The big NY Times Paterson expose finally arrives

So here it is finally: Danny Hakim’s big insider story of Governor David Paterson’s administration.

In many ways the Times article paints a compelling portrait of an executive isolated from the traditional channels of power in New York state and Albany.

It raises some legitimate questions about Paterson’s capacity to build the kind of team he’ll need to a) get himself re-elected and b) govern effectively.

But the article has two elements that are sure to raise questions — and which Paterson is already pushing back against.

First, there is a continuing murmur in the story about Paterson’s private life, a clear suggestion that there is womanizing and partying going on. (Paterson is married and has admitted past infidelities.

Here’s a quote from the Times story:

“This latest kind of bashing of me is a depiction of me in what is, in my opinion, a racialized, hypersexualized and more or less dissolute context,” he said, adding, “I resent this sort of, in my opinion, and I’ll be frank with you, kind of profiled way that it appears that all I’m doing is drinking, chasing women, doing drugs.”

The other concern raised by Paterson — and this strikes me as legitimate — is that the story doesn’t acknowledge or address any of his accomplishments.

The word “budget” appears only once in the piece; the word “deficit” never.

It’s as if Paterson’s controversial (and arguably, daring) work to close the budget gap had never occurred.

Here’s what Paterson’s office says about that in a press release issued Thursday evening:

“One would hope that equal time would be paid to the Governor’s substantive record – taking action early to address the economic crisis; eliminating over $30 billion in deficits; fighting to keep the State solvent; and achieving historic reforms to the Rockefeller Drug Laws, public authorities, and the pension system. It is unfortunate that a prominent publication would waste so much time chasing down rumors and innuendo while paying such little attention to the complex fiscal challenges confronting New York State in a time of historic economic crisis.”