New York's new governor, David Paterson, and his wife Michelle came forward Tuesday about their past infidelities, one day after Paterson took over from a predecessor who resigned for a call-girl scandal.

Paterson said that during a tough time in his marriage, he had extramarital affairs with several women, including a state employee, the NY1 television reported.

"I betrayed a commitment to my wife several years ago, and I do not feel I betrayed my commitment to the citizens of New York State," Paterson told a press conference in Albany, the state capital. "I haven't broken any laws. I don't think I violated my oath of office."

"I saw this as a private matter, but both of us committed acts of infidelity," said Paterson, New York's first black governor and the country's first legally-blind state chief executive.

Paterson's wife, Michelle, also admitted having an affair during a time when their marriage was headed toward divorce, but the two decided to see a marriage counselor and worked it out.

"The message that I want to send to my children is that in a marriage you're going to have peaks and valleys, but you want to show them how you get through them, and how you work through them," his wife said. "There's no marriage that's perfect."

The former lieutenant governor said he chose to speak publicly about the infidelities so that the public did not think he was hiding anything and that this information would not be used to compromise his role as governor.

Paterson was sworn in Monday before both houses of the state legislature in Albany, following the resignation of Eliot Spitzer, who allegedly hired a high-priced prostitute from an escort service.

The Brooklyn-born Paterson was first elected to represent Harlem in the State Senate in 1985 and became Senate minority leader in 2002. He will finish out Spitzer's term, which ends in 2010.

Editor: Yan