Operation Veto is complete, according to Gov. David Paterson’s Communications Director Morgan Hook.

And it only took five days.

Remember: He executed the first veto – of $419 million worth of education aid, the bulk of the $519 million worth of funding restored by the Legislature that he nixed – on the same day the Assembly and Senate passed the first bills of their two-way deal.

Yesterday, Team Paterson established a veto assembly line on the second floor of the Capitol and got down to serious business, banging out 4,700 more vetoes between the hours of 10:15 a.m. and 12:30 p.m., 2:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. and 4:45 p.m. and 7 p.m. (Some of that last bit was streamed live on the Internet).

The governor finished up the job at the executive mansion today. Paterson didn’t have to go through all this. He could have used the automark or even signed just a single sheet of paper, legal experts say. But he wanted to make a point, Hook has said.

“Today, Governor Paterson finished personally signing all line item vetoes from the budget bills that were passed by the Legislature on Monday,” Hook said in a statement.

“There were a total of 6,709 line item vetoes, all signed by the Governor, including approximately 2000 today. The lining out of budget bills by the Governor’s counsels office is also complete. The veto statements and budget bills will be reviewed this weekend, and will be sent to the Legislature next week.”

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