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David Paterson
NYPIRG: Paterson Record ‘Forever Tarnished’
Dec 20th - 1:05 pm
The New York Public Interest Research Group did not mince words in responding to the news that the Commission on Public Public Integrity has fined Gov. David Paterson $62,125 for lying under oath during the Yankes Word Series tickets probe.
In short, NYPIRG more or less feels Paterson’s 33-month tenure is one string of ethical lapses and will outweight much of the good he has managed to accomplish while in office.
“The governor’s ethics legacy includes the Kennedy fiasco, the clumsy handling of the assault investigation involving one of his top aides and the botched AEG contract,” the good government watchdog’s statement reads.
“Governor Paterson also mishandled the chance for an improvement in ethics laws when he vetoed legislation passed with bipartisan majorities in both houses. At that time, the governor argued that he wanted a stronger bill. ”
“However, he never once put ethics on an agenda for the many special sessions he called and he never put ethics into one of his budget extenders. He never called a leaders meeting on the issue after his veto.”
“The governor’s failures on ethics policies and his behavior will forever tarnish his record.”
NYPIRG urged the state Board of Elections to reject any further effort by Paterson to use what’s left of his campaign cash to pay his legal bills, since the CPI rejected the governor’s claim that his appearance at Game One was in his official capacity.
Paterson is on track to end his time as governor with slightly over $225,000 in his campaign committee, but he has already spent a good chunk of political change on attorneys to defend him in the David Johnson and Yankees tickets probes.
CPI Fines Paterson $62,125 In Yankees Tickets Case
Dec 20th - 12:11 pm
The Commission on Public Integrity has fined Gov. David Paterson $62,125 soliciting, accepting and receiving five complimentary tickets to Game One of the 2009 World Series for himself, two aides, his teenage son and his son’s friend.
“The moral and ethical tone of any organization is set at the top,” said outgoing CPI Chairman Michael Cherkasky, who was tapped by Paterson to head the ethics/lobbying watchdog.
“Unfortunately the Governor set a totally inappropriate tone by his dishonest and unethical conduct. Such conduct cannot be tolerated by any New York State employee, particularly our Governor.”
(The final CPI decision and the hearing documentation appear after the jump).
The CPI determined the governor violated the Public Officer’s Law and the testimony that he intended all along to pay for the tickets was “false” and was refuted by “his staff, the Yankees, an independent handwriting expert and common sense.”
The commission also decided that Paterson did not, as he had claimed, perform a ceremonial function at the Word Series game and his attendance was not related to his duties and responsibility as a public official.
By his own admission, the governor didn’t speak at the opening ceremonies of Game One and wasn’t even recognized during the public address announcement that singled out other public officials who were present.
The $62,125 civil penalty consists of the following:
Memory Lane
Dec 20th - 8:05 am
After reading the comments section, I went looking for this vintage TV ad from the 2006 gubernatorial election, which features the Long Island elementary school attended by outgoing Gov. David Paterson that will soon bear his name.
Spitzer and Paterson wrapped up a pre-primary statewide barnstorming tour at the Fulton School four years ago.
But while the ad (made by Jimmy Siegel) seems to indicate both candidates toured its hallways, only the then-LG contender and former pupil walked inside. Spitzer delivered remarks from the schoolyard and never crossed the threshold.
Paterson’s parents, Basil and Portia, were Harlem residents when the governor was born. But local schools refused to mainstream their legally-blind son, so his mother relocated to Long Island, where Fulton elementary agreed to put him in classes with sighted kids.
Interestingly, the Times is reporting this morning that Paterson, who never learned to read Braille and uses neither a seeing-eye dog nor a cane as a result of his mainstreaming, plans to enroll at a school for the blind that he last attended when he was three years old.
He says he needs to re-learn how to fend for himself after he leaves office and no longer has a taxpayer-funded support staff.
SNL Gets One Last Laugh At Paterson’s Expense
Dec 19th - 2:34 pm
SNL just has a few short weeks left to skew Gov. David Paterson, and did not let that opportunity go to waste.
Despite the fact that the show and Paterson seemed to bury the hatchet during his cameo appearance back in September, its writers could not pass up the chance to take one final (I’m assuming) swipe at the outgoing governor as he heads out the door.
Fred Armisen reprised his role with a very weird rendition of “O Christmas Tree,” along with “Snooki” and Stefon. There’s even the requisite slam on New Jersey. Check it out…
Paterson Will Attend Cuomo’s Inauguration
Dec 17th - 3:09 pm
…at the War Room on Jan. 1, according to Gov. David Paterson’s spokeswoman, Jessica Bassett.
No word yet from the other former governors of New York who are still with us: Eliot Spitzer, George Pataki and Hugh Carey.
Only some 200 people, most of whom will be friends and family members, are expected to be invited to be present at the scaled-down Cuomo-Duffy event.
Paterson: I Was ‘Outgunned’ On Staff Level
Dec 16th - 9:13 am
Gov. David Paterson expanded this morning on his lament over never having the benefit of a transition, saying he should have taken the time after his first budget to re-evaluate the staff he inherited from ex-Gov. Eliot Spitzer and make some new hires.
“The state, from the attorney general’s office to counsel to the governor, we go up against the best and the brightest in the private sector and lobbyists,” Paterson told WOR’s John Gambling during his weekly appearance on the show.
“And you want to have the absolute best people and when you don’t you can suffer for it…I’ve said this to you before, I felt that what I should have done when I became governor, after I passed the budget..I should have stopped the clock created my own transition team…and reviewed who wanted to stay, who had to leave and, perspectively, who wanted to leave.”
Paterson said there were a few times he felt he had been “outgunned on the staff level.” He lamented the loss of his first secretary, Charles O’Byrne, who was forced to resign in October 2008 – about six months after the governor took office – due to a tax scandal, saying O’Byrne had been “my partner.”
