Official Website of Ellis Henican | ONE LAST MISSTEP FOR NY’S ACCIDENTAL GOVERNOR

“A Guv full of gaffes, from start to finish”, Ellis Henican Column, Newsday, December 26, 2010

Why not leave the same way you arrived?

That’s the David Paterson approach.

He stumbled into office in an uproar, and he’s stumbling out in one now, as people still shake their heads at his accidental governorship.

Who was that man? How did he get to be governor? Why does nothing ever go smoothly for him?

This constant swirl was a surprise to people who’d known Paterson growing up in Hempstead or serving in the State Legislature from Harlem.

The son of quiet power broker Basil Paterson, the future governor always seemed comfortable in the halls of politics and government.

He was bright and funny and widely liked.

But from the day Paterson replaced the scandal-scarred Eliot Spitzer and immediately decided to confess a sex scandal of his own, there was never something easy that he couldn’t make difficult.

Finding a top aide. Getting a budget done. Reminding us he really was the governor.

Now he’s done it one last time.

In an act of Christmas healing, he commuted the sentence of John White, the Miller Place homeowner convicted of manslaughter in a racially sensitive 2006 shooting case.

But Paterson announced his decision without even speaking to the family of Daniel Cicciaro, the 17-year-old White killed.

Suddenly, all the focus shifted from an act of a holiday healing to one of insensitivity. And the often clueless governor was stirring up a fresh load of trouble for himself.

“In retrospect, I would have sought the family’s input,” he admitted – in what could be his final stab at damage control – after a belated call to Cicciaro’s mother. “There were some points Mrs. Cicciaro made that were compelling.”

Call the governor inadept if you want to. But he certainly has the consistency thing down.

DAY AFTER

Pretend to love the gifts you’re secretly returning.
Struggle for a parking place at the mall.
Negotiate refunds for those no-refund items.
Start next year’s shopping now.
Vow that the Christmas spirit will never, ever die.

ASKED AND UNANSWERED:

Long Island without Matt Crosson? Is that even possible? Vegas was just a phone call away . . . Spider-Man: Turn Off the Lights? . . . What made the beloved Father Sam—Rev. Samuel Aririatu, 62, recently of Infant Jesus Church in Port Jeff—lose control of his SUV on the Southern State Parkway? The police aren’t sure. Maybe the coroner can explain. . . Islanders not for sale? At any price? Wait, doesn’t Charles Wang own the team?. . . Now that the Rev. Pat Robertson’s against harsh marijuana penalties, who’s still for? Oh, right. The New York State Legislature . . . Did NORAD really track Santa’s sleigh? Or was that just Christmas Eve PR for the North American Aerospace Defense Command? Who’ll find the first FOIA request? . . . Will the tripling of the you-can-keep-it limit – to $300,000 for a married couple – convince more deep-in-debt Long Islanders to take a dive in the cleansing water of bankruptcy? Nassau and Suffolk bankruptcy lawyers are hoping so . . . If 11746 is really the busiest ZIP code in America, do Huntington Station people (a) have more friends (b) get more junk mail or (c) refuse to the join the text-and-e-mail cult? . . . What’s the worst story on LI this year? For sheer gore, can anything beat the bodies at Gilgo Beach? . . . Need further proof that hockey fans are crazy? Then turn up at the Ice Skating Center in Bethpage, where the NHL Winter Classic (Washington Capitals vs. Pittsburgh Penguins) will be shown ON TELEVISION IN THE COLD!

LONG ISLANDER OF THE WEEK

Tariek Williams

OK, civic accolades are not usually extended to rappers with stage names like Reek da Villian. But the Roosevelt native, who was discovered by Busta Rhymes in a Uniondale clothing store, is helping put Strong Island back on the hip-hop map where it belongs. “The Gift,” his latest mix-tape dropped Christmas Eve, and the rap world is buzzing at the freestyler’s moves. ‘Reek’ traded jail for college, Nassau County for Nassau Community. He swears the gangsta life is behind him. He’s an LI cultural ambassador now.