Lawmakers Intent on Collaborating With Paterson for ‘Serious Work’
By Matthew Spina, The Buffalo News, N.Y.
Mar. 13–Albany’s players promised Wednesday to do their best during the governorship of David A. Paterson and to get the wheels of government rolling again.
“We have serious work to do, and it is time for New York to put the scandal behind us,” said Assembly Minority Leader James N. Tedisco, R-Schenectady, who had called on Gov. Eliot L. Spitzer to resign or face impeachment.
Paterson will become governor Monday, when Spitzer’s resignation will take effect.
“It is imperative that we are able to get back to doing the state’s business as soon as possible,” said Assemblyman Sam Hoyt, D-Buffalo, who said Paterson shares Spitzer’s commitment to the upstate economy. “I am confident that Gov. Paterson will be able to help make this a smooth transition and will prove to be a skilled and effective leader.”
Before he ran for lieutenant governor with Spitzer in 2006, Paterson had been the State Senate’s Democratic minority leader and focused on, among other things, ending the Republican Party’s decades-old control of that chamber.
The Democrats, in a series of election victories, have chipped away at the Republican dominance. Now, if just one more seat swings in November, Republicans and Democrats will be locked at 31 members each.
Still, Paterson is on good terms with Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno, R-Brunswick.
“David has always been very open with me, very forthright,” Bruno said Wednesday. “I look forward to a positive, productive relationship.”
Monday, just before the New York Times Web site revealed the stunner about Spitzer, State Sen. Dale M. Volker of Depew was urging his Republican colleagues to take a hard line against the new fees that Spitzer had proposed to help balance the next state budget.
So Paterson, in one of his first chores, will need to mediate the Assembly and Senate through their differing versions of a state budget for 2008-09. It’s an annual three-way dance that is supposed to be completed by April 1, though many times it isn’t.
“Lt. Gov. David Paterson, now Gov. David Paterson, is an honorable man who I have worked well with over the years,” Volker said. “I am confident that as the [state] moves forward, the State Legislature will be able to work . . . with him to reach consensus on myriad issues.”
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan, said: “I think David Paterson has the ability, the charisma, the experience to be one of the finest governors New York has ever had.”
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