Paterson Calls Lawmakers "A Bunch of Bloodsuckers"

Top image from the NYPost.com this morning; lower image from NYPost.com last night

Thank you, Governor David Paterson because now we have the long-awaited NY Post Photoshop job of Sheldon Silver as Count Dracula. The Governor caused a commotion after telling advocates for the disabled, "I used to sit in my legislative office and think about how difficult it is to travel 150 miles to Albany on a bus...and how there were legislators who I used to think practiced their own versions of being Count Dracula. They would be very nice to the advocates when they came to Albany and then...the sun would go down and they'd go back to who they really are, a bunch of bloodsuckers." And the crowd loved that!

Naturally, lawmakers from both sides of the aisles weren't happy, as it raised memories of former Governor Spitzer ("I'm a f---ing Steamroller")--Assemblyman John McEneny (D-Albany) said, "Good grief, here we go again," while Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos (R-LI) said, "The governor's comments were flip and not very amusing. In fact, they were 'Spitzeresque.' Coming from the Legislature, [Paterson] should know better."

Paterson tried to explain, "I didn't say that my colleagues were bloodsuckers. I said that there were certain people who listened to advocates, and as soon as they left and it got dark, were acting in that way - like Count Dracula - because they really didn't care." Democrat Assemblyman Richard Brodsky told the Times, "If it becomes a pattern, you worry that David, who is a very decent person, is being told he’s got to sort of Spitzerfy himself a little to look tough. That’s just a mistake.”

The Daily Politics recalls that when Mario Cuomo called the Legislature "monkeys," he hurt his negotiating power with them.