THE RUSH HOUR
Former N.Y. governor talks state budget, public schools DEI order and mayoral race.
The New York state Legislature passed another budget deadline extension Monday to keep the government open and allow state employees to get paid on time. Gov. Kathy Hochul and lawmakers have been negotiating over mask bans during protests, discovery laws and statewide school cellphone bans.
New York schools were also under pressure by the Trump administration to certify that all schools had ended diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives or they could face losing billions of dollars in federal funding.
David Paterson, former governor of New York, joined “The Rush Hour” on Tuesday to discuss the state budget, the ultimatum given to New York state’s Education Department, and the mayoral race.
[00:00:00.000] – Annika PergamentThe New York state legislature passed another budget deadline extension yesterday to keep the government running through tomorrow and ensure that state employees are paid on time. Lawmakers did return to Albany yesterday to continue their budget negotiations. Now, it is one week past due for Governor Hochul and legislative leaders. On the table right now are discovery law changes, bans on face masks during protests, involuntary commitment, as well as statewide cell phone bans in schools. Those are all the sticking points. Joining me now to talk more about this and other issues taking place in the state of New York, former Governor David Patterson. First of all, thank you so much for coming on the Rush Hour. [00:00:41.940] – Gov. David Paterson
It’s great to be here. [00:00:43.240] – Annika Pergament
So let’s talk about the current state of the budget negotiations. New York is notorious for late budgets. Do you have any predictions when this will get settled? I mean, these are four serious sticking points. [00:00:55.730] – Gov. David Paterson
We had a budget in 2004 that went into August before it was finally passed. Even in 2001, after the terrible disaster on September 11th, the budget process went into September. What really has to happen is there really has to be a sense of concession and a consent of negotiation. I think right now, the legislators are sticking to their guns on preserving the 2019 change in the law, requiring prosecutors to provide certain amounts of evidence. The governor, and I think the governor is right, is favoring the prosecution side by making it clear that it just makes these trials go longer. The longer a trial goes, and I was practicing under supervision years ago, the longer that time goes, the better chance for the defense to prevail. I understand why they’re doing that, but I’m glad that the government is stopping short of totally eliminating the 2019 law. [00:02:06.400] – Annika Pergament
Does it matter? If we go all the way to August, for example, what is the downside of these drawn-out negotiations? [00:02:14.350] – Gov. David Paterson
Well, there’s a good side. You don’t have to see your legislators for a while. Okay. But the downside is that you’re rolling back the apparatus of the state and that you’re not really following your constitutional duty. I’ve always thought what we should have done on April first is just lock everybody up like they do a jury, and then when you make a decision, you can come out. When I was governor, they gave me a budget once that was $500 million short and said, That’s all we can do for now. [00:02:48.770] – Annika Pergament
Well, speaking of that, though, first of all, the governor wants to send checks to New York families making less than $300,500 a family. Can the state Can we afford that, especially given this route that we’re seeing, all this volatility on Wall Street? How do you expect either one of those to play out? [00:03:06.790] – Gov. David Paterson
Well, I hope there’s enough money to have that work out, but we’re living day to day right now. You don’t know what’s going to happen next. Now, even some of the White House personnel are yelling at each other and calling names, as opposed to saving that for Democrats. [00:03:23.710] – Annika Pergament
Can you tell us how much the New York state economy is impacted by tariffs? We have so much trading with Canada. But how do you expect New York State, specifically, to be impacted by these new tariffs? [00:03:36.720] – Gov. David Paterson
I don’t think New York State will be more infringed than too many other states. In other words, I don’t think I don’t think we have the worst situation. But New York State is really the center of most economic activity, particularly New York City here in this country, and it definitely is going to have an impact. It’s going to upset a lot of people. I know the The President said, Well, sometimes you have to take medicine to get well, but I’m not sure that tariffs are medicine. They could be just taxes. [00:04:09.080] – Annika Pergament
Well, the President has also said, Get rid of your DEI programs in schools. You have a number of days to do that. I think it was just 10 days or so. The Deputy Commissioner of the State Education Department said that New York is not going to comply with the DEI getting rid of its DEI initiatives, saying that there’s no federal or state law that prohibit the principles of DEI What is your reaction to hearing that New York State is going up against the Trump administration on this? [00:04:36.340] – Gov. David Paterson
Well, I can certainly understand that some people feel that a lot of these programs have allowed other people a special advantage to get ahead of them. I am sympathetic to that point of view. However, we have lived in a country that for hundreds of years was systemically discriminating against people, and the The same people now who were so offended were making excuses for it during that time. I think that New York State is pretty gallant for them to stand up to the threat about DEI and really to recognize that special treatment isn’t just in DEI. It’s in a whole lot of other places that don’t have names. [00:05:23.560] – Annika Pergament
The mayor of New York City is not necessarily standing up to the Trump administration on many fronts. I know you have supported him in the past. He’s now no longer running as a Democrat, although he says he’s what he’s running as an independent. What is your analysis or your take on the current state of the race for mayor? [00:05:43.160] – Gov. David Paterson
Well, I think the two major candidates in the mayor’s race were the mayor and former governor Andrew Cuomo. Once the mayor got into all of this trouble, I think most of his support, not wanting to go to the far left, have decided to rest their concerns with Andrew Cuomo, who was way ahead in the polls, way ahead in the fundraising, way ahead in the experience. When you add all that up, I don’t see how somebody beats him. [00:06:09.700] – Annika Pergament
Are you still supporting Mayor Adams? [00:06:13.150] – Gov. David Paterson
Well, right now, I really can’t support anyone because of a job I hold that just wouldn’t be ethical. But I’m a big fan of Mayor Adams. I wish him well. I think that he bought himself some extra time by running as an independent. I thought that was a very smart thing to do. But once you lose a lot of money and you go down in the polls, very few people recover from that. [00:06:39.220] – Annika Pergament
David Patterson, former governor of New York. Thanks so much. Really appreciate it. [00:06:43.220] – Gov. David Paterson
Thank you.