New York's Paladino blames Cuomo for housing bubble

New York State Republican gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino speaks to Reuters in New York October 21, 2010.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Carl Paladino, the Republican candidate for governor of New York, blames the U.S. housing bubble that triggered the global financial crisis on a single person -- his Democratic opponent, Andrew Cuomo.

"The housing bubble occurred because of one man -- that was Andrew Cuomo," Paladino told Reuters in an interview on Thursday.

Paladino linked the bubble to policies carried out by Cuomo when he was housing and urban development secretary during Democratic President Bill Clinton's second term from 1997 to 2001.

Paladino, a Buffalo real estate developer with support from the conservative Tea Party movement, faces Cuomo, the state attorney general and son of former Governor Mario Cuomo, in the November 2 election. Paladino, who won an upset victory in the Republican primary, trails Cuomo in most polls.

Paladino has livened up the New York governor's race with a series of colorful comments, including some he has apologized for or admitted were mistakes -- a trend that has coincided with his drop in opinion polls.

He held Cuomo individually responsible for the housing bubble by pressuring the Federal Housing Authority and housing finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to promote greater home ownership by reducing mortgage standards.

That political goal, he said, was the main reason banks offered millions of mortgages to unqualified buyers, who later defaulted and left the financial system in tatters.

Cuomo's campaign did not immediately respond to calls and an e-mail seeking comment.

Paladino cited former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan in his case against Cuomo.

"How did we get into this thing? We got into it by one man. And Alan Greenspan said it. The housing bubble started the subprime meltdown. How did the housing bubble occur? Andrew Cuomo, for his own self-interest, laid on FHA, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to lower their standards," Paladino said.

"He ... was so proud of saying, 'Yes, every American is going to own a home," Paladino told a panel of Reuters reporters.

Greenspan and others have made the link between the housing bubble and the subprime mortgage crisis, and the federal policy of promoting home ownership under Clinton has received some blame.

Experts have cited a number of other reasons for the bubble, including the long period of low interest rates the Fed maintained after the recession of 2001 and the securitization of mortgages into financial instruments by the banks.

Millions of unqualified buyers subsequently lost their homes when they were unable to make their payments.

"The poor people that did that, they bought a home, they took out these mortgages, now all of a sudden they're learning about adjustable rate," Paladino said. "They never understood that. You can't explain that to the normal everyday Joe."

During an hourlong interview, Paladino began by admitting mistakes -- he stood by some controversial comments about gays but admitted his delivery could have been more polished. ("All right, another learning experience," he said.)

Referring to a campaign confrontation with a New York Post political correspondent, he said any father would have done the same if tabloids were snapping pictures of his 10-year old daughter inside her home.

If his language is harsh, Paladino said, voters appreciate his "impact words" -- bemoaning gay men "grinding" each other in Speedos at Gay Pride parades, calling a top New York politician who is Jewish "the anti-Christ" or saying he will take a baseball bat to Albany, the state capital. ("That's a metaphor," he said.)

"You say what we feel," he said voters tell him on the stump, adding he just wanted transparency in politics.

"Government in secret is what deprives the people of a good government."

What is needed, he said, are "transparency, spotlight, and the people -- and the baseball bat."

(Additional reporting by Mark Egan, Joan Gralla, Ellen Wulfhorst, Ciara Linnane, Kristina Cooke and Martha Graybow; Editing by Mark Egan and Peter Cooney)