Politics on the Hudson

Gov. David Paterson this morning at an event in Hawthorne in Westchester County would reveal little about his plans to close the state’s $3.1 billion budget gap, saying he will release the details tomorrow.

Legislative aides met with Paterson’s staff this morning in Albany to discuss the budget, but officials said  Paterson did not present his plan to them.

Still, that didn’t stop him from knocking the Legislature for not taking the state’s fiscal condition more seriously. Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli is expected later today to further discuss the state’s gloomy financial picture.

Paterson said lawmakers should not delay in making cuts, saying New York has avoided the steps other states have had to taken, such as delaying payments to schools and local governments or laying off workers or furloughs.

“Some of these people who are saying we’ll take care of it next spring, they should go run the Mets or something,” Paterson said of his favorite baseball team. “They should not be in a situation where they’re managing based on fiscal policy. This is a problem for right now and right now we have to keep our economic conditions stabilized.”

When asked what people could expect in his budget proposal, Paterson said:

“You ready? Pain.”

Paterson attended a press conference with County Executive Andrew Spano at the Hudson Valley Transportation Management Center in Hawthorne, where he was announcing new measures aimed at stopping truckers from illegally entering parkways in Westchester and ramming into bridges that were not meant for truck traffic.

(Includes reporting by Journal News transportation reporter Ken Valenti who attended the event.)

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