David Paterson: likable ... and liberal

   New Yorkers voted for him in 2006, but they knew little if anything -- and likely cared little considering the job title he was seeking -- about who David Paterson really is, what he stands for and where he might want to take the state.

   Now, it matters.

   On Monday, Paterson, the lieutenant governor since January 2007, will become the state's 55th governor, taking over the job being vacated by Eliot L. Spitzer, who is resigning amid the sex scandal that has shook Albany this week.

   The stories about Paterson all have a common theme: likable, capable, funny and able to reach across party lines. But what of his politics?

   Paterson, a Harlem Democrat, is an unabashed liberal -- with a voting record and bill-introduction background that will make him, upon entering the governor's office anyway, one of the most left-leaning chief executives of the state in recent memory.

   Just how progressive he is when it comes to politics will be decided in short order: he has three weeks to negotiate a new 2008 state budget with legislative leaders. In the face of a struggling economy and declining revenue forecasts, Albany will wait to see if Paterson will be willing to take on some powerful special interests that will be prodding him to spend more than Spitzer wanted on education, health care and other big portions of the budget.

   It will be a debate that could chart the course for the next 33 months of the upcoming Paterson administration.

-- Tom Precious

Comments

[Art Klein]

Hmmm is this another Rush tactic?

Pick an issue that is not relevant, describe it without accuracy and use it to excite the uninformed.

I have never heard of effort by anyone liberal or progressive to do an illegal action like allowing "illegals," (whatever that means) to vote.

[Josh]

New York State has no viable conservative presence. It's the People's Republic. Good luck with your "genuine liberal" who wants illegals to vote.

[Art Klein]

Well, well, a genuine liberal with no election baggage of false promises of honoring conservative values.

I imagine the first beneficiaries will be the children since Progressive Politics begin with education. Maybe we’ll even get more literacy training so we can reduce the numbers of teens who wander the Streets in search of a quick buck.

Then we can anticipate a reform of the legislative process. For all their talk the conservative elements in Albany have clung to 19th Century ideals with both hands.

Infrastructure has to be improved and only a liberal will ever tackle those issues. We’ve had twenty-eight years of starving the beast in Washington and Albany and look where we are with hidden conservative reform. Are we near the bottom of the barrel yet?

Expect tax reform and more transparent Government. The conservatives just can’t reveal the true costs of anything and must rely on subterfuge and accounting gimmickry to accomplish goals. That is why the country has now borrowed the three trillion dollars from everyone in sight. Liberals are more inclined to do the What You See is What You get forms of governance.

Perhaps Paterson will be closer to FDR or even Teddy than we expect. Imagine a viable state once again. I can’t wait and hope for the best. We need relief from mediocrity and we well might have it now.