Paterson Looking Like the Tortoise in the Race to 2010

The last we checked, Mayor Bloomberg was the only major politician in New York who is running for reelection in a little over nine months from now. But you don't have to be a weatherman to know that the wind has really been blowing in the direction of Albany lately, with local media painting the picture that it's Governor Paterson who's the one in trouble when it comes to reelection—despite the fact that there are more months between now and the 2010 race than Paterson has even been in office for.

Today an investigation by the Post revealed that Paterson secretly granted raises of as much as 46 percent to more than a dozen of his staffers. The paper says that these raises came during the same period that the governor asked 130,000 state workers to give up 3 percent pay hikes because of the state's fiscal crisis. A spokesman for the governor says that promotions prompted the raises, but the Post insists that fourteen of those receiving them have remained in the exact same positions.

As for the News's Paterson horror story of the day, Elizabeth Benjamin talks to a Democrat with close ties to the governor who further paints a picture of an administration in a state of chaos. The source told her, "There's no finance person, no clear relationship with a consultant, no serious polling. Nothing." With the recent departure of the governor's communication director and the expected exits to follow of two staffers who replaced Paterson's scandalized right-hand man Charles O'Byrne, the governor may have a difficult time restaffing while things are "in shambles." The Albany insider tells her, "To get a person to leave their job and come work for you when things are so bad is hard."

The News also draws attention to Paterson's lack of a counter punch for the "low blow" TV spots attacking the governor's proposed health care cuts, a source calling it "a shocking lack of political skills" on the governor's part. Last night while speaking in front of the state Association of Black & Puerto Rican Legislators, Paterson said, "I don't care how many commercials you all pay for. I don't care how many points you all make me lose in the polls. And I don't care how many blind people in wheelchairs you roll out. I'm going to get this budget balanced and I'm going to get it balanced by April 1."