NEW YORK, NY July 08, 2009 —Governor Paterson says he's got a way to break the 31-31 stalemate between Democrats and Republicans in New York's gridlocked state senate...

PATERSON: I have selected Richard Ravitch, the former chair of the MTA and the Urban Development Corp, and a vital leader in the fiscal crisis of the 70s to serve with me through 2010. He will not be a candidate thereafter.

REPORTER: Paterson says he made his, quote, "unprecedented decision" because of the state's pressing fiscal problems. He says the Senate and Assembly may need to make more budget cuts. As lieutenant governor, the 76-year old Ravitch would preside over the Senate, and give Democrats the one vote edge they need to have a majority. Ravitch would fill a post that has been vacant since last year, when Paterson left the position to become governor, after Eliot Spitzer resigned. Governor Paterson's move is likely to face legal challenges...possibly from his own attorney general, Andrew Cuomo.

CUOMO: My office believes that when they read the constitution, that the governor does not have that power, to fill the position of lieutenant governor.

REPORTER: Republican state Senator Dean Skelos, currently majority leader, agrees. In a speech following Paterson's, Skelos explained why his party staged a coup one month ago, blaming Democrats for tax increases, and, quote, "the worst budget in state history."