With Albany still trying to work out a budget two months after it was due, there's a little more than the usual dysfunction, because now there are threats of a government shutdown and some classic personal slams. Speaking of the latter, here's what Senate Majority Leader Pedro Espada Jr. said of Governor Paterson, "We cannot let an unelected lame-duck governor that no one in the state wants to actually decide this [budget] by himself in a piecemeal fashion."

Espada and State Senator Ruben Diaz Sr. were threatening to shut down the government because they don't want to vote on the latest budget extender, which includes many, many cuts. That prompted Paterson to say, "I'm not going to respond to any threats, any thug activity. I'm not going to respond to any blackmail in that respect" and remarked that there would be "unimaginable chaos" and "anarchy in the streets" if Albany did shut down.

The Senate pair have reportedly "backed down" from their threats, but Espada said, "What the governor needs to understand is that the people want a budget that is already late done. We can't surrender all power to the governor. The governor has more power over our financial affairs in New York state than the President of the United States has over the country. I don't think we can trust Paterson to get the job done." And Diaz said, “I will embrace the governor tonight even though he called me a thug.”

Let's get back to Espada's Paterson slams, though: He said that during the whole DJ fiasco, "Rev. Diaz and I were the first ones to visit Gov. Paterson in his mansion when he was stretched out on a psychiatric sofa unable to lift himself to come to work... We don't want to resort to name-calling."