New York Governor David Paterson’s political prospects seem to worsen with each passing day.
Only 29 percent of the state’s voters view him favorably, according to a recent Siena poll. Just before Paterson, CC ’77, met with President Barack Obama, CC ’83, near Albany on Monday, reports surfaced that the White House had been urging him not to stand for re-election in 2010.
But this controversy did not stop Paterson from appearing at the Columbia University Medical Center in Washington Heights Tuesday to herald the arrival of $600 million in federal stimulus money intended for medical research projects across New York State.
Speaking before an audience of about 50 at the Julius and Armand Hammer Health Sciences Center on West 168th Street, Paterson—New York’s first African-American governor—was flanked onstage by 13 local officeholders, public health officials, and beneficiaries of the aforementioned federal grants. State Assemblyman Daniel O’Donnel, a democrat who represents Morningside Heights, and Columbia University Executive Vice President for Research David Hirsch were among those assembled.
“Not only are we trying to encourage medical research, we are trying to develop a new economy and put people back to work during a difficult moment,” said Paterson, a Democrat who has presided over a severe recession and crippling fiscal shortfalls since replacing Eliot Spitzer in 2008.
With New York City’s unemployment rate topping 10 percent and the state budget deficit reaching $2.1 billion, Paterson—who used to represent the Columbia campus and West Harlem in the State Senate—has become the nation’s most unpopular governor. Indeed, he is perceived by many in the Democratic Party as such a liability that the White House, determined to protect Democratic legislators in the state, sent him emissaries suggesting he stand down and allow someone else—perhaps New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo—to take up the Democratic banner next year.
Paterson sidestepped the issue when pressed.
“I understand the president’s concern and I understand concern of staff members at the White House,” he said. “If you look at it from their perspective, they haven’t exactly been able to govern in the way other administrations have, where you would have, theoretically, a period in which the new administration is allowed to pass the needed pieces of legislation.”
But despite his reluctance to discuss rumors of hardball politicking, the emerging soap-opera narrative involving Obama, Paterson, and Cuomo has ignited a national frenzy. Mark Halperin of Time Magazine featured Paterson’s Columbia appearance as the lead story on his personal blog for much of yesterday. The New York Times editorial page knocked the Obama administration for intervening in local politics. And Karl Rove, a political adviser to former President George W. Bush, also derided the White House’s handling of the situation.
Amid this chaos, Paterson has tried to remain focused on the state deficit and vows to run next year.
“Clearly I’m running for re-ele=ction,” he said, but declined to promise victory, saying that he is “not a psychic.”
The governor did receive one bit of good news on Tuesday, as the State Court of Appeals validated his appointment of Richard Ravitch, CC ‘55, to the office of lieutenant governor.
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