NY1′s Bobby Cuza was in the Bronx today with Sen. Ruben Diaz Sr. and GOP gubernatorial hopeful Carl Paladino at a meeting of local ministers and community leaders convened by the Democratic senator to discuss “issues that matter to us.”

Cuza reports Paladino received a “surprisingly warm reception,” but added:

“Of course, that’s because he was speaking to a group of Hispanic evangelical ministers with whom he shares a lot of common ground. He got ovations, for example, when he articulated his anti-abortion, anti-gay marriage, and anti-mosque views.”

Paladino raised Cuza’s eyebrows by saying that Ground Zero isn’t merely the footprint of the Twin Towers, but rather “the entire area that was affected by the dust cloud, which spread over an area of approximately a quarter of a mile in every direction.” (Recall Paladino has said he thinks Ground Zero should be a park).

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The Buffalo businessman also rejected Gov. David Paterson’s effort to link the Park51 controversy to the attack on a Muslim cab driver that occurred in NYC yesterday, saying:

“It’s tragic what happened with that cab driver. But you know, that kind of stuff can happen. You get some hotheads. They’re all over the place, and that’s what you get when you have high unemployment. You have people out of work…I don’t think you can do those kind of linkages. The mosque issue is the mosque issue.”

Paladino advocated closing Medicaid and other public service programs to illlegal immigrants, saying thet can “go someplace else and try to get on those programs in some other state.”

Diaz Sr. had some warm words for Paladino, but stopped short of endorsing him. (Recall that Diaz Sr. is the most outspoken defended of another Bronx Democrat, Senate Majority Leader Pedro Espada Jr., who insists the Democratic gubernatorial frontrunner, AG Andrew Cuomo, is on a political witch hunt against him).

“He took out of the people’s minds all those negative things that the press has said about him,” Diaz Sr. said of Paladino’s performance. “He did good today.”

Diaz Sr. also extended an invitation to Cuomo, but to my knowledge the AG hasn’t yet accepted.

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