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Mar 12, 2008 8:48 pm US/Eastern
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'Next Generation' Is Now For Wounded N.Y.
Legally Blind Paterson Regarded As Someone Who, Unlike Spitzer, Knows How To Reach Across Aisle
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
I first met David Paterson in early 1980, when I was in radio. Percy Sutton, the chairman of Inner City Broadcasting, had asked me to move from the FM side, WBLS, to help launch the talk format on the AM side, WLIB. Now, you could not work at those without literally bumping into Eddie Murphy, Steven Tyler of Aerosmith, Debbie Harry, the guys from Earth, Wind & Fire, Liza Minnelli, Donna Summer --- yeah, that was 'BLS. Or, because of the AM operation, Bob Marley, Ed Koch, Mario Cuomo, Jimmy Cliff, the Clash, the ambassador from Trinidad, or the consul from Israel.
And, invariably, three particular longtime friends of Mr. Sutton's: Basil Paterson, Charlie Rangel and David Dinkins.
Behind their back, these four were called "the Harlem Mafia," usually by political rivals in Brooklyn. But also by the young turks in Harlem who thought it was time for the old heads to step aside. These four had spent a lifetime paying dues, coming up through the clubhouse ranks, building alliances, collecting IOUs and carrying themselves with a certain baronial style and authority, that was at once elegant and elitist, courtly and cunning, stately and shrewd.
David Paterson was pointed out to me as heir to "the next generation." But he was different from some of the other children of political privilege and pedigree I had met. For starters, he didn't come across as a spoiled brat. He did not carry himself with a sense of entitlement. He was down to earth, with a great sense of humor.
Legally blind, he was determined in more ways than one to make his own way. In that sense, he could drive his mentors crazy by doing something other than what was politically expected. He ran for Public Advocate in 1993, and again for Manhattan Borough President in 1997 --- without checking with his father, or the other Big Three, or getting their endorsement. He also tested the waters for Public Advocate again in 2001 --- about a month after chilling most of the city politicians he was courting by voting in the State Senate to end the commuter tax on suburbanites coming to work in New York City.
In many ways, David Paterson is a brilliant thinker. He also has a side to him that too often tries to be all things to all people. The son of one of the most formidable labor mediators in state history, the younger Mr. Paterson sometimes goes too far in appeasement mode, trying to be conciliatory among competing, occasionally hostile, agendas. Thus, even friends and close supporters sometimes privately throw up their hands in frustration or exasperation.
At the same time --- oh yeah, David Paterson can be a walking paradox --- he has firm convictions and principles. He is of the generation that could admire the contributions of those who came before. But he could still understand why the "regime" the "Harlem Mafia" had established was now considered a "status quo" that should have been more aggressive in rocking the greater establishment's boat, and pushing for more gains. If it meant advancing say civil rights, or women's rights, even further – even if certain people got upset.
In public, say, at a news conference; or, when pigeonholed by a lobbyist or a staffer from somebody else's committee --- I have seen the dynamic when Paterson combines that faraway, not-quite-focused look of the blind with one of the great poker faces. And I can see that the other person thinks maybe they're dealing with someone, well, perhaps, not too bright. He appeared as somebody who became lieutenant governor or state senator because he was a token – or somebody's son.
And I have to laugh because if it was a card game, David has that look down so cold you wonder how he walked away with the pot. Trust me: looks can be deceiving. And I guarantee you, many, many reporters, now that Paterson take the governor's post, will write things that are off the mark or repeat whispers about "not really being qualified" that they have heard from "sources."
(One exception to this: an even-handed, warts-and-all piece Ben Smith did in the New York Observer February 12, 2006. Google it.)
Sure: any political cynic has to wonder about the calculation that went into candidate Spitzer choosing Paterson to be his running mate. For a job that really calls upon a person to do less, than more. Except, of course, if a situation like this one comes up. The unthinkable. "You mean --- HE'S going to be the next governor?!"
For a lot of reasons, I had to laugh. You KNOW the powers-that-be at the time never thought this was coming. But to those folks who think the curtain might be rising on a bad Eddie Murphy movie, where a fish out of water ascends to an unlikely position…hold on. In his short time on the job, but drawing on 21 years in the State Senate, Paterson quietly accomplished what Mr. Spitzer could not: build bridges across the aisle to Republicans, particularly Majority Leader Joe Bruno -- which is how you get legislation passed. And he did this while working to regain the Senate from the Republicans.
Maybe he did pick up a trick or two from Sutton and Co., and a certain elder Mr. Paterson in particular.
If you're a political junkie, the next couple of chapters are going to be very interesting -- very interesting.
Post Script ...
Last month, at his Martin Luther King Day event, The Rev. Al Sharpton put Spitzer on the griddle, saying out loud what many had been thinking:
If Hilary Clinton wins the White House, it opens up a Senate seat. And it's the governor who fills the slot with a choice, until the next election (and often, that person automatically becomes the incumbent-favorite).
Flash forward now, just a bit. Say Hilary wins. Say, the governor is David Paterson.
Who does he pick?
And: would he also make a choice knowing that by 2010, the field for the governor's job he might be holding could also include Rudolph Giuliani, Michael Bloomberg and/or Andrew Cuomo?
Stay tuned, folks…
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