It’s bad enough that the most powerful man in Albany is a moonlighting knee capper for the New York tort bar.
Now, it seems, the governor is looking to get in on the action, too.
Post State Editor Fredric U. Dicker reports today that Gov. Paterson and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver are close to a deal to roll back a 23-year-old ceiling on legal fees gleaned from medical malpractice awards.
Ordinarily, the benefit from such a boon to ambulance chasers would go to Silver, long on the payroll of the Manhattan tort law firm Weitz & Luxenberg.
But Dicker reports that Paterson himself is the motive force behind the deal.
That seems unlikely, because Paterson has moved absolutely nothing since becoming governor a year ago. (Except his poll numbers, which are dropping like a stone down a well.)
But consider this:
Paterson’s father, Basil, is partner at the Long Island tort-law/lobbying firm of Meyer, Suozzi, English & Klein.
Lifting the malpractice cap would mean a huge payday for Meyer, Suozzi.
And a very happy Paterson pére.
Plus such a display of naked influence would pump up the firm’s lobbying business, too. (Think of a neon arrow pointing to Meyer, Suozzi’s front door: “Get rich quick, all ye who enter here.”)
Paterson and Silver’s plot, of course, is outrageous enough on the merits.
Spiraling malpractice-insurance costs, driven by out-of-control legal judgments, are driving qualified doctors from New York state.
A key study last year ranked the state the third-richest target in the nation for tort lawyers, behind Florida and New Jersey.
And it’s already No. 1 for medical-malpractice lawyers. So just imagine the potential impact of this sleazy deal.
What a disgrace.
With the state buckling under record budget deficits (new revenue projections released yesterday increase next year’s projected gap to at least $16.2 billion), the governor and Assembly leader plot to line personal pockets rather than attend to the public’s business.
Paterson, with this move, is starting to seem less of an empty suit than an active enabler of Albany corruption.
And Silver the only adult in the Capitol save for Attorney General Andrew Cuomo can’t shake off his personal interests and rise to the historic challenges before him.
Ashes on his head.
Tears for New York.