“A north country state senator has apparently opted to stand for re-election rather than accept an offer to run a state authority.
Reliable sources say Sen. Darrel J. Aubertine, D-Cape Vincent, was offered and turned down the chairmanship of the New York Power Authority.
Neither Mr. Aubertine nor a spokesman from the governor's office returned phone calls seeking comment by Friday evening.
Aubertine spokesman Andrew Mangione would not comment on the report….
In February, Mr. Aubertine defeated Assemblyman William A. Barclay, R-Pulaski, in a hotly contested special election for the 48th Senate District seat vacated by Sen. James W. Wright, R-Watertown. With the victory, Mr. Aubertine became the first Democrat since 1880 to represent Oswego, Jefferson and St. Lawrence counties in the state Senate.
A move to NYPA would have cost Mr. Aubertine his Senate seat at a time when Democrats are pushing hard to take control of that body from Republicans who hold a slight 32-30 majority.”
Tom Wanamaker in the “Watertown Daily Times” June 21, 2008
“Oh, it was true once upon a time, according to sources in the Capitol and the 48th SD, that Paterson and Bruno talked about somehow getting Aubertine out of the picture.
But that agreement fell apart weeks ago – about the same time that Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava, a Republican who was on tap to run for the seat Aubertine was supposedly going to vacate, quickly announced she had no intention to run against Aubertine, her longtime friend.
The Republicans tapped businessman David Renzi to challenge Aubertine, instead.
However, wanting to keep up the pretense of making nice with the majority leader, the governor supposedly offered Aubertine a job – if in fact it ever got that far – that he knew the senator wouldn't accept, despite the fact that he is a big energy buff AND could have more than doubled his salary in one fell swoop.”
Liz Benjamin on “Daily Politics”
"In a press conference just a short time ago, Gov. David Paterson denied offering the New York State Power Authority Chairmanship to Democratic Sen. Darrel Aubertine.
It was reported over the weekend that Aubertine was offered the position, and his office issued a press release on Saturday confirming the reports.
'I didn’t offer Sen. Aubertine a job running the Power Authority, and I don’t believe anyone in my office did,' Paterson said. 'Why he, that’s his interpretation, I just don’t understand.'
When asked whether Aubertine was lying, Paterson said Aubertine must have misinterpreted.
'He misunderstood, I guess,' he continued. 'But I don’t know the reason. I haven’t actually seen Darrel in the month of June or the month of May. I haven’t seen him in a long time.'
Paterson initially said that neither he nor his staff spoke with Aubertine about the job. But after continued questioning, Paterson acknowledged that Aubertine had been in contact with members of the Executive Chamber to discuss energy issues and positions on the NYPA board, including the chairmanship, which he may have misinterpreted.
Three sources said Paterson isn’t telling the truth. One called the governor’s version an 'outright (expletive) lie.'
Paterson’s top adviser, Charles O’Byrne, sources say, called Aubertine on Tuesday afternoon on his cell phone and offered him the Power Authority job. Aubertine then met with O’Byrne Tuesday evening on the 2nd floor to discuss the position, they said. There are records of the cell phone call and a record of Aubertine signing in on the 2nd floor to meet with O’Byrne, according to a source. The Times Union has requested the records.
Paterson’s office could not immediately confirm the Tuesday meeting.Aubertine considered the offer in the following days, but ultimately decided not to take the position.
On Friday evening at around 8 p.m., Tom Wanamaker of the Watertown Daily Times, in reporting for a Saturday story about the job offer, spoke with Paterson spokesman Morgan Hook about the job offer. Hook said that he could not confirm that the offer had been made, according to Wanamaker. The governor’s office did not return a follow-up call that Friday night.
On Saturday, the story broke and Aubertine’s office issued a press release confirming the offer.
Just a little while ago, Aubertine and members of the Democratic conference went down to the second floor to discuss the matter with O’Byrne. According to sources, an argument ensued, as O’Byrne now says that an offer was never made directly."
Irene Jay Liu on “New York Politics Capitol Confidential” June 23, 2008 at 4:06 pm
“Gov. David Paterson just exited Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno's third floor Capitol office, where reporters are gathered in wait for a public statement from the soon-to-retire veteran lawmaker, and became the first person to officially confirm on the record that Bruno is indeed not seeking re-election this fall.
‘The senator wants to move on,’ Paterson said (as relayed to me by DN Capitol Bureau Chief Ken Lovett, who is in the scrum). ‘There are other things he would like to do.’
Paterson said he ‘had a feeling’ a few days ago that Bruno has something to tell him, but it wasn't until just now that the governor learned of the senator's decision.
The governor called Bruno a ‘class act’ and a ‘wonderful person.’
Liz Benjamin on “Daily Politics”
Saratoga County GOP Chairman Jasper Nolan, a longtime Bruno friend and ally… said he had no prior warning of Bruno's imminent retirement, and even was preparing to host a fundraiser for the senator in Saratoga this summer after the session ended.
The chairman said he received a call from a Bruno staffer about 15 minutes before the news broke.
In other words: Bruno was playing this very close to the vest. He didn't telegraph anything to anyone – not even his most senior staffers."
Liz Benjamin on “Daily Politics”