NEW YORK (WCBS 880/WBEN) — Speculations regarding Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s resignation had been brewing for about a week, giving Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul plenty of time to prepare. But when Gov. Elliot Spitzer resigned in 2008, Lt. Gov. David Paterson was only given 90 minutes' notice.
“I was in quite a state of shock,” former Gov. Paterson told WCBS 880’s Peter Haskell.
If there is somebody who understands what Hochul is now dealing with, it's Paterson – who served from 2008 until 2010, when Gov. Cuomo was elected.
Paterson took office when it was revealed that Gov. Spitzer had paid up to $80,000 for prostitutes over a period of several years while serving as attorney general and governor.
Former Gov. Paterson says, because of what he dealt with, he knows all too well about rebuilding New York’s governor’s office.
His advice to Hochul now is to prioritize changing the toxic work environment for staffers.
“They will see an immediate culture change and it will kind of be an end to a long storm,” Paterson said.
Though, he does acknowledge she will face many challenges in her transition, as she had not been heavily involved with Gov. Cuomo’s inner circle.
“The biggest challenge in making the transition – which was not as difficult for me, but I think will be difficult for her – is my understanding that there is little contact between her and the inner circle of the governor,” Paterson said. “I had that problem with some of the Spitzer people that they continued to go ahead and do things as if Spitzer was still there, and I wasn't the governor. So, you may have to actually – I hate to put it this way – behead a few of them, make them leave, to establish who's running the show.”
Paterson says Hochul should be strategic in selecting who stays and who goes, to ensure she has an administration that can run smoothly and efficiently.
“She has an opportunity – between now and I would say November or December – to carefully pick the people who she wants to have around her and screen them, as opposed to trying to do it overnight,” he said.
Paterson notes that he would also like to see Hochul select a downstate woman as her lieutenant governor.
“So, not only will we have the first woman governor of New York, but we would have the first woman tandem as governor and lieutenant governor of any state in the history of the United States,” the former governor said.
Paterson says while Hochul has a lot of work ahead of her, he is confident she will pull through as the state’s 57th governor.
“She has worked in government, and she's watched this government work, albeit from a little bit of a distance. But, I think that she has the information she needs, now she just has to make decisions on who the people are going to be to help her carry out her agenda,” he said.
Listen to the full conversation with former Gov. David Paterson above.