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Governor David Paterson called an unusual joint session of the Legislature Monday to implore recalcitrant lawmakers to close the state's huge budget gap before New York runs out of money. To some lawmakers it's nothing more than a photo op to help Paterson get re-elected. But the governor is dead serious. He said if the Legislature doesn't cut the budget now the state could run out of money by next month

Gay rights activists are looking to a possible vote to legalize same-sex marriage in New York State on Tuesday as a way to drive a national campaign that opponents say has lost momentum. Five U.S. states have already legalized gay marriage -- Iowa, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont -- but earlier this month voters in a sixth, Maine, chose to repeal such a law, which was due to take effect in September. Forty U.S. states have laws banning gay marriage. New York's Democratic-controlled State Assembly passed a bill legalizing same-sex marriage in May, but the proposed legislation faces a...

Delivers Scary News To Legislature, Says Only Way To Fix Problem Is To Have Immediate Cuts To Education, Hospitals Governor David Paterson called an unusual joint session of the Legislature Monday to implore recalcitrant lawmakers to close the state's huge budget gap before New York runs out of money. To some lawmakers it's nothing more than a photo op to help Paterson get re-elected. But the governor is dead serious. He said if the Legislature doesn't cut the budget now the state could run out of money by next month. "We're going to run out of cash in four and...

Gov. Still Plans To Run Despite President's Request He Not Brings President Clinton's Former Deputy Chief Of Staff On BoardEmbattled Gov. David Paterson is pulling out all the stops to save his job. He plans to mount a major ad blitz to tell New Yorkers about all the good things he's done for the Empire State. The election may be over, but the political ads aren't. The governor is now taking to the air waves to convince New Yorkers he deserves to stay in office. "What it's geared to do is talk about his very good record over the last...

The sound you hear is the clacking of knees as Gov. Paterson and members of the Legislature shrink from leveling with New Yorkers about the state's dire financial straits. Not a single one of them has the guts to explain to the public that the decimation of Wall Street and the economic downturn have forced Albany to the brink of historically deep spending cuts. Paterson, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate Democratic leaders Malcolm Smith, Pedro Espada and John Sampson, as well as Senate Republican boss Dean Skelos, all know they are about to break funding commitments from one end...

Gov. David A. Paterson took a step on Tuesday toward plugging an expected $3 billion budget deficit and ordered state agencies to cut $500 million from their expenses. The move will represent a decrease of approximately 11 percent in the agencies’ nonlabor costs like travel, vehicles, equipment and postage, the governor’s office said. The new cuts come on top of $1 billion in spending reductions the governor ordered for the last budget cycle. Taken together, the two rounds of cuts will result in combined, recurring savings of $1.5 billion, the governor’s office said. The action by the governor’s office probably...

Talk about killing two birds with one stone. As Congressional Republicans prepare to introduce a bill to calling for Charles Rangel to step down from his position as Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee saying his ethics problems make him the poster boy for institutional arrogance, the Democrats are looking to push him out totally and have Governor Paterson run for Rangel's seat in 2010. CBS News in New York reported on the political scheme today.

Patrick Gaspard, considered one of the most powerful figures in the Obama White House, is a "longtime ACORN operative" and former union official, according to a report posted Monday on the American Spectator's online blog. Gaspard's name recently surfaced as the official President Obama dispatched to urge beleaguered New York Gov. David Paterson not to run for another term. Paterson insists he'll continue to run for governor even without Obama's support. Gaspard has extensive ties to organized labor and community-organizing groups. One measure of his influence in the White House: He holds the same "political affairs director" title that belonged...

WASHINGTON — House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, in an unusual public spat involving three of the nation's most prominent black politicians, criticized President Barack Obama for reportedly pressuring New York Gov. David Paterson not to seek a full term. In an interview for broadcast Sunday on "Washington Watch With Roland Martin," a new talk show, Clyburn, the highest-ranking African-American in Congress and a close Obama ally, reacted sharply to published reports that Obama emissaries had advised the unpopular incumbent against running next year. "Now, I am not saying that anything in this process was done correctly," Clyburn told Martin, a...

ALBANY -- Gov. David A. Paterson this morning told a national television audience that he is in it to stay for the 2010 campaign, defying President Obama's urging that he not run next year. "You don't give up because you have low poll numbers. You don't give up because everybody's telling you what the future is," Paterson said on NBC's Meet the Press today. While some Democrats in New York last week were privately hoping Paterson would use the television interview today to back off from running, the governor said Obama never told him directly he should not run. Pressed...

