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David Paterson
Paterson: No Tax Cap Cost Democrats Majority
Apr 4th - 11:10 am
Senate Democrats could have kept their majority in the Senate had they passed a tax cap back in 2010, former Gov. David Paterson told Fred Dicker on Talk-1300 AM radio this morning.
The former governor, who had pushed a 4 percent limit on annual property tax increases in his last year as governor, had inserted the provision in an emergency budget extender. But Democrats, in charge of the Senate at the time, jettisoned the proposal alongside the Democratic-controlled Assembly.
“Ever since that moment, I really think that opened the door for the disarray that goes on there,” said Paterson, now the host of a an afternoon drive-time talk show on WOR in New York City. How they could walk away from the property tax cap is an answer I never got, and I never asked another question.”
The 2010-11 state spending plan was one of the latest in the state’s history. It didn’t pass in its entirety until the middle of August after a summer-long marathon of special legislative sessions.
Republicans regained control of the Senate in 2010 after winning two very narrow races in Buffalo and on Long Island.
Newly minted Gov. Andrew Cuomo passed a 2 percent tax cap that included narrow exemptions for pension and tax base growth.
Senate Democrats had captured a narrow, 2-seat majority in 2008 for the first time since the 1960s. But their tenure in power was marred by political in-fighting, a coup launched by two disaffected members allied with Republicans and the failure to pass an independent redistricting process that could doom them to another loss this fall.
Paterson told Dicker he was just as boggled by the Democrats’ failure to pass an independent redistricting commission while they were in power. Democrats believe the shear weight of their enrollment advantage combined with a non-partisan process would have led to keeping control of the Senate.
But Democrats never pressed the issue and Sen. Malcolm Smith famously said Democrats would redistrict Republicans “into oblivion.”
“Why would you forfeit something that would help you…because then the Democrats we would have been drawing the lines together and not the situation that has always existed,” Paterson said. “Every time I’d raise the question they’d get mad at me.”
Ex-Paterson Counsel: Fracking Decision Has Become Political
Feb 28th - 12:17 pm
Peter Kiernan, who served as counsel to ex-Gov. David Paterson when he signed a temporary moratorium to the controversial natural gas drilling process known as hydrofracking, lamented today that the decision about whether to allow fracking in the Marcellus Shale has become “a political decision” rather than one based on science, safety or potential economic benefit.
“In many respects, that’s too bad,” Kiernan told Susan Arbetter on The Capitol Pressroom this morning, adding later that letting things get to this point was “a mistake.” He noted that Gov. Andrew Cuomo has repeatedly pledged that the DEC’s final decision on fracking will be based on science, and said the only science in the mix right now is “political science.”
Kiernan was in town to participate in this morning’s Warren Anderson Breakfast conversation on fracking held in the Assembly Parlor.
He praised his former boss for achieving a Solomonesque solution back in December 2010 by vetoing a hydrofracking moratorium bill passed by the Legislature while simultaneously issuing an executive order that prevented any drilling in the Marcellus until July 1, 2011, reasoning that the bill, while well-intentioned, was far too broad and would effectively would result in a moratorium on all new oil and gas well drilling.
Paterson recognized that the DEC “wasn’t ready,” Kiernan said, even though the state was desperate for revenue at the time. The former governor did not give in to pressure from members of his own staff who were very pro-fracking – including Larry Schwartz, one of the few top members of the Paterson administration kept on by Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
“I don’t know how much he knows or knew, specifically, about hydrofracking, but he wanted the revenue,” Kiernan said of Schwartz. He later side-stepped a question from Arbetter about whether Schwartz remains the chief proponent of drilling on the second floor. (To be fair, he may not have understood the question, which Arbetter herself admitted was poorly worded).
Kiernan also said he believes that the state will “ultimately have a tax” on fracking if it green lights the process.
In addition, he confirmed that former DEC Commissioner Pete Grannis (now working in state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli’s office) was indeed firedin October 2010 over allegedly leaking a memo expressing his opposition to the Paterson administration’s plans to further reduce staffing at his agency.
“He chose to be fired, actually,” Kiernan recalled. “He was given the option to resign…He preferred to be fired because he thought it would simply be misleading to say he resigned.”
Interestingly, it was Schwartz who dropped the axe on Grannis. The former Manhattan assemblyman, who insisted he had nothing to do with the leaking of the memo, called Schwartz a “hatchet man” and a “thug.”
Live From The Capitol, It’s Classic Paterson
Feb 15th - 2:05 pm
Ex-Gov. David Paterson’s return to Albany to celebrate the opening of the black history month exhibit at the Capitol included his reflection on his accidental ascension to the governor’s office, comparing his rapidly accidental succession to the striving of former Comptroller Carl McCall (who ran for governor in 2002 and faced a primary from Andrew Cuomo, a campaign that provide catastrophic for the latter).
