Sources: Ravitch knew borrowing idea would draw heat

Lt. Gov. Richard Ravitch had expected the backlash that would follow his call last week for short-term borrowing as one of several tools to pry the state out of its chronic deficits, Capitol sources said.

But he was intent on swinging the spotlight back to the fiscal crisis, they said.

Would Ravitch have made the dicey suggestion had legislators responded earlier to the fiscal crisis? "I don't think it would change the plan substantially had slightly different action been taken last year," said a Paterson administration official, "because the aim was to address the bigger-picture budget problem."

In his report, Ravitch says residents are "in the habit of thinking" the state can afford "more generous programs than the rest of the country" - even as New York's economic edge fades.

VERY WRONG NUMBER: The State Senate Republicans' campaign committee attacks Sen. Craig Johnson (D-Port Washington) in a mailing that stacks his photo atop those of investigated Senate Minority Leader Malcolm Smith (D-St. Albans) and disgraced ex-Gov. Eliot Spitzer. The print piece urges residents to call Johnson to say "we've had enough."

Unfortunately, two digits of Johnson's district office phone number are transposed in the mailing. And the number printed belongs to Denis Dillon, the former Nassau district attorney.

A Johnson spokesman demanded Republicans apologize to Dillon and to residents for sending out "factually dubious" material and for inconveniencing the former D.A. A GOP official called it "obviously an honest mistake" and sniped that Johnson must be getting complaints about his performance.

Mineola's GOP Mayor Jack Martins Sunday declared his candidacy against Johnson at a rally in Williston Park, calling for "common sense and common decency" in state government.BACK OUT THERE: Ex-Nassau Executive Thomas Suozzi returned to the public eye last week on a televised panel with Fox News' Sean Hannity, discussing what some saw as a racially charged remark by Dan Rather about President Barack Obama. Said Suozzi: "We're spending too much time just picking on each other . . . instead of solving problems. And I think that it's not a liberal, it's not a conservative thing. I think it's just the reality of the society we live in right now."