New York governor David Paterson, back in April, upon hearing that Rush Limbaugh was leaving the state because of new taxes: "If I knew that would be the result, I would’ve thought about the taxes earlier.” New York governor David Paterson, now: "You heard the mantra, 'Tax the rich, tax the rich' . . . We've done that. We've probably lost jobs and driven people out of the state." Don't worry, New Yorkers. Sure, you're unemployed and overtaxed, and your state government is a cesspool of bickering and corruption, but your governor chased away that scary Rush Limbaugh and all...

In a new editorial, the New York Times is calling on New York Gov. David Paterson, the state's first African-American chief executive, to withdraw from the 2010 governor's race. "As well meaning as Mr. Paterson has been," the Times writes, "he is not the right person for New York over the long haul."

Today's Marist poll finds 62 percent of New Yorkers think it was wrong for President Obama to stick his nose into local politics and pressure Gov. David Paterson not to run in 2010.

Gov. Paterson's wife -- emotionally stunned at President Obama's request that her husband not run for another term -- ripped into him today, saying that it's "very unfair" the president asked New York's "first African-American governor" not to seek office. "You never heard of that before," Michelle Paterson, in her first comments on the situation, said following a luncheon in Midtown. "David's the first African-American governor in the state of New York and he's being asked to get out of the race. It's very unusual and it seems very unfair."

ALBANY - Talk about Presidential pile-ons. First, President Obama sent word to Gov. Paterson that maybe he shouldn't run for election next year. Now, former President Bill Clinton is weighing in, saying Paterson is "not in good shape now" politically, but expressing confidence Paterson will do what's best for his state. Interviewed on NBC's "Today" show Tuesday, Clinton called Paterson "a good man" and said he trusted him to "make a good decision." Clinton's comments came as a new poll shows Paterson has been unable to turn his ratings around.

Govenor David Paterson has soundly rejected President Obama's bewildering attempt to remove him from New York's political scene, stating he fully intends to be remain a candidate for governor of New York against the wishes of our Meddler-in-Chief. So, based on the new paradigm that all those who disagree with Obama are racially motivated, should David Paterson now be considered a racist for going against the president's wishes? Or is Obama the racist for attempting to force a standing African-American Governor to abandon his candidacy?

TROY, NY -- President Obama inflicted a stunning series of slights and snubs on Gov. Paterson during a visit to upstate New York yesterday, making it plain for all to see that Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is his governor-in-waiting. The awkward stopover by the Democrat-in-chief came just days after an Obama aide delivered the ominous message that Paterson's planned run for governor next year would not have White House support. Although the pair shared some cordial words, polite handshakes and a stiff hug on the tarmac in Albany, many observers agreed the visit was conspicuous for the courtesies Obama denied...

"If you can't handle the heat, get out of the kitchen". That best describes New York politics at its best, a political arena which is brutal even on a good day, as to be a Republican is harsh, being a Conservative Republican on top of that, is pure hell in this state, unless you reside in one of twenty-something counties which voted for John McCain last November. We have a very interesting Gubernatorial election next November, with Rudy Giuliani, Rick Lazio, David Paterson, and other supporting actors *cough candidates cough* in the running for the Governor's mansion, not to mention...

Just days after the Obama administration reportedly asked Gov. David Paterson (D-N.Y.) to forego his 2010 campaign, the two politicians will meet up at an event in upstate New York. President Obama will deliver an economic speech at Hudson Valley Community College in Troy. Paterson will attend the speech, as is customary for a governor of the president's party. The White House hasn't scheduled any time for Paterson and Obama to sit down formally while the President is in New York, but it's almost certain they'll cross paths at the Troy event.

This would be the perfect time to do one of those "caught red handed" commercials, Obama White House changes their story on New York Governor David Paterson, all in the same day...

