Friday, August 21st 2009, 11:08 AM
Hermann for News New York Governor David Paterson
ALBANY - Gov. Paterson said Friday he knows the reason behind the "crescendo" of calls for him not to seek re-election next year: it's because he's black.
Speaking on a morning radio show hosted by Daily News columnist Errol Louis, an angry Paterson blamed the white-dominated media for pushing him to step aside next year.
"The whole idea is to get me not to run in the primary," he said. Paterson complained there are not enough "black" media outlets to counteract the push.
And he suggested that Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, the country's only other African-American governor, also is under fire because of his race.
"We're not in the post-racial period," Paterson said.
"The reality is the next victim on the list, and you can see it coming, is President Barack Obama, who did nothing more than trying to reform a health care system."
"My feeling is it's being orchestrated, it's a game, and people who pay attention know that," he said.
"We have a media that doesn't report the news. We have a media that wants to make the news."
Paterson insisted he's made tough decisions to deal with the state's budget ballooning budget deficits while at the same time increasing welfare benefits and softening the harsh Rockefeller drug laws.
He noted the state, despite its fiscal crisis, has not had to write IOUs or have its bond ratings drastically reduced like California and is not in as bad straits as Pennsylvania, Michigan and Massachusetts.
Paterson has been heavily criticized by key Democrat allies in the Legislature, labor community and elsewhere in recent months.
"What did I do that I should not run for reelection?" he asked.
Despite enjoying high approval ratings in his first several months in office last year, his popularity plummeted to as low as 18% after a series of mishaps in the late spring.
The latest polls show about 30% approving of the job Paterson is doing.
He also seemed to take a shot at Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, a possible primary competitor, Polls show Cuomo would trounce the governor in a match-up.
"If I run in the primary, the same people who are sitting in beach chairs while I'm in the oceans with the sharks will have to come in to the ocean - and they will be eaten alive."
He said there would be no shame in running for a full term and losing. "It will be my highest honor to have served as governor of this state, to make the tough decisions," he said.
