ALBANY – The laughable nature of Gov. Paterson’s half-hearted denials that he called Mayor Bloomberg a tantrum-prone liar wouldn’t be significant if New York’s accidental governor hadn’t vowed from the start to be different from other politicians and tell New Yorkers the truth.
His denials were made all the more ridiculous by the fact that only a few people know the source for the story – and Paterson is one of them.
That’s right, the governor knows where – as we say in the media business – the story came from.
He knows the source is someone who, if their identity were revealed, would be seen as unassailably authoritative on Paterson’s political views.
In a front-page story, The Post reported yesterday that Paterson had privately referred to Bloomberg as a nasty, tantrum-prone liar who has “little use” for average New Yorkers.
“You can’t trust him,” The Post quoted Paterson as having said of Bloomberg.
The governor also compared Bloomberg’s anger to that of disgraced former Gov. Eliot Spitzer.
The Post’s report was based on a source “with firsthand knowledge of Paterson’s comments.”
Let’s see, how many people could that be?
Paterson himself? Perhaps Michelle Paterson, the governor’s wife, or Charles O’Byrne, the governor’s chief of staff? Another possibility is Communications Director Risa Heller. You get the point.
Experienced and tested journalists don’t make up stories like this – they don’t make up stories at all.
They’re also prepared to reveal to their top editors who the source of a story is when their own, and their newspaper’s, credibility is questioned.
Paterson left most reporters at his press conference unconvinced of his denials.
He repeatedly refused to say why he wasn’t calling on The Post to retract the explosive story.
At one point, he insisted, “Why would I demand a retraction?”
You demand a retraction if you know a story is false, that’s why.
The governor didn’t demand one because he knows the source.
Paterson at one point declared that the report may have been based on actual direct quotes – but he insisted whoever was quoted was wrong.
At another point during the press conference, Paterson insisted, “I didn’t say any of the things that I’m accused of saying.”
That’s what’s known in the political game as being too cute by half: denying a story but defending the journalist who wrote it.
It won’t work because, as noted, he knows the source of the story.
Paterson also refused to say why he had “let the story sit out there for the news cycle,” as one reporter charged.
That was a reference to the failure of Paterson’s office to initially respond to repeated requests for comment from an avalanche of journalists yesterday morning.
Paterson himself waited until the afternoon to issue a denial.
Meanwhile, Paterson, whose own staff late last week accused Bloomberg of seeking to “shake down the state” by demanding large payments in exchange for a state OTB takeover, took a not-so-veiled shot at Bloomberg yesterday.
He said the controversial Post story might not have appeared “had we all been at the press conference Friday.
“I think it would have alleviated the, you know, gossip or whatever this is that wants to stir the pot here,” Paterson continued.
That statement – quite correctly – suggests that Paterson knows a lot more about the motive for, as well as the source of, the story than he was generally letting on.
Paterson was humiliated Friday when Bloomberg skipped the press conference he called to announce an OTB deal – only to have Bloomberg deny a few hours later that any agreement had been reached.
In response, Paterson and his staff decided to let the mayor of New York City know that New York’s governor is – to say the least – a considerably more powerful figure.
And The Post’s story – revealing in breathtaking candor what Paterson had come to feel about Bloomberg – was part of that effort.
Meanwhile, Bloomberg, after receiving telephone assurances from Paterson that a political war was not at hand, said at his own press conference that he had “absolutely no idea where the story came from” and insisted he had good relations with the governor.
“I don’t know where the stuff came from,” he said. “He’s just not the kind of guy to say any of that.”