Gov. Paterson testified this morning at a congressional hearing, saying that the federal government should increase spending on health care, transportation projects, food stamps and unemployment benefits to help New York and other states recover from the economic slump.

“We are cutting all we can,” Paterson said to the House Ways and Means Committee, chaired by his friend and neighbor, Rep. Charles Rangel, D-Harlem. “But the deficit is too voluminous for us to address.”

Paterson announced Tuesday that the state is facing a $1.5 billion budget gap for the fiscal year that ends March 31; $12.5 billion for the next fiscal year and $47 billion over the next three years.

The Democratic governor kicked off testimony by several governors before the panel, which is considering whether to approve a stimulus package to try to get the national economy moving.

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford followed Paterson and warned House members against spending more to bail out states, many of which he said hadn’t controlled their spending. The Republican governor said it doesn’t make sense to borrow “more to deal with a problem that was ultimately created by excessive borrowing.”

Paterson recognized that “We have in many respects mismanaged and need to put our own houses in order by cutting spending.”

But he continued that since the economic swoon was caused by the national sub-prime mortgage crisis, it “needs to be addressed holistically by the federal government investing in the states.”

New York has 40 road-and bridge projects and another 50 water projects “ready to go,” Paterson said, but doesn’t have the money to pay for them. He said paying for those would be a good investment for Washington to make.

The Legislature is due to return to the Capitol on Nov. 18 to consider Paterson’s plan to cut $2 billion in spending.

He has asked legislative leaders to come up with ideas to reduce spending by Nov. 7.

But Senate Republicans say it’s up to Paterson to make proposals first.

“We think it’s clear it’s his responsibility,” said Scott Reif, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, R-Nassau County.

     A New York city-based group that usually backs Democrats announced today it is backing Republican incumbent Frank Padavan in a hotly contested seat in Queens.

Citizens Union also is supporting Democratic challenger Joseph Addabbo in another tight Queens race over long-time Republican Sen. Serph Maltese.

The group cited Padavan’s “long-held support for much of the Citizen Union reform agenda and effective representation in Albany.’’

Democrats are within two seats of capturing the majority in the Senate for the first time since 1965. The two Queens seats, both of which have thousands more Democratic than Republicans, are among the best chances the Dems have of picking up the seats they need to gain the majority.

The mid-year update to the state budget makes some changes in estimated costs for 2009-10. In most cases, programs will be more expensive to operate, according to the financial plan. Examples include:  

   —Higher projected school-aid costs of $13 million. The increase is primarily being driven by growth in building aid and excess cost aid for special education.

  —Less state Lottery money available for education. New games offered this year have not performed as well as expected.

   —The state’s share of child welfare services is expected to grow by $31 million because of projected growth in local child-welfare claims. The state pays 63.7 percent of certain services.

   —The cost-of-living allowance increase for human-services workers will cost $35 million more than expected because the 12-month consumer-price increase the raises are based on is 5.6 percent, not 3.5 percent as originally estimated.

  —Projected health-insurance costs for state employees and retirees have been reduced by about $100 million.

  —State University of New York and City University of New York community colleges will cost $28 million more than expected in 2009-10 because of growth in enrollment projections.

  —New laws passed this year are expected to add $1.7 million this year and $3.2 million in the future, including legislation that requires crisis-intervention and community services for sexually exploited youth; the creation of a statewide cancer-incidence map; and setting up guidelines to prevent “over-concentration” of sex offenders in communities.

   State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli appears to agree with Gov. David Paterson that the state will have to reduce spending next year to deal with New York’s fiscal crisis. Here’s what DiNapoli has to say about the Mid-Year Financial Plan, which the governor released today. The governor said the state has to cut 25 percent of its spending supported by taxes next year.   DiNapoli’s statement today:

   “New York State is facing staggering budget shortfalls. State revenues are dropping off and the markets’ errtic swings continue. The economic turmoil is driving New York into a very deep budget hole. And our past use of fiscal gimmicks has made the state’s financial situation even worse.  

   “The consequences of the fiscal crisis haven’t fully played out yet. We need to assess what we can afford, and make sure we don’t keep spending money we don’t have.”

Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli today said the value of the state’s pension fund has fallen 20 percent since April 1. But he said the decline will not impact benefits and that employer contribution rates will not go up because they are set through March 2010.

The fund, which is audited annually, was valued at $153.9 billion as of March 31, 2008. The Fund paid out approximately $6.8 billion in benefits in fiscal year 2007-08.

