I scooped the New York Times (yet again)

OK, this time I had help.

If you recall, last week I guest blogged on A Mistake's site. This post evolved out of a discussion that he and I had over the budget negotiations in New York State.

A Mistake is much more in the know about NY state politics (he knows people and knows people who know people) and during our discussion he affirmed my belief that Shelly Silver was essentially running the state because Gov. Paterson and Sen. Smith had no clue what to do or how to lead.

And what do you know: according to the New York Times we were right (scooped you again). Turns out this budget is all Silver. Here are the telling quotes in this article:

Mr. Paterson, who no longer has a discernable ideology, is being increasingly marginalized. When he was laboring in obscurity as Senate minority leader, he was a champion of open government; as governor, he has been a sharp critic of the concept.

and

“I can’t see what the governor got out of it, or what the Senate majority leader got out of it,” said Kenneth Adams, the chief executive of the Business Council of New York State. “If it’s done by three people and two of them didn’t get much out of it, it certainly sounds like the third person gets the spoils.”

Right now I am wondering if Paterson should even bother to run in 2010. He just got punked by a man who has one of the safest political jobs in the U.S. Paterson is getting all of the blame for a budget he didn't even want.

Come on Governor, at least if you are getting f**ked you should enjoy it. Your predicessor did.