What a Difference Party Enrollment Makes (April 11, 2009 Ed.)

GENEVA—According to Reuters, Democrat David Paterson has the lowest approval rating in history for a New York governor:

The Quinnipiac University poll of 1,528 New York State registered voters found 60 percent disapprove of the job Paterson is doing, the worst ever rating for a New York governor.
A full 53 percent believe the governor’s approval rating is now so poor that he should withdraw his candidacy for next year’s gubernatorial election.

But you wouldn’t know how unpopular Paterson is from a recent article in the Finger Lakes Times. In that story, entitled “Hey, look it’s the governor,” staff writer Craig Fox led off his article describing Paterson as “pretty prestigious” and detailed the pride that a local restaurant owner (and his patrons) felt when New York’s leader stopped by for a meal:

Nonna’s owner, Democratic City Councilor Lou Cosentino, said Paterson’s reservation was called in to the Railroad Place restaurant Wednesday morning. Later, he referred to the evening as very informal, but that didn’t stop him from making sure his best chef, Rich VanDuesen, was on, as well as extra help to guarantee Paterson got “great service.”

The governor had a 6:30 p.m. reservation but arrived a little late. Dinner was served soon afterward, but before eating he walked around introducing himself to the other diners and patrons in the adjacent bar area. They were all surprised that the state’s leader was eating just a few tables away.

Cosentino wasn’t the only councilor to meet Paterson. He said that Paul D’Amico, the 2nd Ward’s Republican representative, stopped by to get his picture taken with him.

Paterson had manicotti with a side of pasta and made it known that the Nonna Knots “were really good,” Cosentino said.

Cosentino wasn’t nervous about serving Paterson and his group, he said, stressing that he’s confident of the food and staff’s quality. While he doesn’t know how the restaurant was selected, he was proud they’d come to his place to eat.

Besides, Cosentino has also had a little experience with high-profile politicians dining there. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited when she was seeking her first term as a U.S. senator from New York.

Arguably, a “human interest” story about a local business having a brush with a famous politician shouldn’t concern itself with the politician’s popularity.

However, if that’s the case, then it’s hard to understand why, in October, the Times published a story by Fox about a local yarn maker that made sure to include an attack on Republican Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin…hard to understand, that is, until you remember Paterson and Palin’s differing party enrollment.

This is not the first time that Fox and the Times have treated similarly situated politicians in the two parties differently. For example, earlier this year, the paper called a raise for a Democrat district attorney “the law” and then described the same raise for a Republican as “improper.”

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