Quality Affairs at the Quality Hotel

Someone really has to tell me what they're putting in the water over there in that Tri-State area.

Spitzer's Prostitution ring in New York, McGreevey's semi-homosexual threesomes in New Jersey, and now the new NY Governor, David A. Paterson is being accused of using campaign money to rent seedy hotel rooms in the Upper West Side of Manhattan in order to conduct his serial extramarital affairs. (Wait, do seedy hotel rooms even exist in the Upper West Side of Manhattan? Or is that an oxymoron?)

The blogosphere is buzzing. TV news viewers are hooked. And all the sources seem to be reporting the same thing: Paterson has claimed that yes, he did occassionally use his campaign credit card to rent rooms at the Quality Hotel on the Upper West Side for $100 bucks a pop when his other personal cards were declined, but he swore on his grave that he always reimbursed the card afterwards. Well, that's nice. And very considerate. "Hey campaign contributors, my credit card doesn't seem to be working. I have no idea why. I'll have to call the bank in the morning and sort it all out. In the meantime, I've got a girl waiting down here (wink, wink), mind if I borrow a few bucks from y'all if I promise to pay you back tomorrow. Cross my heart and hope to die."

Yes, that's exactly how it went down in my mind.

But the bigger question here that nobody seems to be asking is why did he choose the Quality Hotel (now the Days Inn) in the first place? Out of all the beautiful places to stay in Manhattan and he comes to the Quality Hotel? This is what I really want to know. Was it because it was discreet? Anonymous? Cheap? I mean, if his credit cards are getting turned down at the Quality Hotel, maybe it was a matter of penny pinching necessity. Or did he just read a really kick-ass review on Hotels.com? I believe I must have missed the "Ease of Affair" attribute in the five-star rating system.

I do know this much, however. The Quality Hotel (or Days Inn) on the Upper West Side, is no longer discreet, anonymous or cheap. In fact, it's now probably the most talked-about, frequented hotel in New York. And I actually feel kind of sorry for all those non-celebrity cheaters who often frequented this little gem of a hideaway. Now they'll have to start going to the real seedy hotels in Jersey with the rest of the seedy adulterers.