'The Entire Matter Stinks to High Heaven to Put it Very Bluntly'

While the New York Times sits on what was promised to be some blockbuster story that would force New York Governor David Paterson to resign, purportedly to involve drugs use and sex, it appears Paterson could face far more trouble with these rumblings tonight.

There are new problems for Gov. David Paterson -- a potential probe into his decision to award a lucrative aqueduct gambling contract to a politically connected firm.

Sources told CBS 2 HD on Tuesday that federal officials are considering the preliminary inquiry into Gov. Paterson's decision to award a multi-billion dollar gambling contract at Aqueduct to a firm with ties to the Rev. Floyd Flake, a powerful former Queens congressman whose political endorsement is highly sought. Albany lawmakers also said that a probe is necessary.

"The entire matter stinks to high heaven to put it very bluntly," said Sen. Frank Padavan, R-Queens.

Sources said the federal probe is very preliminary and will seek to determine if mail or wire fraud was committed and if any laws were violated. The contract will install some 4,500 slot machines similar to the ones at Yonkers Raceway and is worth billions of dollars.

"You know it's hard to know exactly what's going on because so much of what happened is secret," said Blair Horner of the New York Public Interest Group.

Imagine that, Democrats cutting multi-billion dollar deals in secret. It all sounds so familiar.

Paterson, meanwhile, is talking tough.

Over my dead body!

A defiant Gov. Paterson vowed today that he'd leave office early early only if he's hauled off "in a box."

"Let me let you know this: The only way I'm not going to be governor next year is at the ballot box, and the only way I'll be leaving office before is in a box," Paterson said during a news conference.

"Actually, the more frustrated I get, the more I know I am going to be running" in November, he added.

The comments came as an embattled Paterson was updating reporters on tomorrow's impending snowstorm.

His possible resignation has been the talk of the state capitol over the past few days after The Post ran a story Jan. 30 saying Paterson was caught by state police in a utility closet with a woman other than his wife.

Later today, displaying that golden political touch of his, Paterson suggested raising taxes on New Yorkers.

Pure genius.