NEW YORK, NY June 27, 2008 —Gov. David Paterson says while strides have been made in connecting women and minority-owned businesses in construction and communications to state contracts, there has been a real lack of progress for financial firms.

WNYC's Elaine Rivera reports:

When Paterson appointed attorney Paul Williams to head the Dormitory Authority, one of the largest public finance and construction management agencies in the state, he gave him an assignment - figure out how to open up what the governor calls an exclusionary process.

PATERSON: It's designed to inhibit and basically thwart the efforts frankly not only of minority firms but anyone that's new.

REPORTER: Paterson says the process for selling tax-exempt bond for municipal projects is a closed one, even to international financial banks who have complained about doing business with the state.

Williams will be part of a task force that will come up with ways to overhaul the process of selecting underwriters.

For WNYC, I'm Elaine Rivera.