A few days ago, DiNapoli declined to give a mid-year update, with his office telling Gannett News Service that they didn’t give mid-year updates.

“Like every investor, the Fund has felt the impact of the global credit crisis,” DiNapoli said today. “But the Fund remains strong, and benefits to the more than one million retirees, beneficiaries, and members are safe and secure. Just as importantly, the state and local governments will not face any impact on their contribution rates for at least two years. Our long-term, diversified investment strategy is sound and sustainable.”

Marist College’s new New York poll today found that voters have an increasingly higher approval of Gov. Paterson, while Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton hit a record high in popularity.

For Paterson, 57 percent of New York voters have “a positive impression of how he is running the state.” Yesterday, Siena put Paterson’s favorability at 62 percent.

For Clinton, after her failed run for president, Marist said that 62 percent of New Yorkers say she is doing either an excellent or good job—her highest numbers from Marist since she took office in 2001. Also, one-quarter of the state’s electorate rate the job she is doing as excellent, her highest to date.

Other highlights:
—New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg beats Paterson in a hypothetical gubernatorial matchup in 2010, 50 percent to 39 percent. Still, Bloomberg has insisted he’s focused on running for a third term next year and has no plans to run for governor. But in a Marist Poll in April, they were in a dead heat. Paterson would beat former Mayor Rudy Giuliani 51 percent to 42 percent.
—57 percent of voters say New York is headed in the wrong direction while 35 percent believe the state is on the right track.
—79 percent of registered voters say the state is in a recession; 82 percent in upstate.
—73 percent of New Yorkers are worried about making ends meet.
—Sen. Charles Schumer’s approval rating is 55 percent. Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is a little less at 50 percent, down from 59 percent in April.
—For Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, 48 percent of voters don’t have an opinion of him. Marist pollster Lee Miringoff pointed out this morning on Fred Dicker’s radio show that might be a good thing: the last comptroller Alan Hevesi resigned in disgrace last year.
—President Bush’s approval rating is just 11 percent in New York and 67 percent believe the job he is doing in office is poor. His approval rating is half what it was in April. At that time, 22 percent of voters in New York approved of the job George Bush was doing as president.

Democratic Senate candidate Richard Dollinger is accusing the campaign of Sen. Joseph Robach, R-Greece, of telling voters in the heavily Democratic city of Rochester that Robach is a Democrat.

Updated: From Robach spokesman Zachary Hutchins: “That’s an outright lie from a desperate campaign. It’s not only untrue, it’s laughable.”

Robach is a former Democratic assemblyman who switched parties in 2002 to run for the Senate. And in previous elections, Robach has gotten significant support from Democrats and Democratic elected officials.

But Dollinger’s campaign claims Robach’s campaign is saying he’s a Democrat to some voters. They offered no proof of their claims, though, but said they’ve received calls from constituents.

Robach’s office had no immediate comment.

“Over the past several days my campaign has received numerous reports from within the city of Rochester and the town of Brighton alleging that Robach campaign volunteers have been going door-to-door in predominately Democratic neighborhoods asking voters to vote for Barack Obama and, much to my surprise, ‘Democrat’ Joe Robach,” Dollinger said in a statement.

He is demanding “the Robach campaign immediately put a stop to this fraud.”

As we reported today, Gov. Paterson this morning said that the state’s budget gap for the current fiscal year has grown to $1.5 billion and $12.5 billion in the 2009-10 fiscal year.

Over the next four years, the state faces a $47 billion budget gap—almost double what the state estimated in July.

The state estimates it will lose $19.2 billion over the next four years due the troubles on Wall Street.

“New York is at the epicenter of the an extraordinary financial crisis on Wall Street,” Paterson said in a statement. “We will have no choice but to take bold and aggressive action to reduce state spending.”

Paterson also blamed the state’s troubles of its spending growth, saying the state budget grew from $61.9 billion in 1994-95 to $120.8 billion in 2008-09, an average increase of 4.9. percent, nearly double the inflation rate over that time.

New campaign-finance reports show that while Rochester-area billionaire Tom Golisano has put most the $5 million into some upstate races, he also doled out some smaller checks to each of the candidates his Responsible New York PAC has endorsed.

Contributions to the campaigns of some candidates are as low as $250 to Republican Assemblyman Greg Ball’s re-election to as much as $9,500 for Sen. George Maziarz’ re-election campaign. Other notable contributions include $5,000 to Democratic Sen. Darrel Aubertine in the North Country and $7,500 to Sen. Thomas Libous, R-Binghamton.

