ALBANY — Offering a glimpse of an agenda under construction, the de facto governor of New York, David Paterson, is signaling that he might be forced to raise taxes if the economy worsens, that he would try to raise the salaries of judges but not lawmakers, and that he would not bully the Legislature into passing stricter campaign finance laws.

At turns self-deprecating, somber, and reflective, and displaying a mild-mannered demeanor that seemed a galaxy apart from his disgraced predecessor, Mr. Paterson, 53, held his first formal press conference since Eliot Spitzer was shamed out of office on Wednesday amid allegations that he was a regular client of a high-end prostitution service.

While registering the gravity of the crisis that brought him to the pinnacle of state power, Mr. Paterson, deploying his wry sense of humor, also defused the awkward tension.

“This has been a very sad few days in the history of New York,” Mr. Paterson, wearing a dark pinstripe suit, said in opening remarks. He spoke to reporters for about 20 minutes after getting briefed by Mr. Spitzer’s Cabinet. When a reporter asked Mr. Paterson if he had ever patronized a prostitute while serving in public office, he contemplated for a moment and replied: “Only the lobbyists.” The 100 or so reporters and dozens of aides who filled the ornate “Red Room” of the executive chamber burst into applause and laughter. A spokesman for Mr. Paterson later confirmed that the serious answer to the awkward question was, “No.”

Mr. Paterson, who will take the oath of office in a subdued ceremony on Monday and then immediately plunge himself into state budget negotiations, was asked if he would chart a course independent of Mr. Spitzer’s.

The answer wasn’t always clear. On the issue of taxes, Mr. Paterson suggested that abiding by Mr. Spitzer’s pledge not to raise them might not be tenable over the long run, but he indicated that he would not support the Assembly’s plan to pay down the deficit by raising taxes on New York’s top earners.

“Certainly, Governor Spitzer made a promise to the public … that we both believe in that we don’t want to raise personal income taxes,” he said. “We have a huge economic problem in this country. And I don’t necessarily know when that might become an issue, but I’m hoping that it won’t be in the near future.”

He cited the economy again after a question about pay raises for lawmakers, saying it was an inappropriate time to reward them. Judges, who, like legislators, have not seen a raise in about a decade, deserve a salary hike, he said.

Mr. Paterson, who served in the state Senate between 1985 and 2006, most noticeably parted ways with Mr. Spitzer when he discussed his strategy in dealing with lawmakers, who often took offense to the outgoing governor’s harsh tactics.

He said he would urge lawmakers to tighten campaign finance laws but, unlike Mr. Spitzer, said he wouldn’t threaten them with consequences if they didn’t.

“It’s something I fought for as a member of the Senate minority,” he said. But, he added, “we want to not dictate campaign finance. We want to really persuade legislators that it is really the root of a lot of the dysfunction that we have in Albany.”

Mr. Paterson will soon get to test this style of governance. The budget is due about two weeks after he takes office.

Asked to clarify his priorities, Mr. Paterson spoke of the economic misery of the Empire State, without quite saying what he would do about it.

“That we have an economy upstate that caused 191,000 adults to lose their jobs since the turn of the century; that we have an educational system downstate that has failed many children in New York City; that we have a subprime mortgage crisis that is attacking those who own homes all over the state. I want to pass this budget in a way that is commensurate with the tremendous economic hardships,” he said.