GOP Should Nominate Paterson

A few weeks ago Cindy Johansen forwarded an e-mail in which New York's Governor David A. Paterson (D-NY) calls for a spending cap to stem the out of control growth of New York's finances. For a New York Democrat, that is darn good. I e-mailed back Cindy that I would be surprised if New York's Progressive GOP came up with someone better than Paterson.

In the e-mail, Paterson wrote:

"Last week, I proposed an Executive Budget for 2010-2011 that includes a spending cap to control state spending. Tied to that cap is a property tax circuit breaker that would provide property tax refunds to New York's working families. The spending cap will impose long-term fiscal discipline by forcing state government to live within its means. The cap puts New York State on a path to economic recovery that will lead to future budget surpluses -- which will then be returned to taxpayers through property tax relief."

I went to my dentist in Manhattan today but when I returned home I stopped in the Boiceville supermarket and saw headlines in the Post and the Daily News about Paterson's "beleaguered" administration. Apparently, rumors have emanated from misinformation about a forthcoming New York Times article.

According to the liberal blog Huffington Post, Lawrence Schwartz, Paterson's chief of staff, wrote a letter to the Times. The Huffington Post observes that misinformation about a Times article was circulating with the Times's knowledge but the Times did nothing to correct the rumors and the article will do nothing to correct the rumors when it is released.

Perhaps Paterson should consider running as a Republican. He is probably more conservative than most of GOP front runners, with the exception of Rudy.