David Paterson Vs. Michael Bloomberg: This Is Gonna Get Ugly

The Post has an exclusive by Albany reporter Frederic U. Dicker today about how Gov. Paterson has blasted Mayor Bloomberg in private, taking the mayor to task for his tantrums and noting that Bloomberg's behavior is similar to the anger demonstrated by former Governor Eliot Spitzer. The front page blares, "Gov rips Mike: 'YOU CAN'T TRUST HIM'" with head shots of a scowling Bloomberg and a sullen Paterson.The remarks stem from the talks to save Off-Track Betting, which came down to the wire yesterday when the state reached an agreement with the city to take over OTB.

Quoting a "source with firsthand knowledge of Paterson's comments," Dicker attributes a number of remarks to the governor, including:

• "He has the same kind of anger that reminds you of Spitzer."

• Bloomberg has misrepresented facts to the point that "you can't trust him.

• About Bloomberg's potential run for governor: "The people of New York City may be OK with the mayor taking off and flying to his private home in Bermuda every weekend, but if he did that at the state level, I think the people would send him a different message."

• On the OTB talks: "The public generally hasn't seen the nastiness and the outbursts that were seen during the past week. We have a very good example of a person who had no defects with the public, and, all of a sudden, he's self-destructing."
  

The majority of the article deals with how "mild-mannered" Paterson usually is and that these are "shocking broadsides." The reaction from Bloomberg should be interesting and we'll have to see if this becomes an all-out war of words between Albany and City Hall. Paterson is painting Bloomberg as a mayoral Veruca Salt who instead of being denied an Oompa-Loompa, is not getting his Jets stadium, congestion pricing or OTB on his terms. Could this be the beginning of the 2010 gubernatorial campaign?