ALBANY – See you in the fall?
Gov. Paterson – no longer running for election himself this year – said this morning he’ll gladly call lawmakers back to Albany during the upcoming campaign season to settle any lingering budget woes.
The Democratic executive cited Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver’s refusal to create a back-up plan if Congress follows through on threats to slash – or nix altogether – $1 billion in federal Medicaid aid the state expected.
“They don’t have a plan to solve this problem; we’re going to be a billion dollars in debt,” Paterson said during an appearance on WOR 710-AM. “I’ll tell you what, there’s kind of an understanding that the governor will not call the Legislature back during the election.”
“I will,” he said. “And the reason that I will is because they left a hole.”
Paterson last night stamped the first of an expected 6,900 vetoes to kill spending added by Silver (D-Manhattan) and Senate Democratic Leader John Sampson of Brooklyn before they passed a two-way budget deal.
The governor explained the new spending and the lack of a contingency plan for dealing with the potential Medicaid shortfall left the budget $400 million to $1.5 billion out of balance and justified the action.
Silver argues adopting a back-up plan into law would give the feds less incentive to provide the aid.
Last night, Senate Minority Leader Dean Skelos (R-L.I.) predicted the budget would fall out of balance and require lawmakers to return later in the year to close another gap.
Paterson, meanwhile, admitted second thoughts about cancelling his own election bid last winter while his administration was beset by a series of scandals. Observers believe the governor’s tough stand during budget talks has helped rehab his image, though that has no registered in public opinion polls.
“I do have regrets of not running,” Paterson said. “But I made that decision four months ago so I’m long past that.”