(AP) - A state official says Gov. David Paterson's embattled chief of staff is resigning after it was revealed he had to pay nearly $300,000 in several years' worth of overdue taxes and penalties.
The state official close to the decision says Charles O'Byrne's resignation was accepted with regret by Paterson, his close friend.
The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because Paterson hadn't yet announced the decision.
O'Byrne has said clinical depression kept him from paying taxes between 2001 and 2005, before he took the job as secretary to the governor.
O'Byrne's problems were first made public in the New York Post on Saturday and O'Byrne has been fighting mounting pressure since then to keep his $178,500-a-year job.