ERIKA ROSENBERG
O-D Albany bureau

Disabled activists Monday protested a proposal by Gov. George Pataki to cut $13 a month from their government benefits, occupying a Capitol office until an official agreed to meet with them.

Some two dozen protesters, most from Rochester and many in wheelchairs, blocked the entrance to the office for about 20 minutes and chanted "get your budget off our backs."

At a news conference, protesters carried signs reading, "Gov. Pataki, does my back really look like the right place to balance your budget" and distributed fliers showing Pataki with fangs.

"To take this away from the poorest of our community shows that Gov. Pataki has callous indifference, even animosity, toward people with disabilities, exposes him as a mean-spirited thief and an outright enemy no longer deserving of our respect or our trust," said Barbara Knowlen, of Madison County, who uses a wheelchair.

The proposal would save the state about $26 million and help it close a $11.5 billion budget deficit. Pataki has also proposed cutting billions from education and health care, in addition to borrowing about $4 billion.

Pataki would reduce by $13 a month the state's contribution to Supplemental Security Income for more than 600,000 low-income disabled and elderly people. That would wipe out a $13 cost-of-living increase coming from the federal government, leaving the benefits flat.

"Even in spite of the fiscal crisis we face, the governor has made protecting and helping the most needy New Yorkers a priority," said spokesman Andrew Rush, stressing that overall benefits would not be cut under the plan. State officials also said New York has the nation's third most generous contribution to the federal program.