SUPPOSE THAT GEORGE W. BUSH had called Kanye West (a black rapper) a "jackass" and requested that David Paterson (a black governor) not run for re-election. Can you imagine the furor that would have erupted? Guys like Al Sharpton would be screaming racism. Well, a President did in fact say these things, but it wasn't George W. Bush. It was Barack Obama. Watch him call a black man a "jackass", and consider what would have happened had that word come out of Bush's mouth: (The only jackasses are the ones in the mainstream media)

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Embattled New York Governor David Paterson said on Sunday he was still running for office, in the face of reports that President Barack Obama had asked him to withdraw from the 2010 race for fear that he cannot regroup from a series of political setbacks. "I am running for office," Paterson told reporters at a Manhattan parade. "I'm not going to discuss confidential conversations," he said, adding that he planned to continue focusing on matters related to the financial crisis. The New York Times reported on Sunday that the Obama administration is worried Paterson's unpopularity could...

President Obama is making clear that he doesn’t want embattled Gov. David Paterson to run for a full term next year, according to the New York Times, worried that the governor's unpopularity could cost Democrats Congressional seats in the Empire State and imperil the party's redistricting plans in the future. The delicate nature of the discussions between the White House and Paterson – the administration sent an emissary, Queens congressman Gregory Meeks to deliver the news – underscores the dilemma Obama faces in dealing with the candidacies of leading African-American statewide officials who are viewed unfavorably by their constituents. As...

Comedy gold from the RNC chairman, cheekily borrowing Alinsky Rule 4 to rub the left’s face in its own bottom-feeding racial demagoguery. His argument’s absurd, of course, and deliberately so: Imagine believing that Obama hates black people … when we all know it’s blind people that he really hates. Paterson responded this afternoon to the The One’s nudge by kinda sorta telling him to get bent. Exit question: Is Paterson racist?

Gov. David A. Paterson defiantly vowed to run for election next year despite the White House‘s urging that he withdraw from the New York governor’s race. Appearing tired and agitated as reporters crowded him at a parade in Harlem on Sunday, the governor said that he would not abandon his campaign to seek a full term. “I have said time and time again that I am running for governor next year,” he said at the 40th annual African-American Day Parade. Mr. Paterson would not characterize what he was told by the White House, saying that he would not “discuss confidential...

~ EXCERPT ~ ALBANY, N.Y. - National Democratic Party leaders have asked Gov. David Paterson to consider withdrawing from the 2010 governor's race, according to two senior New York Democratic advisers. Both advisers, who are close to the governor, spoke to The Associated Press on Saturday on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak for Paterson. The sources said it was unclear what Paterson would do in response. The New York Times, which originally reported the request on its Web site, said that it was President Barack Obama who asked Paterson to withdraw. The New York...

Prez thinks Paterson must goBy MAGGIE HABERMAN Last Updated: 6:11 AM, September 20, 2009 The Obama administration, fearing that Gov. Paterson is too embattled to remain at the top of the ticket, has sent a direct message asking him not to run for a full term as governor. Multiple sources said the White House and national Democrats, fearful about Paterson's performance, low poll numbers and increasing lack of support, had decided to suggest he not run again, accelerating a timetable for their plans after the governor went on a rant claiming his poll problems are thanks to a racist media...

The Times, citing sources, said Obama is concerned that "Mr. Paterson cannot recover from his dismal political standing." According to the Times report, the decision to ask Paterson to step aside was proposed by political advisors to Obama, but approved by the president himself.

ALBANY - In a stunning request, the Obama administration has made it clear to poll-challenged Gov. Paterson that the White House would prefer he not seek election to a full four-year term next year. Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2009/09/19/2009-09-19_obama_administration_.html#ixzz0RdGUhJLx

Has Obama asked beleaguered and unpopular NY Governor David Paterson to drop out of the race to keep his seat? That's what the New York Times is reporting. If true, this is fairly extraordinary. It's highly unusual for a president to step in and tell a governor who is not facing something like a crippling scandal or imminent indictment that his time is up. And when it's the first black president telling one of only two black governors to clear the way for someone else...that definitely falls into the category of Stories You Never Expected To Read. The person most...

WASHINGTON — President Obama has sent a request to Gov. David A. Paterson that he withdraw from the New York governor’s race, fearing that Mr. Paterson cannot recover from his dismal political standing, according to two senior administration officials and a New York Democratic operative with direct knowledge of the situation. The decision to ask Mr. Paterson to step aside was proposed by political advisers to Mr. Obama, but approved by the president himself, one of the administration officials said. “Is there concern about the situation in New York? Absolutely,” the second administration official said Saturday evening. “Has that concern...

