Senate’s Democratic leaders will attend Paterson speech
ALBANY—Bring out the chairs for the Senate Democrats.
Senate Democratic leaders, after all, do want to hear what their governor has to say Monday in a rare joint session of the Assembly and Senate about the state budget’s dire predicament.
A day after Senate officials brushed off Gov. David A. Paterson’s upcoming speech as a “photo op” and waste of taxpayer money, Democratic leaders had a change of heart Friday.
“We will be attending and hope to make a productive use of the time by continuing negotiations on a responsible deficit reduction plan,” said Austin Shafran, a spokesman for the Senate Democratic leaders.
“The governor is pleased that the entire Legislature is ready and willing to work with him to close the budget gap and make important reforms for New Yorkers,” said Morgan Hook, a Paterson spokesman.
The move was a partially hollow threat, anyway, since a number of rank-and-file Senate Democrats were planning to brush off their leaders’ decision and attend the speech anyway.
A number of them face potentially tight re-election contests next year that could include opponents’ television ads featuring images of their empty seats during what Paterson is billing as a major policy address, something that might not go over well with voters.
The Senate Democratic leaders, who include Sens. John L. Sampson of Brooklyn, Malcolm A. Smith of Queens and Pedro Espada Jr. of the Bronx, stuck out their necks with their original decision. Assembly Democrats, Assembly Republicans and Senate Republicans all signaled their intention to attend the governor’s address at noon Monday in the Assembly chamber.
Paterson will deliver the speech on the final day of an annual political gathering in Puerto Rico, which many lawmakers, including Sampson and Espada, are attending. Shafran had said Thursday that conference had nothing to do with the original decision to boycott the Paterson address.
The governor also has stepped up his campaign for next year’s election— despite overtures from the White House that he not run and knife-sharpening by forces promoting Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo as an alternative to Paterson at the top of the Democratic ticket next year. Friday, Paterson’s campaign began airing two television ads around the state.
One ad takes the unusual course of acknowledging his political problems, beginning with the line: “Some say I shouldn’t be running for governor.”
He continues that some of those people include lawmakers, unions and big corporations that, he maintains, he has forced to make difficult budget decisions or to shoulder cuts or tax increases to help balance the budget.
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