A TOP state Demo crat is blaming Gov. Paterson for the “complete silence” of their party in challenging Mayor Bloomberg in the fall election.
Stuart Appelbaum, one-time chief counsel to the Democratic National Committee and president of the large Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, also warns that the governor will be ditched by powerful Democrats next year if he doesn’t give all-out support to city Comptroller Bill Thompson in his all-but-certain challenge to Bloomberg, the Democrat-turned-Republican-turned-independent running on the GOP line.
“The state Democratic Party, which the governor controls, has been completely silent about the most important race in the state this year — for mayor of New York City — and that’s unacceptable,” said Appelbaum, who has been a Democratic delegate to every presidential convention since 1992.
“The Democratic Party can’t stick its head in the sand. It must speak up or risk sinking into irrelevancy.
“If the Democratic Party doesn’t want to get involved, then it’s just a joke and people should think twice before making contributions,” Appelbaum told The Post.
“In the past, the state party would have [former Democratic media strategist and current Bloomberg spokesman] Howard Wolfson attacking the other side, but now there’s nothing.
“Gov. Paterson can’t expect Democrats to support him next year if he’s unwilling to support the Democratic Party this year.”
Several Democrats, meanwhile, said Thompson is convinced that Paterson has ordered party leaders to keep hands off Bloomberg in hopes of forging a “neutrality pact” with the mayor to help his own election bid next year.
“It’s clear to everyone that David wants Bloomberg to support him, and in exchange, he’s taking a dive in terms of supporting Billy,” a Thompson backer said.
Paterson was widely criticized earlier this month for initially refusing to rule out supporting Bloomberg for re-election, while the mayor has raised eyebrows with recent positive statements about the governor.
Jay Jacobs, Paterson’s handpicked state Democratic chairman, conceded he had “heard the complaint” that Democrats haven’t taken on Bloomberg — but he appeared reluctant to challenge it.
“I would say my first obligation is to raise some money for a party that needs it. How aggressive we’re going to be is somewhat dependent on our fund-raising,” Jacobs said.
Jacobs repeatedly refused to say flatly that Bloomberg should be defeated, responding to questions with phrases like, “I support the Democratic nominee,” and, “The only way we get a Democratic mayor is to defeat the guy running on the Republican line.”
Some supporters of Thompson, who, like Paterson, is African-American, insisted that one of the governor’s controversial race-related statements 10 days ago explained the governor’s reluctance to back Thompson’s campaign.
Paterson, claiming that a white-dominated media had it in for him, President Obama and Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, said, “Part of what I feel is that one very successful minority is permissible, but when you see too many success stories, then some people get nervous.”
A Thompson supporter called the statement “the governor’s code language for why he’s reluctant to support Billy: He doesn’t want another prominent African-American on the scene because he thinks it hurts him.”