I am wiped out by a day of apartment hunting and trying to catch up, such as listening to Obama's speech at the moment. Though as bad as my day has been, at least I'm not in Governor Paterson's shoes. While he did get to announce where the stimulus money will be going, the news of that was dwarfed by his political consulting firm choosing to drop him like a bad habit.
From The Daily Politics:
A source familiar with the situation said Global Strategy Group officially severed its relationship with the governor in writing as of today.
"It was time for everyone to move on," the source said. "The governor said very clearly he's looking for his own team. The time was now. There's nothing but good feelings all around."The decision was not tied to the imminent departure of Paterson's communications director, Risa Heller, who worked at Global briefly in between leaving Sen. Chuck Schumer's office and joining the governor's staff when he replaced Spitzer in March.
Heller, who said in a prepared statement that she is leaving the govenror's office to pursue "other opportunities," will not be returning to the firm, the source said.
It's unclear if this was a defensive move by the polling/consulting firm to avoid being axed by Paterson. There were reports as early as December that the governor was considering shaking up his political shop and had halved Global's $15,000-a-month fee.
Perhaps they wanted to beat Paterson to ending the relationship, but really, our governor can hardly stick to a position for more than a few days at a time on an increasing number of issues. That doesn't just go for policy, it applies to staffing decisions as well. Of course it might just be a difference of opinion in how to go forward but nevertheless the news is yet another piece of copy showing that our state's executive doesn't have much of a handle on things concerning his office, Albany and the rest of New York.
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