Legislative Democrats are fed up with Gov. Paterson's chief of staff, who's allegedly attempting a power grab from his embattled and "disengaged" boss. One top official told the Post's Fred Dicker that the governor's highest-ranking staffer Larry Schwartz "has become the Alexander Haig of state government, saying, 'I'm in charge,'" referring to Ronald Reagan's former secretary of state, who made the presumptuous claim after Reagan was shot in 1981. Some go so far as to accuse Schwartz of sabotaging Paterson's already plodding budget proceedings (Dicker estimates a final budget won't be done before the end of the month.) "Larry is calling up Wall Street bankers, telling them not to sign on to a legislative borrowing plan," said a leading Democrat. "He's working against his own lieutenant governor." more ›

Lawmakers, especially Brooklyn councilman Charles Barron, are upset about a private meeting yesterday between Attorney General Cuomo and Lt. Gov. Ravitch. Allegedly, the two top officials were discussing the possibility of a resignation by Gov. Paterson, as well as the state budget which Ravitch is helping to write. According to NY1, “Barron said such a meeting comes too close to crossing the line in terms of conflicts of interest, as Cuomo is likely to run for governor, and that the attorney general should remove himself from the investigation of Paterson.” He and other community leaders will hold a press conference today, calling for Cuomo to disinvolve himself from the probe into Paterson’s accused wrongdoing. more ›

If Governor Paterson wasn't happy with the media's depiction of his job performance before a radio interview Friday connecting it to an "orchestrated" attack from the press related to race, he certainly can't be thrilled that he ended up inviting a whole new round of onslaught from voices throughout the state questioning his competence. more ›