The speech had the room rolling with laughter. For a guy with a lot of glaring faults, Paterson’s major strength is his perfect sense of comedic timing and powers of self-deprecation.
Paterson On His Portrait, Being Back In Albany and Jeremy Lin (Updated)
Feb 15th - 11:59 am
Ex-Gov. David Paterson, in town today for the unveiling of the black history month exhibit at the Capitol, was in his usual self-deprecating form this morning, joking with reporters that his gubernatorial portrait might be a photo from a tabloid newspaper.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Paterson, along with former Comptroller Carl McCall took a tour of the newly renovated Hall of Governors on the second floor, where portraits of nearly every former governor hangs (notable absences include Eliot Spitzer and Cuomo’s father Mario).
Paterson, who brought down the house with a Classsic Paterson speech which we’ll post a little later, referenced his tumultuous time in office that made for a lot of tabloid fodder.
“The governor asked me about that and I guess I have to get around to putting together the resources to create a portrait,” Paterson said. “I thought they could take an old picture from one of the tabloid newspapers and put that up.”
Paterson said he missed staying at the Executive Mansion where “the people were wonderful to us.” What does he miss least? “I won’t say,” he dead panned.
Paterson, now a radio show host on WROW, said he expects to see the kind of “tension” that Cuomo has described in recent days when describing his relationship with the Legislature.
“There’s always going to be tension because we’re in the midst of a great recession and we’ve had to live under austerity that’s very difficult. But my view is Governor Cuomo already passed most of the budget even before the year started,” Paterson said.
Also a sports nut who occaisionally calls into WFAN as “David from Harlem,” Paterson has a case of Linsanity, and praised the out-nowhere Knicks phenom
I met Jeremy Lin here in Albany in the fall of 2007. Albany played Harvard and I met some of the players after. I didn’t realize at first – I watched the game between the Knicks and the Nets – until the end the game that this was the guy I saw here years ago.”
“All of those sports movies, all of those movies about conquering what seems to be the inconquerable, I’ll bet no one thought to make a movie about what we’ve seen in the last week and a half. It’s stimulating, it’s inspiring, they may be imaginary heroes, but it’s still exciting.
UPDATE: As per a tweet from Gannett’s Jon Campbell, the last time Harvard played Albany was 2005, and Lin wasn’t on the team. CapTon producer Michael Johnson notes that Harvard plays a number of NY Ivy League teams – including Columbia and Cornell – every year, and so perhaps Paterson actually met Lin at some other game and got confused.
Sean Maloney Eyes House Run
Feb 3rd - 4:58 pm
A reader emailed a tip earlier today that Sean Patrick Maloney, a former top aide in the Spitzer and Paterson administrations, is mulling a potential House run in whatever becomes of NY-22 – the district currently held by retiring Rep. Maurice Hinchey – when LATFOR gets done drawing the congressional lines.
Maloney is a New York City resident, but he and his partner, Randy Florke, have owned property in Sullivan County since the mid-1990s and Florke’s real estate business, The Rural Connection, is based there.
I spoke briefly to Maloney earlier today, and he confirmed that he had received encouragement to consider running following Hinchey’s announcement last month that he would not seek re-election this fall. Maloney then emailed the following statement:
“Hinchey’s retirement is a big loss to all of us who love the area. I’m flattered to be encouraged. Obviously, we need to know where the lines fall – but I’m very interested.”
This would not be Maloney’s first foray into realm of electoral politics. Back in 2006, he ran in the Democratic primary for state attorney general and finished third. (The winner of that race was Andrew Cuomo).
Maloney subsequently was hired by Gov. Eliot Spitzer, serving as first deputy secretary to the governor. He ended up playing a key role in the administration’s management of the Troopergate scandal, and then held the same position in Gov. David Paterson’s cabinet when the former LG was elevated to replace Spitzer after he was forced to resign following a prostitution scandal.
Maloney left the state payroll at the end of 2008 to join Kirkland & Ellis, the law firm that hired Michael Garcia, the U.S. Attorney who brought down Spitzer.
Prior to his 2006 run, Maloney was an associate at the law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher, which is also home to former Gov. Mario Cuomo. Before that, he was a senior West Wing adviser to President Bill Clinton. According to Wikipedia, Maloney was the youngest person ever to serve as the President’s White House staff secretary, and was also the highest-ranking openly gay man ever to serve on the White House staff.
