New York Governor gal pal never so her affair with him being made public

New York, Mar.21 : Lila Kirton, the gal pal of New York Governor David Paterson, never saw her affair with him being made public.

A week ago gubernatorial gal pal Lila Kirton was so confident of her rising stock in state government, she was busy deciding who would sit where in the offices of soon-to-be Governor Paterson.

Paterson's disclosures less than 24 hours after his swearing-in of marital infidelity stunned Kirton and quickly outed her as the governor's former lover.

Friends say the 49-year-old married attorney never got a heads-up.

"Lila had no idea this was coming. She was very much caught off guard by the whole thing," one acquaintance told the Daily News.

"It was all a big surprise," said another friend. "It doesn't seem a fair way to treat someone close to you."

Kirton has since kept out of sight amid questions about her future.

Paterson said Tuesday it would be up to Kirton to decide whether she wants to keep her 150,000-dollar-a-year job in the governor's Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, a post first given to her by former Governor Eliot Spitzer.

ANI