions hit Albany like a surreal, recurring nightmare. The affairs were a symptom of a then-troubled marriage, the governor said - she cheated, then he cheated, then he cheated some more. The 53-year-old Paterson admitted he was involved with numerous women "several years ago" - including one who later worked in Spitzer's office and whom Paterson has "inherited" as part of his staff. Sources later identified her as Lila Kirton, 49, whom Spitzer brought over from his attorney general's staff when he became governor last year. She is now community affairs director for the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs. Paterson insisted he never supervised the woman and never used state funds for any of his trysts, some of which took place at the Days Inn at Broadway and W. 94th St. Asked if he had ever used his office to promote or otherwise help any of the women with whom he was intimate, Paterson said on one occasion he helped resolve a health care matter, but otherwise denied using his influence. "It was more an issue of humaneness and I did it and they had to accommodate her," he said without elaborating. Asked if he had ever used campaign funds for hotels or other personal expenses, he left himself some wiggle room - saying he never "knowingly" did so. He also agreed to release hotel and credit card bills, which aides were still scrambling to find. Meanwhile, since the press conference an Olympic gold-medalist has also come forward, claiming she had a "close relationship" with the Governor and allegedly tape recorded her phone conversations with him, according to a newspaper report. Diane Dixon, a Brooklyn native who won medals in the 4x400-meter relay at the 1984 games in Los Angeles and the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, claimed that Paterson had assisted in helping her secure a Department of Education job in Crown Heights. .
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