BEHIND THE HEADLINES
Despite tough-guy act, Paterson’s support slipping
State Senate mess may help opponents in 2010 governor’s race, especially Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo.
ALBANY –If Gov. David A. Paterson was hoping his tough-guy approach to feuding state senators would give his dismal poll ratings a big bump, voters so far have not been moved.
But if his strategy was to alienate fellow Democrats in the Senate, it has worked perfectly.
The governor did not always have the best of relations with Senate Democrats since they took over the chamber in January, following 70 years of GOP dominance, despite serving for years with most of them in the Senate.
But since the June 8 coup, he has become persona non grata among many of the 31 Democrats –a group representing 9.5 million people, who can provide help or harm to Paterson in his 2010 campaign.
There is a flip side, also, that does not bode well for Paterson.
If the governor’s standing among some of his fellow Democrats has been injured, the Senate mess—which both sides consider embarrassing —has been a political gift wrapped in a huge box for Andrew M. Cuomo.
The Democratic attorney general, most Democrats believe, wants nothing more than to become governor.
However, he risks alienating African-Americans, a key base of the party, should he directly challenge Paterson after the bitter 2002 gubernatorial primary campaign he led against Carl McCall.
The belief is it would take prominent Democrats, especially minorities, to urge Paterson to step aside for Cuomo.
And who better, Democrats say, than the very Senate Democrats who Paterson has angered?
“There’s no question about the fact that it helps [Cuomo] if he has any ambitions about becoming governor,” Sen. Bill Perkins, a Democrat who represents Paterson’s former Harlem district.
That Cuomo has all but disappeared physically from the Capitol— choosing, instead, to spend his time in his Manhattan office—is no accident, insiders say.
“It is the genius of his potential candidacy, which is that he has been outside of the fray at the same time doing work that, I think, resonates positively,” said Perkins, referring to Cuomo’s headline-grabbing legal work.
If the polls are correct, New Yorkers are taking out some of their anger on Paterson as well as senators for the gridlock. Before the recent battles, Senate Democrats were already worried that Paterson, already weak in the polls, could drag some of them down in next year’s elections.
“Every day [Cuomo] looks better and better and better, and right now he would be the only one who could lead us to victory,” said Sen. Ruben Diaz, D-Bronx.
The warring factions were back at it again Friday at the Capitol, secretly negotiating a possible short-and longer-term power-sharing deal between Republicans and Democrats.
Paterson is forcing the Senate to meet today in another special session. Some senators and their staffers have even brought their families to Albany for cookouts and fireworks.
One idea floated by Sen. Pedro Espada, the Bronx Democrat elected Senate president by Republicans in the coup, is to rotate the title of president. He would take the first six months beginning now, followed by the Democrats’ choice in January and he would reassume it next July until the end of the year.
All 62 senators are up for re-election in 2010.
The Senate leaders, after a meeting with Paterson Friday, were displaying happy faces.
“We’re no longer apart, throwing shots from one side of the aisle to the other,” Espada said.
“We’re going to restore the public’s confidence that we can get something done,” added Sen. Malcolm Smith, the Queens Democrat who still claims the president’s title.
How bad is Paterson’s reputation among Senate Democrats?
“It’s bad,” Diaz said.
Still smarting from Paterson’s threat to withhold their pay, branding them “derelict” in their duties, Senate Democrats pointed to Tuesday’s posturings of the governor as the final blow.
A Republican senator seeking a shortcut walked through the rear of the chamber as Democrats were gaveling into a session. Suddenly—after weeks of being one vote shy of a quorum— the Democrats counted the Republican as present and started passing bills.
As the drama unfolded, Paterson cheered them on during a news conference. But after leaving the room to speak with the GOP lawmaker taking the shortcut, Paterson returned to say it was all a mistake and would not sign any of the bills that fellow Democrats passed.
Democrats were enraged.
“The Senate Democratic conference hates him with a passion. If they had a choice of being stuck on a desert island with [Paterson or Senate GOP leader] Dean Skelos, they’d take Dean,” said one Democratic insider.
Peter Kauffmann, a Paterson spokesman, declined to comment on what he called political criticisms.
Administration officials say the governor’s strategy has been to show the public that he is the adult in Albany, that he shares their outrage and he is standing up for them.
But Senate Democrats could make political life for Paterson miserable.
One way is not supporting some populist programs Paterson wants enacted.
And he has already experienced trouble along those lines with Democrats, who have largely ignored his calls for property tax relief.
But a party insider said Senate Democrats represent a group “who could give legitimacy to take him out” next year if some were to publicly back Cuomo.
“He has poisoned the base he needs,” the source said.
Asked about the governor’s standing among Senate Democrats, Sen. Antoine Thompson, D-Buffalo, said, “I think he’s in a difficult spot, but I think that’s the path he’s chosen.”
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