Rangel: Cuomo Being ‘Unfair’ On Redistricting
Dec 23rd - 1:57 pm
There has been a lot of speculation about Cuomo 2016 after the freshman governor’s stellar performance during his first year in office, particularly when it comes to wrangling seemingly impossible bipartisan deals out of the Legislature – something that has largely eluded President Obama.
But one veteran New York Democrat says he’s reserving judgement on whether Cuomo is presidential material until after he deals with the thorny issue of redistricting.
Asked by my NY1 colleague, Juan Manuel Benitez, if he thinks Cuomo might be headed to the White House in four years, Rep. Charlie Rangel replied:
“No, no, no, no. But he’s doing a fantastic job on being a new but very, very successful govenor. And he has my complete support, and clearly, as you pointed out, he manages to go right down the middle and to get people to negotiate and finally come out successful.”
“He’s got another big problem in his hands. Every ten years the lines of public officials, geographically are changed because we are growing in population, but we don’t grow in the size of the political body. So, the New York State Assembly, their districts are gonna get larger, the New York State Senate and of course the lines of the members of the United States Congress.”
“I concentrate in the Congress of course because we lose two congressional seats, which means we are gonna have to pick up population to make up for the fact that we’ll have two less, we’ll only have 27. And the governor says that Legislative body should not do it, but an independent group should do it. So, you ask me that question after the lines are drawn and I’ll give you a better answer.”
Rangel, who has fallen from grace considerably since his ethics mess and subsequent censure, nevertheless still remains a prominent figure in New York politics. He’s also the dean of the congressional delegation, which explains why he’s acting as a spokesman for his colleagues on redistricting.
Keep in mind, too, that Rangel is one of the so-called Harlem “Gang of Four,” which included former NYC Mayor David Dinkins, former Manhattan BP Percy Sutton and former state Secretary of State Basil Paterson, who happens to be the father of former Gov. David Paterson. Rangel was a big David Paterson fan and ally, and he had some choice words for Cuomo back when the then-AG was headed toward a possible primary challenge against the state’s first black governor.
Cuomo, as you’ll recall, has threatened to veto any redistricting plan that is not drawn up by an independent commission, which doesn’t exist at this point. Rangel said he thinks it’s “not fair” to leave sitting members of Congress – not to mention anyone who might want to challenge them or run for any seats that might open up – in the dark on the process, particularly since the primary is going to be early this year (thanks to the DOJ).
New York needs to lose two House seats this year, which means four sitting members will end up having to decide between running against one other and early retirement.
“(T)he direction has to be decided so that we will know where we are running,” Rangel told Benitez.
“I mean, some people, I have a Harlem district as you know, it has Washington Heights, it has the West Side and the famous El Barrio. But some people have said that I should be in Westchester, up in The Bronx. But they don’t know, I don’t know, so we shouldn’t have that frustration.”
The full Rangel interview will air tonight on Benitez’s Spanish-language show, “Pura Politica,” on NY1 Noticias at 6 p.m. The re-air is 11 p.m.
With Friends Like These… (Updated)
Oct 27th - 3:03 pm
In a rather clever two-birds-with-one-stone move, the conservative Club for Growth just issued a statement that tweaks both Gov. Andrew Cuomo AND President Obama, urging the president to “take a page out of the tax playbook” of his fellow Democratic leader and end his call for increasing taxes on the rich.
“When even Democrats like Andrew Cuomo oppose raising taxes on millionaires, you know your class warfare rhetoric has failed to resonate,” said Club President Chris Chocola.
“Higher taxes like the ones proposed by President Obama will hurt the economy, not help it. We need to move towards a flatter, more pro-growth tax code and we need to encourage investment by cutting taxes on capital gains and dividends. I applaud Andrew Cuomo for recognizing that higher taxes are not the answer.”
Now, to be fair, Cuomo has opposed extending the so-called millionaire’s tax, which is set to expire at the end of December, or even support a “true” millionaire’s tax with a $1 million threshold, arguing that to do so would make New York less competitive with neighboring states.
He has refused to budge on this, despite widespread public support – even among Republicans – for taxing the state’s wealthiest residents at a higher rate. And he has even compared his unwillingness to do the politically popular thing to his father’s staunch opposition to reinstating the death penalty, which contributed to his loss to then-GOP Sen. George Pataki in 1994.
However, after initially waffling on Obama’s proposal to tax the rich, Cuomo endorsed the millionaire’s tax (AKA “the Buffett Rule”) at the federal level and urged Congress to pass it.
UPDATE: Club for Growth spokesman Barney Keller (who, incidentally, was the spokesman for former Rep. Rick Lazio’s unsuccessful campaign against Cuomo last fall), sent the following statement:
“What, exactly, would stop the rich or businesses to flee to different countries if a similar tax is passed on the federal level? Andrew Cuomo’s a smart guy, and he must know that if the wealthy can find their way to Connecticut, then they can find their way to Switzerland as well. A reasonable observer must conclude that Andrew Cuomo either smartly opposes raising taxes on the wealthy or he doesn’t – maybe he needs to clarify his stance.”
