Gov. Paterson insisted yesterday that he was “not making any trades” to buy the votes of lawmakers, even as his aides were preparing to tap a $279 million slush fund to win the backing of Democratic senators for his bridge-toll and pared-down-budget plans.
“I’m not making any trades with legislators. I think the issue is serious and is important on its own value,” Paterson said when asked about his willingness to use the $279 million in pork-barrel “member item” money as an inducement for senators to back his bailout plans for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
Paterson’s comment came in response to The Post’s disclosure yesterday that, according to a source close to Paterson, the governor was planning to use the little-noticed slush fund of unspent money for past-year member-item projects to buy support for his MTA and budget proposals.
Much of the fund was earmarked for projects backed by Senate Republicans, who lost their majority control to the Democrats in the November elections.