Scrum time at the Capitol

I was in my first "scrum'' today since last June with Gov. Paterson, who didn't do a bad job at defending his education policies, explaining why he intended to veto an ethics bill on his desk and what he hopes his political opponents will continue to do to each other.

In this context "scrum''means a public figure being surrounded by reporters and other media types asking questions and sticking tape recorders and microphones in his or her face. Fans of the movie "Invictus'' might recall "scrum'' is a rugby term to describe pileups of players trying to make off with the ball.

This was a civilized media one, since a podium was set up for the governor to stand behind, and most of the TV cameras had already been set up in a hallway outside the convention center in the Empire State Plaza near the Capitol. The 20 or so reporters around were mostly the usual LCA (Legislative Correspondents' Association) suspects.

Reporters wanted to talk to Paterson after he addressed a rally of charter-school supporters in the convention center. He wants to expand the number of the publicly funded by privately run institutions, but he and the Legislature haven't been able to agree on how big to make that number.

Paterson told reporters he'll try again to get lawmakers to agree to raise the cap on the number of charter schools. He also said he agrees with critics who say his budget plan doesn't provide enough money for schools.

"They say we shorted them on education. They're basically right,'' he told reporters, who followed the new ritual of identifying themselves before asking the governor a question, since he can't see well enough to identify them.

But, he added, no one is coming up with ideas on where to find more money to help fund schools.

He also said he intended to either sign or veto today an ethics-reform bill that he said doesn't go far enough. That was widely interpreted that in the absence of a compromise he would veto it, which he did later in the day.

Just before press aide Morgan Hook announced "one more question,'' he was asked what he thinks about likely Republican gubernatorial candidate Rick Lazio criticizing Andrew Cuomo, an all-but-certain Democratic challenger to Paterson, for not yet announcing his intentions to run.

"These are two men who are considered likely to run against me,'' Paterson said. "They should just continue fighting.''

Then he was whisked away by aides amid chuckles and mumbled thanks from reporters, most of whom had the quotes or the tape they needed to help them get through the day.