Jun 26, 2009 6:04 am US/Eastern
NYS Senator Insults Governor As Drug User
Sen. Kevin Parker, Apparently Angry Over Albany Mess, Calls Paterson A "Coke-Snorting, Staff-Banging Governor"
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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New York Sen. Kevin Parker (file)
CBS
The circus in Albany is getting personal.
A New York senator angry at being lectured and ordered to stay in Albany by Gov. David Paterson called his fellow Democrat a "coke-snorting, staff-banging governor."
The comment to some reporters by Sen. Kevin Parker of Brooklyn is one of the harshest criticisms of the governor by senators now in their third week of an internal power struggle that has shut down action in the Senate.
Parker's Democratic conference leaders quickly called for "civility and decorum."
As senators sought to go home for the weekend and resolve their dispute next week, Paterson ordered them to return to Albany indefinitely.
Paterson dismissed the comments as "distractions."
Paterson has admitted drug use when he was young and recent affairs during difficulties in his marriage.
While the two sides of the house split 31-31 tried to work together to find a way to pass critical legislation, there was a new schism in Albany – Democrats furious with Paterson for calling special sessions that can go nowhere because anything passed would be invalid.
"I say to David Paterson, you don't negotiate; you don't bring legislation to the floor by thinking you are going to do that by beating somebody over the head with a bludgeon," said Sen. Carl Kruger, D-Brooklyn.
To call the governor's bluff Sens. Kruger, Hiram Monserrate and Eric Adams brought Paterson a packet of bills passed during the special session and challenged them to sign them.
"We're calling him to put his pen where his mouth is and sign off on these bills," Monserrate said.
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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