Video transcript:
[00:00:00.37] – Bill Ritter
Now for a reaction from the man who was the governor of New York at one point, who’s very plugged in to New York City politics, David Patterson. I talked to him earlier. Governor, let’s get right to it. What hole does the biggest city in America find itself in right now?
[00:00:17.40] – Gov. David Paterson
Well, you’re right, Bill. It certainly is an exercise in futility. It started with the indictment of our mayor, Eric Adams, back in September of last year. Then we had, well, actually September the year before. Then at a certain point, I went to the Alfred E. Smith dinner and I saw Mayor Adams was standing in a group and President Trump was there. He turned to Eric Adams, and he said, Listen, what they’re doing to you is a 10th of what they’ve done to me. He said, I don’t even know what this case is about in the first place. What arose from that was a feeling that the President might pardon the mayor or in some way ask the Justice Department not to bring a case. A couple of weeks ago, the Justice Department announced that they weren’t bringing a case, but at the end of the memorandum, it said, without prejudiced. Now, although Mayor Adams’ lawyer said that doesn’t really mean anything, everything means something when it gets written into a document such as that. And so there has been this backlash from many of the city council members and other elected officials who feel that the mayor is turning his back on the city of New York and is basically looking out for the interests of the federal government.
Whatever he does, the way to address it is right in front of us three months from now. There’s a Democratic primary in June, and anybody who thinks they can run the city better or feels that Mayor Adams hasn’t performed formed up to a certain standard is invited to run in that primary. That’s why I really don’t understand what all these meetings are about whether the mayor should stay or not. I think Governor Hochul did a good job in preserving his ability to be there, but leaving a veiled understanding that there will be some inquiry to make sure that the city is being run correctly.
[00:02:27.37] – Bill Ritter
David, I’ll I’m going to take an absence with you here on this because I’m a little absent-minded about this. Maybe I’m wrong, but what I’m about to say, I just want to get your take on this. You may be right. I think she’s taking an arm’s length distance here, the governor is. However, she put him on a leash that is very tight. She’s bringing in other people, and they’re going to be tight. They’re going to be people overseeing him. I don’t know how much power he has that remains as the 110th member of this human race to serve. But you know what? If it were me, if it were you, you probably wouldn’t stay.
[00:03:09.23] – Gov. David Paterson
That was my initial reaction to what the governor did. But Mayor Adam’s statement and his decorum over the past couple of days, to me, have shown that whatever it is, he’s accepting it and he’s going to move forward. Really, his big problem right now is the primary in June. There are candidates that I’ve already announced. There are candidates that are considering it. That’s really his biggest situation. Meanwhile, there’s a city budget that needs to be passed. That’s only a minor problem.
[00:03:42.46] – Bill Ritter
You even have the four people who were right next to him, his number twos, and they decided to stay for another month because they don’t want the things to fall apart, too. That’s good citizenship by them, I think.
[00:03:55.50] – Gov. David Paterson
Based on how they felt, I thought that was good citizen citizenship on their part, and it was good citizenship on his part not to overreact and just say, Well, look, you quit, you can’t come back. It’s good to see that that group of people, at least for another month, can work together. Yeah.
[00:04:13.31] – Bill Ritter
What do you make of We talked to our other guest, Brad Lander, who is involved now with this group of people who are going to get power that Mr. Adams used to have, and now other people are going to have it. He’s running for mayor as well. Is that a conflict?
[00:04:32.32] – Gov. David Paterson
No, he can run for mayor. He’s one of the people that I’m thinking about, that if you don’t think the mayor has done a good job, you should run for mayor. And he is. I thought that he went over the line a little bit when he said, what would happen if there was a snowstorm and Mayor Adams is incapacitated? Well, I know what would happen. The sanitation Commissioner would take care of the snow and the Transportation Commissioner would try to make sure that the trains are running on time. I think sometimes some of these candidates in an attempt to get attention just actually exceed the boundaries of logic and say things that really do not apply to this situation.
