&#8220Hello, it&#8217s me again.&#8221

The words Carl P. Paladino uses to introduce his frequent radio ads blasting political

leaders may now go statewide after he said Wednesday he is thinking about running for

governor.

The Buffalo attorney and developer, who in recent years has been outspoken on a number of

local and state issues, is relying on the &#8220tea party&#8221 movement to rally around his

potential candidacy.

He said the anti-tax protesters who urged him to enter the race are such a burgeoning force

that he expects they can collect enough signatures on designating petitions to qualify him for

the ballot and solicit enough money via the Internet to make him competitive.

&#8220I have a tremendous respect for what they&#8217re doing and think they have a

groundswell going,&#8221 Paladino said. &#8220And I&#8217m so fed up with Albany. I&#8217ve

developed this cynical obsession about the games being played there.&#8221

It appears the whole idea stems from tea party activists like Rus Thompson of Grand Island,

who held a two-hour meeting with Paladino on Tuesday to persuade him to run. Thompson, who has

led tea party protests and is an outspoken opponent of tolls on the Grand Island bridges, said

the movement across the state is ready to unite behind a candidate like Paladino.

Gubernatorial candidates like incumbent David A. Paterson, Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo

and former Rep. Rick Lazio, he said, represent the &#8220same old status quo.&#8221

&#8220We talked about this very seriously through a two-hour lunch,&#8221 Thompson said.

&#8220He said: &#8216Let&#8217s see what kind of support there is out there.&#8217 &#8221

Thompson pointed out that the tea party movement, which opposes excessive taxation and

government interference in the lives of citizens, is not yet a year old. But he noted the

rebellious mood of voters who elected Republican Scott Brown to the late Sen. Edward M.

Kennedy&#8217s seat last month in Massachusetts and said the key is uniting the various local

groups behind Paladino.

&#8220We&#8217re not going to lay down and take it any more,&#8221 he said.

But some of the Albany leaders against whom Paladino rails expressed their doubts about his

candidacy Wednesday.

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan, in town for a political fundraiser in HSBC

Arena, pointed to the income Paladino receives as landlord to many state agencies in Buffalo

and the fact he has benefited from government subsidies for development projects.

&#8220I&#8217ve met Carl Paladino once,&#8221 he said. &#8220He is someone who has a lot of

money, and part of that is that he&#8217s always sought subsidies from government.&#8221

&#8220There are a number of people who rely on government for tenants or who rely on

government for subsidies and then say government should not spend money on anything

else,&#8221 he added.

Paladino, who is 63 and a registered Republican, has never run for public office. But he

said he has no confidence that Paterson or Cuomo &#8212 both Democrats &#8212 could turn

around a state government he calls dysfunctional.

And though he has considered challenging Lazio in a Republican primary, he said he feels

better about running an unconventional campaign as an outsider.

&#8220I would go in as a pure independent,&#8221 Paladino said. &#8220And I&#8217m telling

everyone it would be a one-term thing. I just want to be there long enough to turn things

upside down.&#8221

He reiterated his contention that Paterson is &#8220just a dog for Cuomo,&#8221 taking the

heat on the state&#8217s serious budget problems so that the attorney general can stay on the

sidelines and above the fray for as long as possible.

A vocal critic of the Buffalo Board of Education as well as Mayor Byron W. Brown, Paladino

said he understands his undertaking poses a &#8220huge challenge.&#8221 He also acknowledged

he has much to learn about running a statewide campaign, especially in New York City.

In addition, while he said he could bring considerable personal resources to the effort, he

does not have the $30 million to $50 million needed to wage a conventional television

campaign.

As a result, he said he would rely on the Internet and the communication network the tea

party movement is spawning to convey his message.

&#8220To go down there and fight with this bunch of rats in that Legislature is probably

something that no one in the populist movement could do, but I could do that,&#8221 he said.

Paladino said his plan now is to discuss his potential candidacy with tea party organizers

across the state to determine if they can coordinate a petition campaign, with an eye toward

making a final decision as soon as possible.

&#8220I&#8217ve got some fire in the belly right now,&#8221 he said. &#8220I really want

to wreck these people.&#8221