New York Gov. David Paterson ordered state agencies Friday to put a 30-day hold on contracts with the community organizing group ACORN and its affiliate, New York Agency for Community Affairs. In a memo, the Budget Division cited Paterson's "continued efforts to ensure fiscal accountability and integrity," directing the agencies to report "any potential issues." In Washington, the House and Senate separately voted this week to deny all federal funds for ACORN in a GOP-led strike against the liberal-leaning group, which was accused last year of submitting some false voter registration forms in a massive voter-registration drive.

ALBANY, N.Y. - New York Gov. David Paterson ordered state agencies Friday to put a 30-day hold on contracts with the community organizing group ACORN and its affiliate, New York Agency for Community Affairs. In a memo, the Budget Division cited Paterson's "continued efforts to ensure fiscal accountability and integrity," directing the agencies to report "any potential issues." In Washington, the House and Senate separately voted this week to deny all federal funds for ACORN in a GOP-led strike against the liberal-leaning group, which was accused last year of submitting some false voter registration forms in a massive voter-registration drive.

A new Marist poll does not bring good news for Gov. David Paterson, who can't seem to get his approval rating to budge, no matter how hard he tries. Just one-fifth of the electorate thinks the governor is doing a good job, while 34 percent rate his performance as "poor." Paterson was at 21 percent in a June Marist poll and 19 percent one month prior to that. He continues to score poorly with voters across the board - even members of his own party. Only 24 percent of fellow Democrats say he's doing well as governor. As for 2010,...

ALBANY – Voter approval of Gov. Paterson has slipped backward in the wake of his perceived inaction on the financial crisis and his controversial complaints about racial bias in the media, according to new poll out this morning. The Marist College survey of registered voters found Paterson's job approval rating, which has for months been among the lowest for a governor in the nation, dropped a point to 20 percent. The Democratic governor had crept up to 21 percent in June after reaching a dismal 19 percent one month earlier.

News that Gov. Paterson’s plan to have Richard Ravitch as his lieutenant governor was torpedoed by the court was quickly overshadowed by reports that he was embroiled in a yet another controversy. Appearing on New York Daily News’ reporter Errol Louis radio show on WWRL-AM last week, Paterson let his interviewer know that he wasn’t pleased that Dominic Carter, host of “Road to City Hall”on NY1, had chosen to discuss with the Rev. Al Sharpton his alleged late night outing. After refuting the rumor, Paterson tore into Carter, suggesting that such reportage was an example of the negative media coverage...

Gov. Paterson, convinced that the white-controlled media is out to get him, warned on Friday that they'd soon be going after the Commander in Chief. Turns out the president doesn't want any part of it. "The reality is the next victim on the list -- and you can see it coming -- is President Barack Obama, who did nothing more than try to reform a health care system," Paterson said during an interview on WWRL-AM radio. By Sunday, Obama's people were calling Paterson's people to tell the governor to stop including the president in his race war with the media,...

ALBANY — Nineteen months after ending his disastrous run for the presidency, Rudolph W. Giuliani is clearing a path for a possible race for governor in 2010, believing public anger at an ineffectual Albany and unease over the economy could create ideal conditions for a Republican to reclaim the governor’s mansion. Mr. Giuliani has told associates that he will decide on a candidacy within 30 to 60 days, as he weighs whether he can be elected statewide and what impact another campaign would have on his business interests. He is already laying the groundwork. On Friday he traveled to Long...

President Obama's aides were so furious that Gov. Paterson dragged him into a rant about racism that they sent a message sharply criticizing the governor's comments just hours after he made them, The Post has learned. Aides to Obama were angered by Paterson's tirade on liberal talk-radio station WWRL on Friday, sources said. Paterson blamed his political woes on racially slanted coverage and predicted the president would be the next "victim" of biased media. Obama's team delivered a pointed message to Paterson within hours of the morning broadcast, multiple sources said. It came in a call from White House political...

Gov. Paterson must be desperate to boost his floundering political career. Yesterday, he took to the airwaves with the claim that criticism of his administration -- which is among the least popular in the country and faces a possible primary challenge next year -- is racially motivated. "I submit that the same kind of treatment that [Gov.] Deval Patrick is receiving right now in Massachusetts and that I'm receiving, [and] the way in which the New York state Senate was written about . . . we're not in the post-racial period," he told a radio interviewer. "The next victim ....

