On P. 41 of the Kaye report is the transcript of a message Gov. David Paterson left on Sherr-una Booker’s voicemail in the wake of the Feb. 24 Times story that reported his involvement in her domestic violence case against his top aide, David Johnson.

“Sherri, this is David. You should see the way they wrote this story. They’re trying to make it look like I pressured you into dropping this court case. Please help me. Your lawyer – his statement makes it sound the same way.”

“Um, I mean – I was trying to find out about the rumors involving myself. You placed the call to me around ten minutes to four on Sunday, February the 7th – it was the day of the Superbowl. And, um, in the conversation, we just talked about the things that – that – you didn’t say anything about me, and I didn’t say about you.”

“Then we went on to talk about other stuff, but – I hope, uh – you remember that I was not trying to make you do anything, and – I hope your lawyer will do something to help me here, because this, uh, doesn’t look good for me, and I wasn’t in this. And this is exactly what they’re after. And I – I was just not in this and didn’t – um, you know – want to play a role in it.”

“And, to be honest with you, I believe you. So – um, anyway, uh – if you can help to clear this up, because it – that portrayal, that conversation – we didn’t talk for one minute, we talked for ten or fifteen minutes. And, um –I did tell you that I was there for you, and you could call me.”

“But I wasn’t doing it to try to trade it for you dropping the ca- I didn’t even know the court date was Monday, to be honest with you. I’ll talk to you later.”

Both Booker and the governor told investigators from the attorney general’s office that during the initial call on Feb. 7 that was set up by another aide, Deneane Brown – the one that came the day before Booker was to appear in court and never showed – the topic of the court date never came up.

However, it’s clear the governor was likely aware of the order of protection Booker sought to have served on Johnson even as he told his communications director, Peter Kauffmann, that he didn’t know of the violent nature of the Oct. 31, 2009 incident.

Based on Paterson’s claim, Kauffmann made a statement that down-played the incident to the Times, which is what led to his subsequent resignation.

After leaving that message, the governor immediately called Booker back. This time, he reached her, and the two spoke for about 16 minutes.

At that point, the governor had already referred the matter to the OAG.

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