LT. Gov. Richard Ravitch — picked for his job by Gov. Paterson nearly a year ago because of his financial expertise — is “boycotting” state budget meetings because his ideas have been rejected, The Post has learned.
Ravitch, conspicuously absent from several recent budget meetings called by Paterson and attended by the Legislature’s leaders, “is boycotting the meetings because he’s unhappy that he isn’t getting his way,” said a source familiar with the situation.
“He was asked to attend, and he has declined to participate,” a second source close to the Paterson administration said.
Ravitch, who played a key role in pulling New York out of the fiscal crisis of 1975-76, has told associates he’s unhappy Paterson hasn’t given him greater responsibility over the budget and has refused to endorse his plan for massive borrowing to help the state deal with its $9.2 billion budget deficit.
The lieutenant governor has repeatedly clashed with Larry Schwartz, Paterson’s secretary, and Robert Megna, the governor’s well-regarded budget director and chief adviser in the fiscal crisis, sources said.
Aides to Paterson also question Ravitch’s loyalty to the governor; his closeness to Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan), who has repeatedly clashed with the governor over the budget; and his well-known outsized ego, which they say prevents Ravitch from being a team player.
“Dick Ravitch’s ego can be insufferable,” was how a prominent official put it.
Ravitch contended last week that the reason he wasn’t part of the budget talks was because, “I wasn’t asked” to attend.
He also maintained during a meeting with The Post’s editorial board that “lieutenant governors are not customarily involved” in budget talks.
But the No. 1 reason he was selected by Paterson to be the state’s No. 2 was because of long-established fiscal expertise.
Ravitch, meanwhile, also doesn’t seem to be getting any respect from Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, the Democratic candidate for governor.
Asked why Cuomo opposed his borrowing plan, Ravitch responded, “I have no idea. He didn’t talk to me.”
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The hoped-for bounce in public support that Republicans expected from their nominating convention earlier this month hasn’t materialized, private polling has shown.
The first public poll since the convention — from Siena College — is due out today.