Gov. Paterson took a moment from his budget-crisis campaign tour yesterday to deliver a message of personal satisfaction to his colleagues in the Legislature: I told you so.
The governor reminded attendees at a financial conference in Manhattan sponsored by The Economist that he foretold the state’s current economic woes after he took office in March.
The state faces a $12.5 billion budget gap next year – triple the projected deficit last spring.
“When I asked the Legislature to come back and give me more money to try to tide us over to the next fiscal year, I was referred to in print as ‘Chicken Little,’ ‘someone who says the sky is falling,’ ‘misestimating the revenues,’ ‘an alarmist,’ ” Paterson said.
Paterson has asked lawmakers to cut another $2 billion in spending on Nov. 18, during a second special session.
He has promised to make cuts unilaterally if legislators don’t submit their own reductions.