Gov. David Paterson's Exit Interview with the I-Man

On his way out of office, David Paterson checked in with Imus to reflect on his almost three years as Governor of New York. “It was a challenge,” he said. “But it was, I think, the greatest opportunity of my life.”
 
The circumstances under which he came to power were unexpected, the result of his predecessor Eliot Spitzer’s predilection for prostitutes. Though surprised to be taking over, Paterson was no novice to state politics, having worked his way through the state senate to become his Party’s leader in 2002. He never felt handicapped by his legal blindness, an issue that, to his surprise and dismay, was raised during his first race for office in 1985.
 
“Most elected officials were fighting for the rights of people with disabilities,” Paterson said. “But when it came to letting one serve among them, there was some negativity.” It was the only such negativity he would feel over his impediment during his career in politics, until he became governor.
 
Paterson was as shocked as anyone else when, in January of 2006, then-Attorney General Spitzer walked into his office and asked him to run for lieutenant governor. “Then there was a moment I’ll never forget,” he told Imus today. “Thirty seconds where neither Governor Spitzer nor I said a word.”
 
The two had met in 1995, oddly enough during a debate on WABC Radio moderated by Gil Gross over whether student yearbooks should be used by police precincts to aid in identifying perpetrators of crimes. “I asked him to lunch after that, because I was really moved by how well he knew the issue, even if we were disagreeing,” Paterson said.
 
Over the years, there was never any indication, at least not to Paterson, that there was another, hornier side to Spitzer. “If anything, I found him to be very professional, particularly when he worked with other women,” Paterson said, and recalled an incident at a march where somebody commented about an attractive woman, and Spitzer admonished that person. “I think he’s actually really that kind of person, who can kind of separate his social life from professional. He has a real professional standard in that way, and I think he still does.”
 
In Paterson’s opinion, the people of New York were lucky to have been led by Spitzer, even for a brief period of time. “I thought, and still do think, that he was a remarkable talent, who normally would probably be in another profession making a whole lot of money, or being incredibly successful, who had, at a certain point, chosen government,” he said.
 
Many people, from Albany to Washington, DC, threw Paterson under the bus as Governor, an outcome he chalks up to having to make some tough decisions. “This economy is a tsunami that has enveloped everyone that’s tried to grapple with it,” he said, noting that he cut $42 billion off New York’s deficit during his time in office, “three times the amount of anything that has been reduced, even proportionately, in the history of this state.”
 
He added, “You’re not going to make many friends doing that.”
 
As for those who “piled on” at the end when he was facing ethics violations, Paterson said, “There isn’t as much loyalty in public service as there used to be, and I think a lot of it is, whatever is the inertia, everybody wants to be a part of it.”
 
Paterson thanked people like Imus for offering him a forum in which to express himself, and predicted that Governor-elect Andrew Cuomo would “do great,” if the way he campaigned is any indication of his abilities.
 
“They used to say that his father, former Governor Mario Cuomo, campaigned in poetry,” Paterson said. “But Andrew Cuomo campaigned in prose. He told everyone exactly what he’s going to do.” He predicted Cuomo would have “an overwhelming public mandate” to accomplish his agenda.
 
Imus wondered if there was anything Paterson discovered as Governor that he never would have known otherwise. “On the second day, I woke up, I went in the shower, and there was no hot water,” Paterson said. “I thought, I could have stayed in Harlem for this!”
 
-Julie Kanfer