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Jenkins names woman linked to Paterson as aide

Jorge Fitz-Gibbon. The Journal News. White Plains, N.Y.: May 12, 2010.

Abstract (Summary)
Kirton, who is married and has two children, was identified in widespread news reports in 2008 as one of the women with
whom Paterson admitted having extramarital affairs during a rocky point in his marriage.

Full Text (796 words)

Copyright 2010 - Journal News, The White Plains, NY - All Rights Reserved

WHITE PLAINS -- A White Plains woman linked romantically to Gov. David Paterson will be hired as a six-figure aide to the
Westchester County Board of Legislators, board officials said.

Lila Kirton, 51, is expected to be appointed the board's new chief of staff and as an assistant to county board Chairman Ken
Jenkins, a Yonkers Democrat, for a salary that could reach $135,000 a year.

"She certainly has great government experience, and I think that she'll be very helpful," Jenkins said, "especially given the
things that we have to do with our state as far as understanding the government process and understanding how we need to
deliver services together as a team of people and managing that team."

Kirton, who is married and has two children, was identified in widespread news reports in 2008 as one of the women with
whom Paterson admitted having extramarital affairs during a rocky point in his marriage.

A starting date for her county job has not been determined.

"I have no idea why they're doing it, unless (Paterson) simply recommended her and they want to do him a courtesy,"
Republican political consultant Mike Edelman said. "That's the only thing that makes sense. There's nothing in it politically for
them."

Jenkins said Kirton's hiring was not politically motivated nor a favor to the Democratic governor.

"I would think that it would be the opposite view," Jenkins said. "I'm pretty sure -- and you're certainly free to ask her what her
opinion is on that -- but it would not be a favor to Gov. Paterson to put somebody on that he kind of threw under the bus.

"I think that she's going to be a valued asset to the team that we're building," he said.

Kirton declined to comment.

Paterson spokeswoman Marisa Shorenstein said the governor was "not involved at all" in Kirton getting the Westchester job.

Jenkins said final details of the hiring are still being negotiated, including the salary. He said Kirton would be paid between
$95,000 and $135,000, but that "it'll probably be closer to the 135."

Jenkins also said that Kirton wasn't necessarily a replacement for ousted county board adviser Gary Kriss. Kriss, a $150,000-
a-year aide to then-board Chairman William Ryan, D-White Plains, resigned in 2008 amid questions over his thousands of
dollars in taxpayer-funded purchases.

He is facing misdemeanor charges of theft of services, accused of misusing the services of a county board staffer.

Rather, Jenkins said Kirton would fill a chief of staff post recommended by an independent advisory group that was formed by
the county board in the wake of the Kriss controversy.

A graduate of SUNY Stony Brook and the New York Law School, Kirton is well known in local political circles and sat on the
board of the Westchester chapter of the March of Dimes.

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She was a deputy attorney general under Eliot Spitzer, and later assistant deputy and director of intergovernmental relations in
his office. She was director of community affairs for Spitzer when he became governor in 2007.

Kirton's name surfaced in March 2008, when Paterson admitted that he had several affairs between 1999 and 2001, when his
marriage was in turmoil.

Speaking on the ABC morning show "The View" on Thursday, Paterson said he and his wife, Michelle, ultimately patched up
their shaky marriage.

Paterson, who took over as governor when Spitzer resigned amid a prostitution scandal, denied days after his 2008 news
conference that he had used campaign funds for the sexual encounters.

But days later he reimbursed his campaign for $250 in fees for two Manhattan hotel rooms.

The governor did not admit they were for trysts, but maintained that he could not document the expenses.

Records did show that Kirton was paid $500 by the Paterson campaign in 2002, money that aides maintained she was paid
for work she performed for the campaign's database.

In late March 2008, Paterson aides also conceded that Paterson and Kirton had traveled together on two occasions as part of
Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential bid. Records showed that the two were in Iowa in late 2007, and in South Carolina in
January 2008.

A spokesman for the governor said at the time that Paterson and Kirton stayed in separate hotel rooms and traveled on
personal time with their expenses paid by the Clinton campaign.

Jenkins, the county board chairman, maintained that the controversy played no role in the board's decision to hire Kirton.

"In my short time (as chairman), there is a need for someone to do the day-to-day management of the organization, of the $5
million, $4.9 million organization and department that the Board of Legislators is," he said. "And Lila certainly has that
managerial skill, and we think that it'll be a great asset added to our team."

Indexing (document details)

Subjects: Governors, Intergovernmental relations
Author(s): Jorge Fitz-Gibbon
Document types: News
Section: WATCHDOG
Publication title: The Journal News. White Plains, N.Y.: May 12, 2010.
Source type: Newspaper
ProQuest document ID: 2031644701
Text Word Count 796
Document URL: http://www.whiteplainslibrary.org:2048/login?url=http://proq uest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=2031644701&
sid=4&Fmt=3&clientId=4342 &RQT=309&VName=PQD

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