POWERFUL DEMOCRAT LEADER TURNS ON DEMOCRAT GOVERNOR

Silver calls for an investigation of Gov. Paterson

They play rough in Albany and now the most powerful man in the state Assembly wants an investigation of a fellow Democrat, David Paterson.

Sheldon Silver has asked Inspecter General Jospeh Fisch to conduct an inquiry into Paterson's role in awarding contracts to a consortium that runs vide-slots at Aqueuct Racetrack.  Silver wants to know about the process for picking a friend of Paterson to get the contract.

Political observers have been saying for sometime that the Democrat organization wants Paterson to step aside for Attorney General Andrew Cuomo to be the Democrat nominee for governor.  Others say the Kennedy family is trying to destroy Paterson because he did not choose Carolyn Kennedy to replace Hillary Clinton in the U.S. Senate.

Meanwhile, there is another undercurrent in the party and that concerns the African-American vote.  Paterson, a black, still has support among his fellow blacks, many of whom have not forgiven Cuomo for opposing Carl McCall for the nomination for governor in the 90s.