LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Rep. Kathy Stein was conflicted — angry yet sympathetic — as she watched the emotion-choked confession by Gov. Paul Patton, the man she stood by through political thick and thin.

        Stein, D-Lexington, said her “heart went out to” the Democratic governor as she watched him acknowledge Friday to having an “inappropriate personal relationship” with a woman from western Kentucky.

        “He's profoundly upset with himself and what he has done to his family, there's no mistaking that,” she said.

        But she was angry at the possible political consequences for her political ally and the causes they both hold dear.

        “How dare he jeopardize what he is trying to do for the commonwealth and what the rest of us are trying to do by making such a stupid mistake,” Stein said.

        The controversy erupted Tuesday when Tina Conner told a Louisville television station that she had a sexual relationship with Patton for two years that she broke off in 1999. At first Patton denied the relationship.

        Conner has filed a lawsuit against Patton, claiming he made harassing calls after she broke off the relationship and then unleashed state regulators on her western Kentucky nursing home. The facility lost Medicare and Medicaid funding and has filed for bankruptcy.

        Politicians and academics tried to assess whether Patton's tearful confession would reverberate into the November elections, in which Democrats hold onto a hope of reclaiming the state Senate, and in 2004 if Patton challenges Republican Sen. Jim Bunning.

        Paul Blanchard, a political scientist at Eastern Kentucky University, said he questioned how much effect a personal scandal would have on the elections. Governors generally have only modest coattails in legislative races, Blanchard noted.

        Republicans hold a 20-18 majority in the state Senate, with incumbents in both parties facing serious challenges.

        “I think because of this he's much more likely to stay out of races and not be very visible,” Blanchard said.

        Kentucky's Republican U.S. senators, Bunning and Mitch McConnell, did not comment on Patton's confession. Dan Kelly, Republican floor leader of the state Senate, declined comment when reached at home.

        One Republican state senator, Tom Buford of Nicholasville, said Patton did the right thing with his confession.

        “He's a good person, a good man and he's trying to rectify an error in judgment,” Buford said.

        Blanchard said Republicans will have to tread carefully “because a lot of them have skeletons in their closets, too.”

        House Majority Leader Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, said Patton had made a “personal mistake,” but the public is more concerned about job performance.

        “I don't think that people are as concerned about what public officials do in their private lives as some people think,” Stumbo said. “Everybody's family, just about, has been touched by some sort of personal conflict in their private lives.”

        Lt. Gov. Steve Henry said he has developed a friendship with the Pattons, and he called the governor's confession a sad day.

        “I think all of us in Kentucky are very sad that this has taken place,” Henry said. “And I think the governor, you can hear it, he feels like he has let the state down.”

        Others worried about the personal damage to the Pattons.

        Rev. Scott Weist, the Pattons' pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Pikeville, said the governor “is a faithful man of God who loves the Lord. I will be here as his pastor to love him.”

        One of Patton's closest political associates, Marshall County Judge-Executive Mike Miller, said his heart ached for his friend.

        “The governor and I and the first lady and my wife have been personal friends for a number of years — not just political friends but very personal friends,” Miller said.

        “This is a no-win situation for everybody,” he said. “I'm not pointing fingers or casting stones. It's a terrible thing. But we have to go on.”

        Blanchard predicted Patton “will have a chance to recover politically because I think a lot of people will forgive the personal ... things as long as they don't affect his performance as governor.”

        Patton's emotions would affect how people react to his affair, Blanchard said.

        “It's a lot harder to joke about it after we saw how it affected him,” he said. “I think we all sort of feel for the governor right now.”

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