Metro

Love for gov in ‘race’ rift

Gov. Cuomo has been quietly aided by some of the city’s most prominent African-Americans as he has successfully resisted public efforts by other black politicians to pressure him into backing a Democratic takeover of the bitterly divided Senate, insiders have told The Post.

Former Gov. David Paterson, state Democratic Committee Co-Chair Keith Wright, and even the Rev. Al Sharpton — who hosted a fiery rally on Saturday against the new “bipartisan’’ alliance between Republicans and the five-member Independent Democratic Conference (IDC), which has given the GOP control of the Senate — are supporting Cuomo, sources said.

The pressure is racially charged and has come in the form of public and private statements by several of the Senate’s nine black members and their left-of-center allies, who claim that Cuomo’s refusal to work to overturn the alliance shows he favored “white control’’ of the Senate.

It reached an inflammatory peak over the weekend, when state Sen. Ruth Hassell-Thompson of Mount Vernon, who appeared at Sharpton’s rally, suggested that Cuomo’s talk of a “new’’ and more effective Democratic Party was a code-worded reference to a party without prominent black leadership.

And state Sen. Bill Perkins of Harlem, who was also at the rally, compared the arrangement to racial segregation, and suggested Cuomo was to blame.

“Ask Governor Cuomo: Where does he stand on back-room deals putting us in the back of the bus?” said Perkins.

Paterson — the state’s first African-American governor, who was also the first black Senate Democratic leader — clashed bitterly as governor with Senate Democrats during the 2009-10 session when they were in the majority of the Legislature’s upper house, and has conspicuously refused to call on Cuomo to intervene to help the Democrats.

And behind the scenes, sources said, he’s been supportive of the governor.

“David knows what many of the Senate Democrats are really like — he lived through two years with them. If this was really a racial fight, do you really think he would be staying out of it?” asked a prominent Democratic leader.

Wright, too, has refused to weigh in on behalf of Democratic control of the Senate. And he also hasn’t distanced himself from the eyebrow-raising comment last week of the other state Democratic co-chair, Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner, who called the Senate’s new Republican/Democratic alliance a “way out of the dysfunction’’ that marked the Senate during Democratic control.

Wright, given a chance by The Post to comment on the Senate-leadership battle over the weekend, refused to do so.

Sharpton, insiders agreed, is playing the most delicate and calculating role, appearing publicly to be strongly supportive of Democratic control of the Senate but privately doing little to pressure Cuomo into action.

Even though the longtime activist and current MSNBC talk-show host held the rally, he repeatedly refrained during the event from directly attacking Cuomo.

Pressed on Cuomo’s role, Sharpton said the issue was the Republicans’ efforts to hold on to power, not the governor’s actions.

“Al is doing what he does best, trying to get out in front of what he sees as a big racial issue so he’s seen as the leader. But he’s also being very careful in what he’s saying. He’s not being inflammatory, and he’s not attacking the governor,’’ said a knowledgeable source.

Several sources said Paterson and Wright were refusing to back Democratic control of the Senate because neither had confidence in their party’s ability to run it well.

“Paterson, as governor, saw what a disaster the Senate Dems were, while Wright, as a member of the Assembly, saw the chaos they created,’’ said a senior state Democrat.

As for Sharpton, “he’s doing what he has to do, but he’s not going to do anything more than that because he realizes that he’s not exactly defending the ‘A Team,’ ’’ the source continued.

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Political hatreds aren’t new in state government, but two of the most intense are significant because they involve the IDC’s leader, Sen. Jeff Klein of The Bronx.

Klein despises Senate Democratic Campaign Committee Chairman Michael Gianaris of Queens, who, sources said, he holds responsible for a series of “leaks’’ to the press involving allegations that Klein profited from personal-injury suits against New York City brought by Klein’s Bronx-based law firm.

“Jeff hates Gianaris, just hates him and the feeling is mutual,’’ said a Democratic source familiar with both men.

Klein, a former assemblyman, is also known to have a strong dislike for Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) — feelings that are said to be mutual.