Politics on the Hudson

Dan Gundersen has resigned as the commissioner of the Department of Economic Development and as the Chairman of Upstate ESDC, Gov. Paterson announced today.

The surprising announcement comes as Paterson plans to re-engineer the department and end the two-headed, upstate-downstate leaders of the Empire State Development Corp.

In accepting Gundersen’s resignation, Paterson said: “Dan Gundersen has done a great job in focusing the State’s efforts on revitalizing the Upstate economy. He logged more than 55,000 miles becoming familiar with the needs of Upstate cities and towns, as well as the businesses located there. He also created the upstate headquarters of ESDC in Buffalo, putting in place a first-rate staff both in Buffalo and in Upstate’s seven regional offices.”

Gundersen said in a statement: “I want to thank Governor Paterson for his leadership in working to revitalize the Upstate economy by providing $700 million in this year’s budget for new programs. It has been a privilege to serve first under Governor Spitzer and then under Governor Paterson.

As I have said before, I agree completely with Governor Paterson that New York needs to be unified to compete in the world today. Having an organizational structure for ESDC that makes sense is the most effective way to ensure the greatest level of success for both Upstate and Downstate. The creation of an Upstate ESDC office will help to ensure that Upstate remains a priority, and I applaud Governor Paterson’s support for adding new resources to the Buffalo office to enable that office to manage Upstate deals from end-to-end.”