Paladino threatened Post reporter

On September 29 Fredric Dicker, the New York Post’s state editor and long time Albany correspondent, asked gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino what proof he had for his charge that Andrew Cuomo had had adulterous affairs during his marriage. Paladino erupted against Dicker and threatened to “take you out, buddy” if the Post sent another “goon” to observe the house where his former mistress lives with their out of wedlock daughter. (See the Post’s interview with Mrs. Cathy Paladino.) It was the day after his face-off with Dicker that Paladino retracted his repeated claim that he had evidence of Cuomo’s affairs. The two stories, from September 30 and October 1, are below.

Paladino and Post reporter square off
By JENNIFER FERMINO
September 30, 2010

Republican gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino and Post State Editor Fredric U. Dicker last night got into an angry confrontation—during which Paladino threatened, “I’ll take you out.”

It started when Dicker asked Paladino if he had any proof of his shocking allegation that Democratic rival Andrew Cuomo cheated on his former wife during their marriage.

“What evidence do you have for something most people would consider a smear?” Dicker asked.

Instead of responding to Dicker’s question, Paladino accused him of sending a “goon” to stake out his former mistress at the home where she lives with their love child.

Sunday’s Post featured a front-page story about Paladino’s wife, Cathy, and his ex-lover, Suzanne Brady. It included an exclusive interview with Cathy Paladino.

“You send another goon to my daughter’s house and I’ll take you out, buddy!” Paladino told Dicker.

When Dicker asked how he planned to do that, Paladino replied, “Watch!”

“Are you threatening me?” Dicker asked.

When the candidate’s aides jumped in to separate the men, Paladino, referring to Dicker, told them, “F- -k him.”

Paladino’s campaign manager, Michael Caputo, then got involved, and began arguing with Dicker.

“You’re out of here, you’re off our campaign list, you get nothing more from us,” he told Dicker, as stunned members of the state government press corps looked on.

“You’re off the Christmas list!” Caputo bellowed to Dicker.

The argument took place at The Business Council of New York State’s annual meeting in Bolton Landing, outside Lake George.

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Paladino: Uh, what smear??
By BRENDAN SCOTT Post Correspondent
October 1, 2010

ALBANY—Carl Paladino beat a hasty retreat last night and insisted he never intended to smear gubernatorial rival Andrew Cuomo with allegations of infidelity.

The Tea Party-backed Republican told his hometown paper that his remarks had been misunderstood.

He said he meant only to question coverage of his own extramarital escapade when he urged a reporter for Politico.com to ask Cuomo “about his paramours.”

“I’m sick and tired of people asking me about if I’ve had affairs,” Paladino told The Buffalo News last night.

“I was talking to [Politico] and said, ‘Why don’t you ask Andrew Cuomo if he has had extramarital affairs?’ It’s not that I was accusing him.”

The about-face came after a heated confrontation between Paladino and Post state editor Fredric U. Dicker, and the candidate’s repeated promises to release evidence proving Cuomo cheated on then-wife Kerry Kennedy.

Paladino spokesman Michael Caputo told the Buffalo paper that the candidate misspoke by telling The Post he would produce proof “at the appropriate time.”

The GOP bomb-thrower said as much himself yesterday afternoon when asked what evidence he had to back up his innuendo.

“When we’re good and ready, we will furnish that,” Paladino told the upstate cable news network YNN.

The flare-up began on Wednesday when Politico.com quoted Paladino saying, “Has anybody asked Andrew Cuomo about his paramours? When he was married. Or asked him why his wife left him or threw him out of the house? Has anybody ever done that? What are they doing intruding in my life?”

In response to Paladino’s latest claims that he wasn’t suggesting Cuomo had strayed, Politico last night posted additional quotes from its interview in which he was asked if he knew who Cuomo’s women were and the GOP hopeful responded, “Three of the four.”

Cuomo’s highly publicized divorce in 2003 from the daughter of Robert F. Kennedy was widely reported to have followed her own affair with polo player Bruce Colley. Kennedy now says she is supporting Cuomo’s gubernatorial bid.

Post Editor-in-Chief Col Allan defended the newspaper’s coverage after the Republican hopeful and Dicker’s heated back-and-forth on Wednesday over whether Paladino had evidence to back up his cheater charges against Cuomo.

Paladino accused Dicker of sending a photographer to the home of his mistress to take pictures of his out-of-wedlock daughter through a window, and threatened that if it happened again, “I’ll take you out, buddy!”

Allan said the Paladino camp’s claims about the photographer were untrue.

“Mr. Paladino should not be surprised by the media’s interest in his families, as he has invited public scrutiny of his personal life by running for governor and speaking openly about his mistress and love child,” Allan said.

brendan.scott@nypost.com

Posted by Lawrence Auster at October 08, 2010 07:38 AM | Send