Updated: At least one candidate said they did not receive anything from the PAC, despite Golisano’s endorsement. So it appears not all candidates got money.

Terry O’Neill, a Republican Assembly candidate in Albany against Democratic Assemblyman Jack McEneny said he got the group’s endorsement, but all he got was a press release.

This is the first time since Golisano started Responsible New York this summer that spending for candidates is listed in the campaign filings. Since the committee is spending money independently, it hasn’t listed specifically what races it is spending its money on.

But since the committee sent out checks to campaigns, it had to list the money as expenditures to the state Board of Elections.

Golisano also got something he’s not used to: someone returning his money.

Democratic Senate candidate Paloma Capanna returned $3,000 of the $5,000 that Golisano had planned to give her, saying she is not taking contributions of more than $2,000 for her campaign.

Her campaign filings have been a bit unique: She lists change that people gave her. For instance, her latest filing has 57 cents that a Paul Russell from Webster gave her on Oct. 15.

Of the $5 million Golisano put into Responsible New York, $1.7 million remains.

Responsible New York does not report to which races all the money has gone. For example, it lists $1.2 million in spending on television ads through New York Media Strategies, which is run by the group’s co-chairman Steve Pigeon, but it doesn’t list for which races.

Speaking of Pigeon, who said he’s not being paid for the work, he and Golisano continue to be dogged by questions about whether a Pigeon-run committee Citizens for Fiscal Integrity has circumvented contribution limits by receiving money for candidates through Responsible New York.

The Republican elections commissioner in Erie County sent letters to the district attorneys in Erie, Niagara and Genesee counties asking for an investigation.

Erie County District Attorney Frank Clark said he will look into the allegations, which Golisano disputes.

Here’s a look at enrollment trends in some of the key Senate races, showing how Democratic enrollment is on the rise.

District 3: Sen. Caesar Trunzo, R-Suffolk County, versus Brookhaven Supervisor Brian Foley, a Democrat.
Democrats Republicans Unaffiliated
2008 60,617 64,359 49,590
2006 56,273 67,489 46,456
Diff. 4,344 -3,130 3,134

District 7th: Sen. Craig Johnson, D-Nassau County, faces Republican Plandome Manor Mayor Barbara Donno after Johnson won a special election in 2007.
Democrats Republicans Unaffiliated
2008 84,990 71,638 51,680
2006 78,053 71,757 47,406
Difference 6,937 -119 4,274

District 15th: Sen. Serph Maltese, R-Queens, is running for re-election against Democratic city Councilman Joseph Addabbo after narrowly winning a 10th term in 2006.
Democrats Republicans Unaffiliated
2008 77,998 30,676 32,472
2006 73,993 32,255 29,741
Difference 4,005 -1,579 2,731

District 37: Sen. Suzi Oppenheimer, D-Mamaroneck, Westchester County, is seeking a 12th term against Republican Larchmont Mayor Liz Feld.
Democrats Republicans Unaffiliated
2008 96,391 55,934 55,863
2006 88,467 55,873 51,863
Difference 7,924 61 4,000

District 48: Sen. Darrel Aubertine, D-Cape Vincent, Jefferson County, is running for a full term against Republican David Renzi, a public defender.
Democrats Republicans Unaffiliated
2008 50,275 79,500 36,545
2006 51,069 85,049 37,475
Difference. -794 -5,549 -930

District 55: Sen. James Alesi, R-Perinton, Monroe County, is seeking re-election against Democrat David Nachbar, a former Bausch and Lomb executive.
Democrats Republicans Unaffiliated
2008 71,010 71,517 50,423
2006 62,805 71,448 45,534
Diff. 8,205 69 4,889

District 56: Sen. Joseph Robach, R-Greece, Monroe County, is running in his against Democrat Richard Dollinger, who preceded Robach in the Senate.
Democrats Republicans Unaffiliated
2008 85,842 45,799 41,464
2006 74,504 45,665 36,061
Diff. 11,338 134 5,403

District 58: Sen. William Stachowski, D-Buffalo, is running for re-election against Republican challenger Dennis Delano, a former Buffalo police detective.
Democrats Republicans Unaffiliated
2008 107,690 43,891 32,822
2006 110,411 45,665 36,061
Diff. -2,721 -1,774 -3,239

District 61: Republican Mike Ranzenhofer and Democrat Joe Mesi are running for an open seat that stretches across Erie and Genesee counties.
Democrats Republicans Unaffiliated
2008 78,758 82,891 41,322
2006 78,950 88,744 39,785
Diff. -192 -5,853 1,537