Paterson reflected upon his time in office—his regrets, actions he stands by, and the reasoning behind his decisions—and diagnosed the situation governor-elect Andrew Cuomo will face.
“I didn’t have much control over becoming governor, and I won’t have much control over leaving,” summarized Paterson.
He was elevated to his position from lieutenant governor when Eliot Spitzer resigned in March 2008 after it was revealed he was frequenting a high-end prostitution ring. Paterson joked that Spitzer’s resume says he was replaced after being hired by CNN. The governor feels he was bound during his term by circumstances of the time.
Challenged by a precarious economic situation, Paterson says he’s not the only governor in the nation who became unpopular for taking a hard line on budget cuts. Paterson noted that 24 other governors chose not to run for re-election this November.
Though behind in the polls, Paterson originally said in 2009 that he would run for governor despite pleas from President Obama not to damage the Democrats’ standing in New York by running.
In February, the New York Times ran an exposé on Paterson and one of his top aides, David Johnson. Johnson was involved in a domestic violence case and Paterson inappropriately contacted a witness. By the end of the month, Paterson formerly ended his campaign.
Quinnipiac University poll released in March stated, “Paterson’s 21 percent approval is one of the lowest ever measured for any elected official in any state surveyed by Quinnipiac University in 18 years.”
Paterson Recounts His Successes
“What I felt was the most pressing and responsible action was to hold the state spending in line and keep the state from becoming insolvent, which I think we did,” reflected Paterson Thursday evening.
Paterson sticks by his decision to delay payment to schools and local governments in December 2009. At the time, he faced a $750 million deficit. Though his administration was sued as a result, he says to have paid them in December would have led to a declaration of insolvency and a hit to the state’s credit. He delayed payment until January, when the Treasury was replenished by tax dollars.
Paterson pats himself on the back for avoiding financial disaster after the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the subsuming of Merrill Lynch by the Bank of America, and the subsequent bailout of AIG in 2008. He claims to have saved the day with a $1.2 billion budget cut three weeks before this collapse. New York should have been hit hardest, said Paterson, as it has the greatest dependency on Wall Street—22 percent of its revenue.
Lamb jokingly asked Paterson if he felt like a Republican making all those cuts. The governor admitted he has indeed received some Republican praise.
“People stop and tell me, ‘you’re doing a great job’—then they tell me, ‘and I’m a Republican!’”
Paterson compared the situation in New York to that of other states during his administration to highlight what he sees as his successes. He pointed out that, although he laid off nearly 900 state employees, internal layoffs were minimal when compared to 29 other states. Two-thirds of states have downgraded credit ratings and 25 states have eliminated their early childhood education and pre-k programs—problems avoided in New York.
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Regrets
In addition to the fiscal crisis he inherited, Paterson says another circumstantial barrier to his success was the leftover, dispirited Spitzer administration.
“A lot of the people who were still working for me from the Spitzer administration were just so deflated by how it all came to an end that they wanted to leave. What I continued to do was to work with a lot of people who didn’t want to work,” noted Paterson.
If he had it to do over again, Paterson said he would build his own transition team and would have the 58 agency heads petition for their jobs by explaining why they want to keep them.
Another regret of Paterson’s was delaying his appointment of Kirsten Gillibrand to replace Sen. Hillary Clinton. When Caroline Kennedy’s name came up as a candidate for the spot, it caused a “frenzy for information” Paterson said reached all the way to Afghanistan.
“I went to Afghanistan and got asked about the Senate appointment by Hamid Karzai—you would think he would have something else to worry about!” exclaimed Paterson. The governor said he was waiting for Clinton to officially resign, but could have avoided the sensationalism by following his instincts to make the appointment early.
Among his regrets, Paterson does not count dropping the gubernatorial race—whatever his flip-flopping back and forth over running for another term may suggest:
“I was sorry that I couldn’t run for re-election, but happy that I didn’t.”
Paterson wishes Cuomo luck in taking over what Lamb called a “dysfunctional” legislature. But, Paterson corrected him:
“I know some people who are dysfunctional, and they resent the comparison with Albany.”
Cuomo Steps up to Bat
Paterson said the question is not who should be governor, but whether or not New York is governable—anyone would have their work cut out for them.
“Could anyone govern the state right now? Anyone—Houdini, Albert Einstein, Spider-Man?” asked Paterson. He said the Legislature has been uncooperative on the grounds that they are “mad at the governor” or that bills were not put on the table on time.
Paterson explained that bills are constantly changing throughout the legislative process to accommodate compromise. A bill is only printed when it is ready to be passed, and this is standard practice—“anyone who ever covered or served in the Legislature knows that.”
“If this is going to be the attitude, if this is going to be the response, I don’t know how we should blame Gov. Cuomo if he can’t come in with a magic wand and make Albany a respectable place and the insane suddenly lucid,” concluded Paterson.
He recognizes, however, that Cuomo does have some advantages over him.
“First of all, he has been elected with a 62 percent, [a] rather strong mandate. Secondly, he campaigned in prose.”
Paterson points out that the governor-elect has prepared the public and Legislature that he means to slash the state budget. When Paterson came into office, he expected to create programs, not cut them—an expectation shared by his constituency.
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