The flap regarding President Obama’s reported desire for our “accidental” Governor David Paterson to step aside in next year’s election continues with our gal in the State Assembly Joan Millman weighing in. Here’s the speculation about the horse trading allegedly going on – Paterson bows out, and Andrew Cuomo runs against Rudy Giuliani, thereby saving Sen. Kristen Gillibrand from a challenge by Rudy, and making him a no-go in the 2012 presidential race. Millman tells Courier Life reporter Tom Tracy that she was “surprised” by the entire mess.
YourNabe.com : “These are not amateur political people,” she said. “I would think that if they didn’t want something like this to get out it wouldn’t get out.”
Millman understands Obama’s concerns, however.
“It seems to me that if I were president I don’t want to see a repeat of what happened in 1994 when the Democrats lost control,” she said. “I know we have a lot of newly elected and vulnerable elected officials and I’m sure it would be to their advantage to have a strong person on the top of the ticket.”
Millman said that some of the criticisms against Paterson are founded, especially when it comes to his apparent ignorance on current local projects.
“[When he first came into office] Paterson’s people needed some time to get their feet wet,” she said. “They certainly should be more up to speed by now. It’s not like he took office yesterday.”
Our man in the State Senate, Daniel Squadron, refused to comment on the matter to Tracy.
