The man who is a heartbeat — or a resignation — away from being governor has been completely frozen out by the Paterson administration.
Gov. Paterson picked Richard Ravitch to be his lieutenant governor, heralding him as a great policy maker and crisis manager — but he hasn’t spoken to his second in command in more than a month and has given him almost no staff.
“Ravitch has made his frustrations clear to lots of people about not getting face time with the governor,” said one source close to the 77-year-old Upper East Sider.
“They [the administration] don’t talk to him, don’t do anything with him. That’s pretty much an open secret.”
Paterson appointed the former MTA chairman last July to be lieutenant governor, so he could cast tie-breaking votes in a paralyzed state Senate.
But now Ravitch is out of the loop as Paterson faces a mounting chorus for him to resign.
Ravitch has been tasked by Paterson with preparing a creative response to the state’s looming $8 billion deficit and is due to make a report soon.
Ravitch has declined to comment on his relationship with the embattled governor.