Governor Pataki’s surprise victory in the state Assembly Monday night won’t be winning any beauty contests. But if subterfuge and arm-twisting are what it takes to curtail another Albany spending binge, then so be it.

The Democrats leading the Assembly had planned to override about half of the Republican governor’s budget vetoes, restoring about $116 million in spending to a budget of more than $101 billion. The outcome did not seem much in doubt, since Democrats hold a “veto-proof” 102 seats in the 150-seat house. But three members of the majority failed to turn up, and no Republican could be persuaded to break ranks. The Democrats fell one vote short of the five score needed to reverse the vetoes.

The humiliated Assembly speaker, Sheldon Silver of Manhattan, angrily charged Mr. Pataki with orchestrating the mutiny. He did not offer proof, but all three of the absent Democrats – Stephen Kaufman and Carmen Arroyo of the Bronx and Ronald Tocci of New Rochelle – have reputations as mavericks willing to do business with the GOP. Through a spokesman, Kevin Quinn, the governor allowed that he had lobbied legislators of both parties over the weekend but denied doing anything underhanded.

“The governor urges the members to vote on principle,” Mr. Quinn said. “It is disrespectful of the speaker to accuse his own members otherwise.”

This is a case where, if in fact lawmakers deliberately went AWOL to thwart the overrides, it was because they thought that was the best way to make the point they thought was in the best interest of their constituents. Nor we do not fault Mr. Pataki for using any tactics at his disposal in dealing with New York’s out-of-control Legislature. Given the havoc being wrought on the state’s economy by overspending and over-taxation, it’s about time the gloves came off.

No doubt the state would be better off had the governor shown such gumption during last year’s budget fight, when Senate Republicans and Assembly Democrats joined forces to raise taxes rather than cut spending in the face of a $12 billion deficit, and had no trouble in overriding 119 budget vetoes. This year, by comparison, the stakes are almost pitifully small. Mr. Pataki did not seek to reverse the tax hikes he had opposed a few months earlier. When, last month, the Legislature approved the latest budget in history, the governor chose not to veto some of the spending that lawmakers added, including a 5% hike in aid for public schools that will cost $750 million. Of the $1.8 billion he did cut away, $1.6 billion was borrowing. Even if sustained, his vetoes would reduce spending in the current fiscal year by only about $235 million, or less than one-quarter of 1%.

Still, it is important and useful for Mr. Pataki to re-establish his authority over the state’s finances. If the Assembly had succeeded in passing overrides, that would have opened the door for the Senate to do the same, and the governor, who is the closest thing to a pro-growth politician at the state Capitol, would have risked becoming irrelevant.

Mark, though, that Mr. Pataki’s victory hangs by the merest thread. All Mr. Silver has to do to change Monday’s outcome is recruit one wayward Democrat or one wobbly Republican to his side. Even if he fails this year, two of the Democratic holdouts, Messrs. Kaufman and Tocci, are lame ducks who will be leaving the Assembly at year’s end – to be replaced, no doubt, by Democrats who will be more compliant with Mr. Silver’s wishes. If the governor truly wants to sustain his veto, he will have to exert himself on the campaign trail in support of candidates who favor lower taxes and smaller government. If he plays a little more hardball, he just might help to elect a better Legislature on November 2.