Paterson has blunt message for truckers
-
- June
- 19
 Gov. David Paterson took the unusual step today of telling a crowd something other than it wanted to hear.
The governor made an unscheduled appearance at a rally outside the Capitol of scores of truckers angry at high gas prices who want the state to suspend the 35-cent-a-gallon state tax on gasoline through Labor Day. Paterson opposes that idea.
“I wanted to come out here and let you know that we respect your point of view. We just don’t agree with it,’’ Paterson told the truckers.
He said he fears that the oil companies would not lower prices if the taxes came off, instead making an even bigger profit.
“This is, in many respects, a solution that isn’t getting at the problem,’’ he said, suggesting instead that they picket oil-company headquarters.
He thanked them for coming, said he’d be glad to talk to their leaders any time – and got a cheer as he went back into the Capitol.
This entry was posted
on Thursday, June 19th, 2008 at 1:08 pm by Jay Gallagher.
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Jay Gallagher has covered Albany for Gannett News Service since 1984 and has been Albany Bureau chief since 1989. He`s a native of the Boston area and likes to point out that in this millennium, the score is Red Sox 1 championship, the Yankees 0. 
Cara Matthews has been a statehouse correspondent in the Albany Bureau since August 2005. Prior to that, she covered Putnam County government and politics at The Journal News for nearly five years. Before that, she worked at newspapers in Connecticut and covered the state Legislature for one of them. 
