OMG…. He owns a house near Albany, he can live in the Governors Mansion, he rents rooms at hotels at taxpayer expense (well when he was Lt. Gov.) But he chooses to live in NYCity? What is wrong with this picture? Is it just me? I don’t get it, why not live in the 40 room Mansion set aside for the governor and WE all pay for anyway. What a piss poor example of leadership. To top it off their income was over $270,000 my heart bleeds.

HT’s to the Gothamist.com for this article….

Paterson Pays A Stabilized Rate of Rent

The governor of New York pays about $1,250 a month for a two-bedroom, rent-stabilized apartment in central Harlem, even while owning a home upstate in Guilderland and having unfettered access to the 40-room Governor’s Mansion in Albany.

Governor Paterson and his wife, Michelle, made about $270,000 last year, according to their tax returns.

Mr. Paterson’s city home is part of the Lenox Terrace apartment complex, a set of 16-story residential buildings spread across a six-block area in central Harlem. Built in 1958, Lenox Terrace’s other well-known tenants include Rep. Charles Rangel, the district’s congressman for more than 37 years.

According to the landlord’s Web site, the governor’s rent is less than half of the market rate of $2,600 a month or more for comparable apartments at Lenox Terrace, which features 24-hour doorman service. Critics of the city’s rent laws say Mr. Paterson should not pay below-market rent while pulling in a six-figure income and owning other property.

The chairman of the Conservative Party, Michael Long, said yesterday that Mr. Paterson’s living situation was “unconscionable,” given the lack of housing for many poor New Yorkers.

“Why should a high official like the governor of the state of the New York live in a government-subsidized apartment?” Mr. Long said in an interview. “By any standard, Governor Paterson is a wealthy man with plenty of perks. He has a home he owns in Albany, and a mansion in which he could live.”

The director of government affairs for the Rent Stabilization Association, Frank Ricci, said yesterday that high-income New Yorkers should not be eligible for rent protections.

“I’m not going to comment on the governor’s personal situation, but our position is that people who have that kind of income — it doesn’t matter what their rent is — should not have the benefit of rent stabilization,” Mr. Ricci said. “People who make over $100,000 have plenty of choices where to live.”

Mr. Paterson told a reporter for The New York Sun yesterday that his apartment’s rent, which he estimated at $1,250 a month, was appropriate given the city’s rent regulations. “It is within the spirit of the law,” he added. more–>