SENATE Majority Leader Dean Ske los is privately describing Gov. Paterson as a double-crossing liar, saying the governor has betrayed a personally delivered pledge not to seek the defeat of the GOP’s narrow Senate majority.
But aides to Paterson claim it was Skelos (R-Nassau) who went back on his promise to work with Paterson – especially on the state’s worsening fiscal situation – and, as a result, they say the governor now wants to see the Democrats take control of the Senate for the first time since 1965.
A new set of Democratic polls has convinced Paterson that his party is likely to win a narrow Senate majority, sources said.
“The governor thought he could live with Skelos as the [Senate] leader, but he’s now decided he’d rather have [Democratic Majority Leader] Malcolm Smith, even with Smith’s obvious limitations,” a source close to Paterson told The Post.
“And it looks like that’s what’s going to happen.”
An aide to Skelos responded, “We expected David to keep his word.
“He made the commitment to both Dean and [former Senate Majority Leader] Joe Bruno in terms of what he agreed he would or wouldn’t do about working against us.
“Frankly, he’s being very ‘Spitzeresque’ in his manner.”
The Paterson-Skelos battle took a bizarre turn Friday, when the governor claimed he had picked Buffalo-based Delaware North for the multibillion-dollar contract to operate a video lottery casino at Aqueduct Racetrack.
But Paterson doesn’t have the legal right to award the contract – it requires the approval of both Skelos and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) – and, as a result, the governor’s move was seen as an effort to embarrass Republican Sen. Serphin Maltese, an endangered incumbent whose Queens district includes Aqueduct.
Maltese has criticized the Delaware North plan as too narrow.
Meanwhile, Paterson has told friends that he finds Skelos – unlike the recently retired Bruno – almost impossible to deal with.
“I think David initially thought he could work better with Dean than with Malcolm, but that’s no longer the case,” said a source close to Paterson.