The Club for Growth also took the opportunity to revisit a bit of semi-ancient (in the digital age, anyway) history, calling Cuomo a “strong ally” of Obama, and offering as proof reports in 2009 that the White House had tried to clear the 2010 field for the then-AG by getting then-Gov. David Paterson to drop his plan to seek re-election.
That message was delivered to Paterson by former White House political director Patrick Gaspard, who is now at the DNC. Gaspard, a former 1199 political director, still has close ties to Cuomo and the governor reportedly would like to see him back in New York after the 2012 election.
As you’ll recall, Paterson refused to heed the Obama administration’s call for him to step aside for Cuomo, but ended up dropping out of the race less than a week after formally announcing he would run in hopes of keeping the job he inheritied from former Gov. Eliot Spitzer.
Paterson Interviews ‘Paterson’
Oct 18th - 4:31 pm
Former Gov. David Paterson’s New Jersey-hating, upstate-trash-talking doppelganger from Saturday Night Live made a guest appearance on his WOR radio show this afternoon.
SNL’s Fred Armisen started the interview in-character as Paterson, depicted as a bumbling incompetent who hates the Garden State.
Armisen’s Paterson said he was “avoiding New Jersey, staying away from upstate and sticking around Manhattan as much as I can.”
Out of character, Armisen said the appearance by the real Paterson was “one of my most favorite moments on the show.”
Paterson, who initially despised the impression for mocking his eyesight, called the appearance a big moment for him.
“I am honored to have served the state of New York, I am very, very humbled when people come up and salute me for my service,” Paterson said. “But when I was on SNL, it’s a different group of people. They stop you. You’re the guy from Saturday Night Live! It was a thrilling moment for me.”
Armisen revealed that Paterson, who cracked a joke or two while he was in Albany, wrote several of jokes in the bit, including the line, “You poked so much fun of me for being blind, I forgot I was black” — which, in retrospect, is a classic Paterson joke.
But the governor, who has delivered live television addresses and memorized lengthy speeches almost verbatim, admitted he was nervous he would mess up his lines in the 5-minute bit.
“You did a great job. You already won, just by being on — the moment you rolled out there,” Armisen said.
Armisen’s other political impressions include President Obama and, just this past weekend, Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Paterson told Armisen that the real Bloomberg didn’t receive the impression well.
Armisen responded, “Oh well. You can’t please them all.”
The Spitzer-Paterson Ticket Reunites
Sep 6th - 5:18 pm
In what is surely a surreal 6-minute interview for anyone who remembers the heady days of the 2006 election, former Gov. David Paterson this afternoon interviewed ex-boss, former Gov. Eliot Spitzer.
Today is Paterson’s first day on the job at his new WOR 710 AM gig as the station’s drive-time host.
“I thought the most appropriate first guest would be the gentleman who got me my last job,” cracked Paterson, making not the first joke about Spitzer’s immolation in the wake of a prostitution scandal.
“The insight and entertainment from you is going to be great — and you can do both,” Spitzer told the new host.
Paterson was Sptizer’s lieutenant governor during his tumultuous year-and-a-half in office, and was chosen as the bottom-half of the ticket despite calls for him to select Buffalo’s Leecia Eve.
Since resigning, Spitzer got a column in Slate and briefly was a host himself of CNN’s “In The Arena” (nee Parker-Spitzer) until the 8 p.m. program was canceled.
In today’s interview, Spitzer-Paterson kibitzed about the special election in the NY-9 and President Obama’s jobs address set for Thursday.
David From Harlem Gets His Radio Gig
Sep 1st - 1:15 pm
As the Daily News reported earlier today, ex-Gov. David Paterson will fill PM drive-time duties for WOR in New York City.
The radio station formally announced this afternoon that Paterson, who was always more comfortable in radio interviews, will get the gig starting Sept. 6.
“During his frequent stints as a fill-in host on WOR, Governor David Paterson proved to be a favorite with our listeners throughout the tri-state area,” said Jerry Crowley, Vice President and General Manager of WOR. “He was the obvious choice to be the man behind the microphone as we extend our locally-focused drive-time programming to the afternoon.”
Paterson’s preferred media outlet as governor was John Gambling’s morning show. And Paterson, who on the fly would call into the venerable sports-talk radio station WFAN (David from Harlem, usually upset about the state of the Mets). He even did an extend guest co-host stint with Mike Francesa on his FAN show last year while still in office.
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