Political question for my New York friends

[beowabbit]

(This is something I’ve wondered for a while.)
Following the national media, I know basically four things about David Paterson:

• I know about his succession of Eliot Spitzer, and the biographical stuff about him that was reported at the time.
• I know about his appointment of Kristen Gillibrand to fill Hillary Clinton’s Senate seat when she was picked for Secretary of State.
• I know about his active work to legalize same-sex marriage in New York State.
• And I know that he is desperately unpopular.

What I don’t know is why he is unpopular. I have the impression that the Gillibrand selection pissed off some people in inside-baseball sorts of ways, but that can’t be all of it. But in Massachusetts, I don’t hear about the day-to-day running of state government in New York. So, those of you who know, why is Paterson so unpopular?
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