Politics on the Hudson

Gov. David Paterson ripped into his likely primary foe Attorney General Andrew Cuomo this morning, saying Cuomo is afraid to answer tough questions and is instead running a “Rose Garden” strategy.

Paterson and Republican gubernatorial candidate Rick Lazio have sought to draw Cuomo into the race, but today’s comments by Paterson were perhaps his strongest yet. The Democratic governor, whose poll numbers are weak, said it’s easy to have high approval ratings as attorney general but the task is much more difficult as a governor in a recession.

He knocked Cuomo for refusing to talk about what he would do as governor. Cuomo has declined to discuss the widely held belief that he will run for governor, seeking a seat held for three terms by his father, Mario Cuomo.

Cuomo is not expected to announce his intentions until sometime in March.

“All I’m saying, is this the openness and transparency? Is this the good government?” Paterson said this morning on 710-AM (WOR) in New York City.

“Is this the progressive kind of leadership that we’ve been waiting for, someone who is so afraid of any kind of controversy that they are going to wait until the last minute, jump in, win the primary, win the general election and then the public will only find out what they think a year from now?”

Paterson is woefully trailing Cuomo in approval rating and in fundraising, but has vowed to run for a full term after succeeding Eliot Spitzer as governor in March 2008.

Paterson suggested Cuomo’s popularity is easier to come by as attorney general than as governor.

“By the way, who was the last attorney general who had bad poll numbers?” Cuomo Paterson said. “They had an attorney general Oliver Koppell in 1994, he lost a primary. He had 58 percent approval rating.”

“Attorney generals are in the media when they are arresting people, and we’re all for arresting criminals. And that’s fine, and this isn’t his fault,” Paterson continued.

“I’m just saying that at this point, he’s said nothing and that is the Rose Garden strategy.”

Lazio earlier this week during a speech to the state Conservative Party also knocked Cuomo for staying on the sidelines, saying “you can’t lead from a foxhole.

“It’s time that the people of New York hear less about the politics of Andrew Cuomo running for public office and more about his ideas for holding public office,” Lazio said.

Paterson said he’s the one making the tough decisions.

“I’ve been making them for the last two years and when and if he gets into this fray, he will find the same thing. Why do you think he’s staying out?” Paterson said.

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