Gov. Paterson admits he was advised not to free John White

Gov. Paterson today admitted he was advised not to free Long Island dad John White — but downplayed the objections as unofficial.

"There’s no official panel,” Paterson said. “There are people in the office who had different types of opinions, many of whom did not see the entire case, and we had varying opinions on what to do with this situation from giving a pardon to doing absolutely nothing about it."

Paterson rapped the media for calling his decision to commute the prison sentence of White – convicted in the August 2006 shooting of a teen who allegedly threatened his son – a pardon.

“First of all it’s not a pardon – do we have that straight? Do you think you can get that on paper that it was not a pardon?”

His comments at a Christmas Day dinner for the needy at the Rev. Al Sharpton’s Harlem headquarters, followed a Post report that Paterson had rejected the recommendations of his chief counsel, Peter Kiernan, and other key advisers that commuting White’s sentence was “not the right thing to do.’’

Against that advice, Paterson commuted White’s 2007 sentence of 20 months to four years in prison for manslaughter. White claimed he was protecting his then-19-year-old son, Aaron, who was mistakenly accused of posting online threats against a girl.

Paterson today admitted erring only by making his decision without at least first contacting the family of Daniel Cicciaro, the 17-year-old that White shot and killed outside his home.

“I should have spoken to the family. And yesterday I did speak to the family and clearly they were not very happy with this decision,” he said. “Beyond the issues and beyond the arguments and beyond the history, we have to remember that I spoke yesterday to a mother who lost a child.”

Paterson‘s conversation with the teen’s mother and stepfather was emotional, but not hostile, he said.

“I must say in spite of her anger, in spite of her passion, in spite of her absolute gall at hearing what I had done -she and her husband Mike were very, very gracious. They made their points, they spoke to me and I’m grateful to them for treating me the way they did for nearly an hour when we talked," Paterson said.

The dead teen’s biological father, Daniel Cicciaro Sr., said today he didn’t speak to Paterson.

Asked how he was doing, Cicciaro, who spoke briefly to reporters outside his Port Jefferson Station home, said matter-of-factly, “Fantastic.”

“The day was going to come anyway,” he said of White’s release. “Whether it happens now or a year from now, it is what it is.”

Cicciaro said he was on his way to visit his son’s grave, a daily ritual.

Asked what he had to say to both Paterson and White, Cicciaro replied, “Enjoy your holidays.”