NEW YORK, NY October 30, 2008 —Governor Paterson says the upcoming elections are preventing legislative leaders from being forthcoming about cuts they'd be willing to make to bridge a $1.5 billion budget gap for this fiscal year.

Patterson says his patience with Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Republican majority will only last another week or so.

PATERSON: I'm not going to let the relationships in Albany allow me to fall into quicksand as I've seen happen to other leaders and nobody gets anything done because somebody has a political problem.

REPORTER: Paterson spoke at a forum on the global fiscal crisis hosted by The Economist Magazine.

Paterson has called a special legislative session on November 18th.