ALBANY — Congressman David Paterson? Could be!
The former New York governor said he has been approached about running for the Harlem congressional seat currently occupied by Rep. Charles Rangel. And he isn’t closing the door on the idea.
“I can almost put it to bed and say no, but when I watch the political landscape these days I just feel [politicians] are not talking about the issues that are affecting people,” Paterson told The Post’s Fredric Dicker yesterday on Dicker’s radio show.
It’s unlikely Paterson would ever challenge Rangel, given family political ties to the 20-term congressman. Paterson’s father, Basil Paterson, is Rangel’s campaign treasurer. But should the dean of New York’s congressional delegation retire, David would consider a run.
Paterson even has a stump speech queued up, talking about the need to rein in college tuition and slow the home-foreclosure rate.
Paterson succeeded Eliot Spitzer as governor in 2008 after Spitzer resigned in the wake of a prostitution scandal. Paterson — who jokingly referred to himself as the “accidental governor” — decided against running for a full term following several scandals, including the revelation that he helped an aide in a domestic-abuse case.
He now teaches at Touro Medical College and recently had a radio show on WOR.
Rangel narrowly held on to his Harlem seat last year in a reconfigured district that is now predominantly Latino. His chief rival last year, state Sen. Adriano Espaillat, is expected to run again.
Paterson, who was the state Senate Democratic minority leader before Spitzer plucked him for lieutenant governor, said he would “listen to people” before deciding to run but acknowledged Rangel may have some gas left in his tank after more than 40 years in office.