By FREDRIC U. DICKER, STATE EDITOR ALBANY -- Gov. Paterson gets more grim political news today, as another statewide poll shows Attorney General Andrew Cuomo trouncing him by 4 to 1 in a hypothetical primary match next year. Democrats, by nearly 2 to 1, said that New York's accidental governor doesn't deserve to be elected on his own...

ALBANY -- Gov. Paterson has played the race card. The state's first black governor yesterday blamed his political woes -- and those of President Obama -- on a white-dominated media that he accused of taking part in an "orchestrated" attack campaign. "We're not in the post-racial period," Paterson said in a freewheeling interview on the liberal talk-radio station WWRL. "My feeling is it's being orchestrated, it's a game, and people who pay attention know that." "We don't have the kind of forces in the community that we had before, in other words, our black media outlets," the Democratic governor continued....

ALBANY - Gov. Paterson said Friday he knows the reason behind the "crescendo" of calls for him not to seek re-election next year: it's because he's black. Speaking on a morning radio show hosted by Daily News columnist Errol Louis, an angry Paterson blamed the white-dominated media for pushing him to step aside next year. "The whole idea is to get me not to run in the primary," he said. Paterson complained there are not enough "black" media outlets to counteract the push. And he suggested that Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, the country's only other African-American governor, also is under...

<p>MYFOXNY.COM - New York Governor David Paterson has released a statement backtracking from comments he made on a radio interview on Friday morning.</p> <p>Speaking on a show hosted by Daily News columnist Errol Louis, Paterson said the reason behind calls for him not to seek re-election next year is because he's black.</p>

ALBANY -- Gov. Paterson has officially played the race card. The beleaguered Democratic governor in a radio interview this morning blamed his troubles on a racist media that he said has taken part in an "orchestrated" effort to get him out of office. Paterson, a former lieutenant governor, who faces an uphill election fight next year, argued that other prominent black politicians, including President Obama, had received similar treatment.

reid.epstein@newsday.com Gov. David A. Paterson "simply does not have the authority" to name a lieutenant governor, a four-judge Appellate Division panel said Thursday, voiding last month's appointment of Richard Ravitch to the post. The panel concluded that Paterson's July 8 appointment of Ravitch violated the state constitution. "No provision of the Constitution or of any statute provides for the filling of a vacancy in the office of lieutenant governor other than by election, and only the temporary president of the Senate is authorized to perform the duties of that office during the period of the vacancy," the court stated. Paterson...

Confetti rains down Tuesday on Rudy Giuliani as he walks on stage at a motivational program in HSBC Arena. Giuliani later met with state Republican leaders.Sharon Cantillon/Buffalo News Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani may be ready to discuss leadership with far more than the 15,000 people who packed HSBC Arena on Tuesday for a motivational conference.In fact, area Republican leaders who met with him following the event say he appears more than interested in discussing leadership in a campaign to become governor of 19 million New Yorkers.“He certainly didn’t commit to anything, but he was also gauging our...

August 20, 2009 Court Rejects Ravitch Appointment By Jeremy W. Peters David A. Paterson’s naming of Richard Ravitch last month to the vacant lieutenant governor’s post was ruled illegal on Thursday by a state appeals court panel that deemed Mr. Paterson had violated the State Constitution. The ruling blocks Mr. Ravitch from serving as lieutenant governor. “The governor’s purported appointment of Mr. Ravitch was unlawful because no provision of the Constitution or of any statute provides for the filling of the vacancy in the office of lieutenant governor other than by election,” said the ruling from the four-judge panel of...

PATERSON, N.J. — Curfews might not be just for kids anymore in one northern New Jersey city. Seeking to curb violence after a spate of deadly summer shootings, Paterson officials are considering an unusual ordinance that would prevent people of all ages from gathering outside in public late at night. The measure could be the nation's first citywide, non-emergency curfew to include adults, several experts said..... http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iOGJmr5Dp-redxBbiPI2iyEZ7ZpAD9A5IUEG0

Near majority of voters want all senators thrown out of office When it comes to state government, New Yorkers want a do-over. They're mad about the budget. They're mad about the senate stalemate that brought state politics to a screeching halt for a month. They're mad at Gov. David Paterson. New Yorkers are so frustrated with how things are going in the state that nearly half of registered voters say almost everyone in the State Senate, including their own legislators, deserves to be thrown out, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll. Voters aren't thrilled with their representatives in the...