ALBANY — Gov. Paterson was called out and charged yesterday by the state’s top watchdog agency with breaking the law by improperly soliciting $6,000 worth of free World Series tickets from the Yankees and then lying about it under oath to investigators.
The state Public Integrity Commission found Paterson and his aides not only wrongly shook down the Yanks for five free seats behind home plate for Game 1 of the club’s series against the Phillies on Oct. 28 — but that he also perjured himself about his plans to pay for the tickets.
The panel issued its findings in a blistering 17-page report on the freebies — first disclosed by The Post in a November story — and called on Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and Albany County District Attorney David Soares to investigate Paterson for perjury. Both officials said they are reviewing the report.
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“There is reasonable cause to believe that the governor falsely testified under oath that he had always intended to pay for the tickets,” the report found.
“The governor used his official position to secure tickets to the World Series for himself, his son and others that he could not have obtained at face value but for the fact that he was governor,” it continued.
In addition, the investigation found there was reason to believe that Paterson was involved in backdating a check for the tickets and lying about it to cover up the circumstances.
The report also called into question the actions of controversial Paterson aide David Johnson, who spearheaded efforts to secure the tickets and arranged a letter from Paterson Counsel Peter Kiernan that requested the gratis ducats under the guise of “official business.”
The governor faces fines of up to $90,000 for the violating the ban on state officials accepting gifts, in addition to the potential criminal investigation for perjury, a felony crime.
Paterson is the first governor charged under stiffer penalties enacted in 2007 under then-Gov. Eliot Spitzer.
The five tickets secured by Johnson had a face value of $425 each, but were worth an average $1,200 on game day, according to a commission review of ticket-resale Web sites.
State law bars top public officials from accepting gifts of anything but “nominal” value from entities such as the Yankees that employ lobbyists or that attempt to influence official decisions.
The charges stunned a Capitol already reeling from mounting calls for Paterson’s resignation and daily revelations about alleged efforts by the executive, his aides and the State Police to quash a domestic-violence case against Johnson.
“This is another log in the fire that’s burning down the house and that is undermining his credibility and therefore his ability to govern,” said Sen. Bill Perkins (D-Manhattan).
A top Assembly Democratic official called the accusations “devastating in the context of everything else that’s going on.”
The embattled governor called the charges “unfair” and later, after a public meeting with legislative leaders, insisted he would be vindicated.
“We are asking to meet the Public Integrity Commission based on the facts of the testimony, which we dispute,” Paterson told reporters. “We also dispute that I solicited anything from the Yankees or acted improperly.”
Testimony by Paterson and his aides show the executive helplessly ensnared in his own net of contradictions and cover stories.
The governor told his top communications aide, Peter Kauffmann, that he had been invited to the game by Yankees President Randy Levine, but retracted the story after Levine told The Post the governor was “a liar.”
Paterson told investigators he always intended to pay for at least two tickets for his son and his son’s friend, and claimed that he drafted an $850 check before going to the game.
Probers, however, determined the check was likely drawn up by Johnson after The Post’s Oct. 29 inquiry. A handwriting analysis conducted by the agency found the lettering on the check Paterson claimed to have written was identical to that on the check Johnson made out to cover his own $425 ticket.
Paterson insisted his ceremonial role as governor entitled him to the freebies and Johnson secured a letter from Kiernan, the governor’s counsel, to quell ethics concerns expressed by Yankee management.
“Yankees the only sports franchise that give us problems [sic],” Johnson moaned in an e-mail to another staffer before calling on Kiernan to draw up the letter.
The commission found the “official business” argument didn’t hold water because Paterson didn’t participate in any public ceremonies, events or speeches during the game.
At any rate, the exception would not excuse the gifts to the other four attendees, including two aides and the two youths.
The governor also appeared caught up in the trappings and expectations of his office.
“There are events that are very high-profile — if a governor does not attend them, they would create problems,” Paterson said. “I felt that it was my professional duty to be at the game.”
The Yankees issued a statement last night saying the team fully cooperated with the investigation, which also found that Paterson tried to get tickets for an Opening Day game.
“The Yankees’ practice, as noted in the report, when any public official requests one or more tickets to a game, is to require either payment in full or provide a letter from appropriate legal counsel stating that no payment would be required,” the team said.
“In both instances referred to in the report, Opening Day and World Series Game 1, prior to releasing any tickets, the Yankees received the required legal opinion letter from Peter Kiernan, counsel to the governor.”
The speed of the investigation by the usually snail-paced commission raised eyebrows around the Capitol.
Commission spokesman Walter Ayres said the agency felt an obligation to get the report out before Cuomo completes his separate probe into the domestic-violence case.
“We certainly had no reason to delay it and plenty of reasons to release important information to the public and other parties that might have an interest,” Ayres said.
HERE’S HOW THE POST BROKE THE STORY
The Post broke the story that Gov. Paterson had solicited five free tickets to the World Series opener at Yankee Stadium last fall, triggering a state Commission on Public Integrity inquiry.
The Post’s state editor, Fredric U. Dicker, touched off the fury by e-mailing the governor’s communications director on Oct. 29, the morning after the game, to ask “who, if anyone, paid for them,” according to the CPI report.