Politics on the Hudson

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Gov. Paterson met behind closed doors yesterday with Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith, ostensibly about the budget. The Republican legislative leaders weren’t invited and the public not only wasn’t allowed in, but wasn’t even told about it until it was over.

“Gov.  Paterson’s decision once again to go behind closed doors with Speaker Silver and Senator Smith is a clear sign that he lacks the strength of leadership to conduct these meeting in public with Leader
Tedisco and myself,’’ said Senate Minority Leader Dean Skelos, R-Nassau County, who was referring to Assembly Minority Leader Tediscso, R-Schenectady.

The lobbyist for the state League of Women Voters said that after a few years of steps toward opening up the process, things have gone backwards at the Capitol.

“You might as well just call the second floor (where the governor’s offices are located) Fort Paterson,’’ she said, recalling the days when the area was known as “Fort Pataki’’ because of  the private dealings of former Gov. George Pataki.