Buffalo, NY (WBEN) -- Governor David Paterson says the State Senate leadership mess is an "outrage." He has asked for and received word from Comptroller Tom DiNapoli to pursue blocking pay for senators until the leadership struggle is over. It's part of an extensive interview from Thursday's "Buffalo's Evening News with Tom Puckett." Listen to the interview HERE.
Paterson tells WBEN's Tom Puckett the leadership struggle has cost municipalities across the state millions of dollars, and there's no money left in the Power for Jobs program as a result of what he calls a conflict-turned-crisis. He says he will try and find ideas to keep that program going. Paterson has fought for senators' pay to be stopped after cutting off voucher and member items. DiNapoli filed a suit seeking a decision on whether senators' paychecks can be stopped.
Paterson says he's aware of the incident earlier in the week where Democrats claimed they passed bills when a Republican senator walked onto the chamber floor, creating a quorum. Paterson says he refused to sign the bills because "If we sign the bills for that day, we will not be able to get any further business done because there's a dispute. The Republicans say he wasn't there, the Democrats say he was," says Paterson, who says as governor, it's not his job to resolve domestic disputes like the Senate leadership crisis.
"They did have me serve as a mediator for the first time (Thursday)," noted Paterson. But he thinks both sides are still far off when it comes to reaching a leadership deal. Paterson cited the two sides calling for public meetings but neither side showed up. The two sides met in session Thursday, and he describes the meeting as "more cordial than when (the two sides) were meeting alone." Paterson says both sides did offer up proposals and he'll look at them Friday.
The governor would not comment on how this affects his administration or his re-election, saying that is the kind of politics that began the crisis in the first place. But he did say as governor, he must oversee everything within state government and he does take responsibility.
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