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ALBANY — Assemblyman James Tedisco, on the receiving end of then-Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s notorious “f- -king steamroller” tongue-lashing, says the real steamroller in Albany is Gov. Cuomo — who vowed yesterday to shut down state government if a new budget is not approved by April 1, the upstate lawmaker claims.
Tedisco (R-Schenectady) said Cuomo took his breath away during a morning meeting at the Governor’s Mansion yesterday by boldly declaring that he’ll shut the state down if his tough, cut-to-the-bone, budget isn’t adopted by the April 1 legal deadline.
“Cuomo said, initially joking, that if the budget isn’t passed on April 1 nothing is going to happen,” recalled Tedisco, who was at the mansion with more than 40 other Republicans.
“Then someone asked him what happens next,” he continued.
“The governor paused and said, ‘On April 2, something is going to happen. I’m going to abide by the school of Gov. [David] Paterson budgeting and that means I’m going to send them an extender, and we’re either going to do the budget to turn this economy around or they’re going to have to make a decision to shut down state government,’ ” Tedisco said Cuomo continued.
Paterson last year charted new budget territory when, in the face of the Legislature’s refusal to adopt an on-time budget, he began adding key pieces of his budget proposal for the full year to weekly “extenders” that he used to keep the state functioning, threatening if they weren’t adopted he’d shut the state down.
But Paterson in the end backed down, failed to cut state spending significantly, and wound up with one of the latest budgets, and biggest deficits, ever.
Cuomo has privately suggested he is ready to shutter state offices if he’s unable to reach a budget deal with the Legislature by April 1.
However, spokesman Josh Vlasto called Tedisco’s description of the governor’s statement inaccurate, saying he never claimed he would give lawmakers an ultimatum.
But other state lawmakers familiar with the mansion meeting backed up Tedisco’s claims.
Tedisco in late January 2007, received the infamous phone call from Spitzer, who boasted: “Listen, I’m a f- -king steamroller, and I’ll roll over you and anybody else.”
fredric.dicker@nypost.com