ALBANY — A day after rejecting the hallmark of his borrow-and-spend budget plan, Gov. Paterson yesterday took another shot at Lt. Gov. Richard Ravitch.
A “miffed” Paterson told WOR 710-AM that the man he appointed in part to help save the state treasury had known full well that the administration was determined to close a $9.2 billion gap without borrowing, but that Ravitch nevertheless unveiled in March a five-year fiscal-fix proposal that relied heavily on selling up to $6 billion in bonds.
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan), a personal friend of Ravitch, had seized on the proposal as a way to make sweeping restorations.
“[Ravitch] knew that I had made it clear that I didn’t want to borrow,” Paterson said.
“What he said at the time — he was quoted as saying — that the Legislature can’t cut all of that in this particular budget plan.”
Paterson yesterday ruled out “deficit financing.”