Kathy Hochul stumps ex-Gov. David Paterson by dedicating sugar maple tree in his honor in Albany
Gov. Kathy Hochul hosted predecessor David Paterson in Albany on Friday where the first black governor in state history was honored with a newly planted tree as a crowning achievement at the Executive Mansion alongside trees dedicated to the likes of former President and Gov. Franklin D. Roosevelt.
“Sugar and maple’s a little too sweet in my opinion, but sometimes I think that’s what got me in trouble,” Paterson told The Post about his his tumultuous time atop the executive branch in between March 2008 and the end of 2010.
“I don’t think even Cuomo even made the short list,” he quipped about ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo not getting the honor.
The closed-press event was moved inside following rain.
Hochul credited Paterson — who became governor after his predecessor Eliot Spitzer resigned after getting caught with prostitutes — with helping her while she took over from Cuomo following his resignation amid multiple scandals last year.
“His legacy as a person with a disability is an inspiration to generations of New Yorkers. Governor Paterson’s expertise, guidance and sharp wit were a great comfort to me when I took office, and I am proud to honor him at today’s ceremony,” she said at the ceremony of Paterson, the first legally blind person to become governor in state history, according to a press release.
Budget battles, economic recession and a legislative coup by renegade Democratic state senators made political life difficult for him while living at 138 Eagle Street following the resignation of Spitzer.
Tough fiscal times meant hard choices like unpopular budget cuts that Paterson expressed hope Friday might become more impressive with time — like a tree, one might say.
“You know, I was trying to get the job done and just trying to be decent to everybody — so maybe it does represent me,” the Harlem Democratic added about the sugar maple, which can live for more than 200 years.
The full weight of the honor did not strike Paterson when he got a call from Hochul last March suggested he swing by the Executive Mansion sometime to get a tree planted in the yard his honor.
Hochul reportedly came up with the idea while strolling the mansion grounds in March with First Gentleman Bill Hochul when they saw sugar maples — the official state tree — with plaques honoring former Govs. Franklin Roosevelt and Nelson Rockefeller.
“They talked to the staff there and they said: ‘Well, each governor can plant a tree in memorial to a former governor,'” Paterson told The Post.
Gubernatorial gardening with trees dates back to 1910 when then-Gov. Charles Whitman planted one in honor of his son, according to the Hochul administration.
But no one passed the memo to Paterson about how he could dabble in such ways with the gubernatorial grounds during his time in office.
“What I thought was interesting is when I was governor, no one told me that you could plant a tree and name it after someone,” Paterson added.
“I’m just glad they didn’t plant me!”
He made up for such lost time Friday while having the run of the Executive Mansion, where Hochul accomplished something Paterson said he never would have thought possible while he was calling the shots a dozen years back.
“She got rid of the most repulsive rug I ever saw in my life. I never had time to get rid of it myself, because every time I would want to get rid of something, I’d have to read about it: ‘he’s cutting the budget and he’s ordering a new roof for himself,'” he said.
