The day after firing his chief of staff, Gov. Paterson secretly rehired the top aide as a $170,000-a-year adviser on federal stimulus funds, The Post has learned.Something is rotten in New York State, and it starts at the top.
William Cunningham, a former law partner of the governor's father, Basil, and a longtime Long Island Democratic activist, was dumped as Paterson's $178,500-a-year secretary on Feb. 25, because he had brought chaos to the office.
A press release at the time said he had resigned "effective today" and noted that Cunningham, who was widely criticized for indecision, would stay on only for "a transition period."
But despite the governor's claim to have imposed a "hard" hiring freeze throughout state government, records and information obtained by The Post show Cunningham was rehired the next day as a "deputy secretary to the governor" and is now working at the state's Long Island office in Hauppauge.
"He has joined our team that is working on the distribution of federal stimulus funds," said Paterson spokesman Errol Cockfield.
Paterson has named a "Cabinet" to oversee the spending of the stimulus funds headed by Timothy Gilchrist, who is being paid nearly $5,000 less than Cunningham.
This mess actually started when Paterson's Chief of Staff Charles O'Byrne was forced to resign in a Friday night news dump after it was revealed that Charles O'Byrne failed to pay $300,000 in income taxes. Cunningham took over as interim Chief of Staff (also known as the Governor's Secretary).
Cunningham was "fired" on February 25, after it became all too apparent that Cunningham wasn't up to the task of managing the governor's affairs. So, instead of allowing Cunningham to go back to the law firm from which he was chosen, Paterson selected him for a cushy gig doling out federal stimulus funds? The rehiring is a purely political move to smooth over hurt feelings. That's not how to run a state during a crisis. It continues a long history of incompetence and irresponsibility.
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