David Paterson offered a rare defense of partisanship today while speaking with reporters on Fifth Avenue in midtown, before the Columbus Day Parade.
“Why would Democrats and Republicans actually go against their own party?" Paterson said.
The governor was responding to a report, published in the New York Post today, that he backed away from an agreement with Republican State Senate Leader Dean Skelos. The alleged agreement, as outlined by Fred Dicker, was that in exchange for Republican cooperation on the budget, Paterson vowed not to campaign for Democrats looking to overthrow Skelos’ two-seat State Senate majority in the November elections.
(Paterson’s sudden enthusiasm for State Senate candidates, after months of staying neutral, has been noted).
But Paterson seemed to be making the point today that incumbency has sometimes trumped party affiliation in Albany, with some lawmakers preferring to maintain the status quo over the risk of riling colleagues in the other party
Paterson said he will “work with everybody, but not be part of the old system where there is one party: the incumbency party.”
That led to a forceful follow up question from Liz Benjamin. “Did you promise him that you would not campaign? He says that you promised. Did you promise?”
Paterson called the sourcing of the Post story into question and then said, “Why would Democrats and Republicans actually go against their own party? How disloyal is that? That’s exactly what’s wrong with Albany. It became a conglomerate of incumbency where there was absolutely no voice.”