[00:05:10.17] – Bill Ritter
There are three players in this whole thing, from what I can get it, unless my math is wrong. Eric Adams, Donald Trump, and Governor Hochul. Let’s talk about Mr. Trump here for a second, because I think quietly what this really would… I’m just a layperson, an old country reporter, so tell me if I’m wrong. You’re the expert. Is Is she doing something to prevent the President from taking control over Mr. Adams? And that’s really the issue.
[00:05:40.25] – Gov. David Paterson
It’s really not clear. She’s very much not happy about it, and she felt that it was a reaction from a monarchy more than an elected president. I think a lot of New Yorkers feel exactly the same way. As she said, whether you were for or against congestion pricing, this invasion from the outside, it just creates an additional problem that now she’s not going to have congestion pricing, but also that the President is saying, whenever you do something I don’t like, I’ll just come in from the outside and fix it. Since he’s so interested in coming in and fixing things, why doesn’t he go to the Ukraine and talk to Putin about what’s going on over there?
[00:06:28.45] – Bill Ritter
Well, he did talk to him, and he took it a very different way than I think certainly the President of Ukraine thought that it should go. A lot of Americans think that as well. Let me ask you something really personal, because I know you know about politics, and you know about how politics can get personal. Donald Trump always had some feeling like he wasn’t fully respected in this city. He was from Queens. All the other rich people were from Manhattan, blah, blah, blah. Is that part of it? He wants to get back in New York, and that’s what a lot of people are thinking.
[00:07:00.34] – Gov. David Paterson
Well, New York is such an epicenter of communications and activity. The UN is here and all kinds of things that make New York stand out and make New York America’s greatest city, as far as I’m concerned. And so I don’t know if it’s as much his vindictiveness or he still knows that he can portray some of his feelings and his concerns in this venue, I think he always seems to take advantage of that opportunity to do it.
[00:07:36.52] – Bill Ritter
Okay, we had about a minute left, David, and I want to get your take on this. The governor of New York became governor because the prior governor had to leave. Now that prior governor looks like he’s going to try to become the next mayor of New York City, and a lot of people think he’s going to do it. What are the chances of that happening, and what do you think about that, about having Mr. Cuomo as the mayor?
[00:08:01.18] – Gov. David Paterson
Well, he did govern the state for 14 and a half years. Actually, he was attorney general prior to that. But when you combine the service for 14 and a half years, as an elected public servant, he had some problems. I think he’s rehabilitated himself. How long should you carry the cross? If he wants to get back into politics, he did a lot of great things when he was there, particularly, we can’t forget what he did during the pandemic. He’d be a worthy candidate ate, along with a few others whose names are being mentioned.
[00:08:33.32] – Bill Ritter
Would he be the odds on favorite?
[00:08:37.11] – Gov. David Paterson
Well, the polls show him to be the odds on favorite now, but it’s a long way from the corner to the center of the So he’s in the corner right now. When he gets to the center of the ring, we’ll find out how strong he is in this race.
[00:08:50.19] – Bill Ritter
And do some of the things he did during COVID, a book, trying to cover some things up, didn’t do that very well. Then obviously, women may not want to vote for him. Some women may not. Is that going to be a big dilemma for him?
[00:09:05.25] – Gov. David Paterson
I think that publicly, he’s going to have to address some of those issues, and publicly, he may have to be critical of himself. He was prior to when the charges were first brought against him, but then he just didn’t seem to talk about it anymore. But I think if he can be very forthright and very self-aware about the concerns of particularly women or other people that felt that he didn’t treat them well, he will be a very tough candidate to be.
[00:09:36.43] – Bill Ritter
No question about that. And those charges never really happened at the end of the whole thing. David.
[00:09:41.50] – Gov. David Paterson
One thing real quick, Bill, is that Adrian Adams emerged in this whole conversation as a potential mayoral candidate someday, and I find that fascinating.
[00:09:50.47] – Bill Ritter
Yes. The one who has not been that great with Mr. Adams, her counterpart in the council. Thank you so much, David. Great to talk to you.
[00:10:00.50] – Gov. David Paterson
Thank you, Bill. All right.
[00:10:02.05] – Bill Ritter
We thank former governor, David Patterson. When we come back, we talk to our political team about Mayor Adams and President.
See original posting here.