Andrew Cuomo recused himself from two investigations his office was conducting of Governor David Paterson’s office, saying he wanted to avoid the “appearance” of impropriety, since it’s very likely Cuomo will run for governor this fall.

The first investigation is looking into accusations that Paterson and the state police interfered with a woman’s attempt to file domestic violence charges against a top gubernatorial aide. The other case involves charges that Paterson lied to investigators about his plans to pay back a developer for free World Series tickets.

“I have removed myself from the case,” Cuomo announced in a 40-plus minute conference call today, telling reporters that the cases will now be handled by former Chief Judge Judith Kaye, who will work pro bono. “There is no finer person in the State of New York to take on this responsibility.” he said.

Cuomo said he has interviewed dozens of witness, but not the governor, and that the allegations are credible.

“If there was no merit to either of these referrals, I could have saved everyone a lot of time and dismissed them. I don’t believe they are without merit,” Cuomo said. “We do believe they need to be investigated.”

In recent days, Cuomo’s public approval rating had dropped by as much as 13 percentage points, with the public saying they wanted an independent prosecutor, not Cuomo, investigating the matter.

Cuomo said polling wasn’t the reason for his move, and that it had been in the works before the numbers were released.

The political challenge for Cuomo in this situation was that he would have faced criticism if he went soft on Paterson, in which case any rivals in the November election could question Cuomo’s ability to “clean up” Albany–a topic that will undoubtedly be a campaign issue. Or, if Cuomo came down too hard on Paterson, some New Yorkers, particularly African Americans, could charge Cuomo with helping to bring down the state’s first black governor, and to accuse him of being politically motivated. Cuomo has worked hard to repair relations with African-American political leaders in New York, following his 2002 insurgent campaign against the establishment favorite H. Carl McCarl.

On the conference call, Cuomo said that since Paterson is no longer campaigning for governor, his possible interest in the job doesn’t create a conflict.

But the attorney general also said the fact some people publicly speculated he may have a political motivation in conducting the investigation was enough to motivate him to refer the matter to Judge Kaye.

“The question of politics raises the question of politics,” he said.

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