The governor said he should have taken to heart lessons he learned by reading a book called “Good to Great” by Jim Collins (Paterson recalled his name as “Bill,” but he got the title right).
“I knew there is a need to get the best possible people around you,” the governor said. “And here’s the point I missed: To take as long as possible to find that person, because once you make the decision you’re likely to be stuck with the person.”
When O’Byrne left, Paterson said, he made the mistake of simply moving people up. He ended up with Bill Cunningham temporarily filling in until settling on his current secretary, Larry Schwartz. Paterson later briefly toyed with the idea of re-hiring O’Byrne, who ended up helping from the outside in the short-lived Paterson gubernatorial campaign.
“What I should have done was stop the clock, conduct a search and stop worrying about time,” Paterson said. “Because inevitably you’re going to have to live with whoever you get.”
“Now eventually, about four months after that, I got the right person. But a lot of things happened in those four months that caused me a lot of problems.”
Paterson: Paladino Became A ‘Caricature’
Dec 15th - 5:42 pm
Gov. David Paterson did not hesitate to take some parting shots at failed Republican/Conservative gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino during yet another pre-departure radio interview, saying (more or less) that the Buffalo businessman talked the talk, but couldn’t walk the walk.
Paterson said on WSYR 570′s Jim Reith Show that he thought Paladino had been “quite effective” during the primary when he defeated former Rep. Rick Lazio by “invoking the passion that a lot of people who were fed up with government have.”
“But when it got to the general election, I think he became a caricature of himself,” Paterson continued. “He literally started attacking everyone. He had these shrill solutions that weren’t really well thought out…just very pedestrian points of view.”
Paterson lumped Paladino in a class of flash-in-the-pan politicians who “can get attention” early on, but don’t have the chops to deliver. (He mentioned “the woman who was running for the Senate in Pennsylvania, and I don’t know who he was talking about, unless he was thinking of Christine O’Donnell, but she ran in Delaware).
On the flip side are people who “have a passion and can back it up with substance,” Paterson said, adding: “You can’t say that a Newt Gingrich or a Sarah Palin doesn’t have the information to become a factor. I think Paladino’s problem was: After all the screaming, there wasn’t a lot of substance.”
Dear Valued Employee…Please Resign
Dec 15th - 8:32 am
Here’s a copy of the letter sent yesterday by Gov. David Paterson’s top aide, Larry Schwartz, that requested undated resignation letters by the end of the week from some 2,500 political appointees to “give the incoming administration maximum flexibility in assembling personnel and to ensure an orderly transition.”
Joseph Sano, executive director of the Organization of Management Confidential Employees, told the TU’s Jim Odato the governor’s move is “unusual and strange,” adding: “So, what else is new?”
The letter went to so-called “at-will” employees, some of whom have fixed terms. Also, there’s a question as to whether an open-ended resignation would be legally binding.
Those still working for Paterson in the executive chamber on the second floor of the Capitol – including Schwartz, who has a good relationship with the governor-elect and has been working as a sort of liaison between the incoming and outgoing administrations – are not being required to tender their resignations, a spokeswoman for the governor told the TU.
This copy of the letter is a little hard to read, but it notes that top political appointees “serve at the pleasure of the governor.” Anyone interested in keeping their job is encouraged to contact the appointments office so the information can be forwarded on to the transition team.
It also provides a helpful sample of a resignation letter – “for your convenience” just in case anyone gets struck with a massive case of writer’s block while signing their own death warrant.
First Hydrofracking, Now Archives
Dec 14th - 10:17 am
Governor Paterson has once again issued an executive order in conjunction with vetoing a similar bill. The first one was the controversial decision about hydrofracking. This time, it has to do with archiving state records.
The main purpose of the bill was to declare all documents created by the Executive Chamber as property of the state, and subsequently allow the NYS Archives to collect the documents when one administration left office. Currently, the documents are property of the Governor. Archivist Christine Ward explained the bill to Capital Tonight back in May.
In his veto, Paterson said the bill “did not provide adequate protection for valued, centuries old governmental privileges that are indispensible to ensure unfettered, candid advice.” Which I take to mean he was concerned that some of the private conversations among staff members or through email might be damaging or embarrassing to staff members.
In a press release, Paterson laid out his reasoning for signing an executive order instead.
“Today’s Executive Order will develop a protocol and policies for the preservation of documents and electronic records from the Executive Chamber,” Governor Paterson said. “We must continue with our efforts to increase transparency and accountability to provide all New Yorkers with information about actions taken by their elected officials.”
He goes on to say that “all records of historic and governmental significance will be preserved, published and made publicly accessible.” But, because it is an executive order, Paterson’s successors in the Executive Chamber could rescind the order if they don’t want to release their documents to the archives.
The full release is after the jump.
More >
Paterson Stays Loyal To Spitzer
Dec 14th - 8:24 am
Former Gov. Eliot Spitzer has a lot of detractors, but his successor isn’t one of them.
Gov. David Paterson told Don Imus this morning that he thinks the disgraced former governor is “remarkably talented” and it was “unique” that New York “had the chance to have a person who had such a rare combination of skills” serve as its chief executive – if only for a short while.
“He was not afraid of anyone. He was not afraid to mix it up with anyone, and he was brilliantly talented,” Paterson gushed.
There was an awkward moment when Imus asked Paterson how well he had known Spitzer, joking about whether the two had been “double dating,” and then seeming to realize all that comment implied. Paterson flatly replied: “No, actually…and we didn’t date each other, either.”
The governor said he knew Spitzer “pretty well” before the two became running mates, recalling that they had met in 1995 during a radio debate over whether the NYPD should be allowed to keep yearbooks on site to help them identify potential criminals.
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