Paterson chooses statewide economic development czar

ALBANY - Gov. David Paterson chose a prominent Western New York banker and longtime advocate for upstate revitalization as his statewide head of economic development.

Paterson nominated Robert Wilmers, chairman and CEO of M&T Bank Corp. based in Buffalo, to be chairman of New York state's economic development agency, the Empire State Development Corp. Wilmers, a millionaire, will serve without pay pending Senate confirmation.

One of M&T Bank's subsidiaries, M&T Securities, is one of the 3,000 companies sent warning letters last year for their role in the state's long criticized Empire Zones program that Wilmers would oversee. Paterson spokesman Errol Cockfield, however, said Thursday that Wilmers met with one of the Spitzer appointees he's replacing, Dan Gundersen, and resolved the issue late last year.