ALBANY – Former Gov. David Paterson Monday expressed shock that no “courageous” Democrat has stepped up to challenge Mayor de Blasio next year in a primary.
“I’ll tell you something, somebody’s making a mistake because that would be an active primary,” Paterson said during an interview on Albany radio.
Paterson ridiculed public officials who might be waiting to run the next time around when they and the mayor will be term limited out of their current positions.
“When you’re that needy that you don’t think you can find a job outside of politics, so you’re waiting until your term is up to run, I bet you lose,” the former governor told WGDJ.
He said he’d “really enjoy to see someone courageous” decide to take the chance in the same way former Controller Bill Thompson did in narrowly losing to then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg despite not having been term limited out.
He mentioned City Controller Scott Stringer, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. and former City Council Speaker Christine Quinn as possible formidable candidates in 2017.
Paterson said de Blasio is ripe for a challenge even though he seems to have eliminated the “faux pas and the kind of imperious nature” that afflicted his governing early on.
“When Mayor de Blasio first got elected, he sort of anointed himself the progressive leader of the free world,” said Paterson, who was once hand-picked to head the state Democratic party by Gov. Cuomo, de Blasio’s biggest political foe.
But Paterson warned that “one of the problems when you make these adjustments is that the first impression is stronger so now as he goes into a second term, the only thing that’s interesting is that there has not been a Democratic challenger of note to come forward and say they’re ready to oppose him.”
The former governor’s comments came on the same day as a front page story in the Daily News outlined how a Democratic challenger could give the mayor a run for his money.
De Blasio campaign spokesman Dan Levitan did not directly address Paterson’s comments.
“Bill de Blasio fights for New Yorkers every day, from taking on the landlord lobby to freeze rents, creating universal pre-K for every four-year-old in the City, or dramatically reducing stop-and-frisk while driving crime to record lows,” Levitan said. “That is his record and that is what this campaign will be about.”
Paterson, who took office after Eliot Spitzer resigned in disgrace, also dismissed calls for a presidential recount in three states as “hysteria” and “preposterous.”
“I think we’ll find life on Mercury before those results are overturned,” Paterson said.
“People are talking about recounts and contacting the Electoral College and telling them not to vote for Donald Trump and things that I just find to be preposterous.”
Paterson, a liberal Democrat who once chaired the New York State party, said those who oppose Trump are hurting their credibility by going after the validity of the election.
“These are a bunch of people who are seeking attention,” he said.
Paterson also became the latest to suggest the President-elect retain Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara.
Paterson praised Bharara for his fight against government corruption. He said reappointing Bharara could serve as an olive-branch to new Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer, who used to be Bharara’s boss.
The News reported Nov. 7 that Trump is appreciative of Bharara’s work and is considering asking him to stay on, though there had been no final decision.
