Email This to a Friend
Replacing Hillary: A New York Political Minefield
Choosing a new senator opens a can of worms for New York's governor.
The chattering class has weighed in already, claiming the inevitability of Thomas Suozzi. The Long Island county executive narrowly lost to Spitzer in their primary battle and has a solid background. Local voices upstate have also been whispering about Michael Arcuri, the 24th district congressman and former Oneida County prosecutor who unseated Republican Sherry Boehlert during the 2006 GOP bloodbath. While both have much to recommend them, they share the same fatal flaw — they’re white men. Paterson is under intense pressure, from both without and within, to keep the face of diversity on the Democrats’ Senate membership now that Obama has taken his leave.
The Syracuse Herald has been trumpeting Nita Lowey, who was poised to make a run for this position in 2000 until Hillary arrived on her red carpet. Unfortunately, Nita is now in her seventies and is an unlikely prospect, given that the seat will be back up for grabs in 2010. Paterson will recognize that the DNC would prefer a pick who will be a vital, viable candidate for reelection, since Rudy (America’s mayor) may want a shot at it himself 24 months from now.
The governor has already bought himself some time in this process, stating that he will not be discussing an appointment until the seat is officially vacant. Hillary won’t be stepping down until her confirmation hearings for secretary of state are finished next year. (I’m currently drowning my sorrows over this cautionary decision with a bottle of Mr. Daniels’ finest.) Still, the deadline looms and I’m fairly sure that Paterson already has his mind made up as much as possible.
Were I forced to predict who the eventual winner will be, I would put my money on Nydia Velazquez. At 55 years of age she has plenty of juice left for a solid career and the back story seems to fill the bill nicely. Ms. Velazquez is the daughter of a worker in Puerto Rico’s sugar cane fields who went on to become the first in her family to gain a college degree. Moving to New York City, she rose quickly to prominence and has held the 12th district Congressional seat since 1992.
She is a powerful orator who has faced the full vetting process with few bruises and her ambitions for continued advancement have been no secret. With a seat in the Senate and that sort of compelling biography, I wouldn’t be terribly surprised to see her name in contention for a cabinet post in future administrations, so Paterson could do far worse than her.
Those of us in the Empire State who watched with dismay as our Senate seat was outsourced to the former first lady have been waiting quite some time to get that office back in the hands of a New Yorker. This may be the single, greatest motivating factor in my recent endorsement of Senator Clinton for her upcoming position in the State Department. (Or, really, any department in Washington or points beyond.) We have a number of qualified, moderate Republicans who would do well in the role, but the governor is neither foolish nor “post-partisan” enough to cross party lines for this pick, and RINOs aren’t very popular in the national GOP at the moment anyway.
Best of luck at State, Senator Clinton, and don’t let the door hit you … well, you get the general idea.
<- Prev Page 2 of 2
Jazz Shaw is a heretical, Northeastern former RINO and regular columnist at The Moderate Voice. He can be reached at jazzshaw@gmail.com.
 |
 |
 |
Podcasts |  PJM Home |
Pajamas Media appreciates your comments that abide by the following guidelines:
1. Avoid profanities or foul language unless it is contained in a necessary quote or is relevant to the comment.
2. Stay on topic.
3. Disagree, but avoid ad hominem attacks.
4. Threats are treated seriously and reported to law enforcement.
5. Spam and advertising are not permitted in the comments area.
The clause regarding "hate speech" has been deleted because readers criticized it as being too loosely defined. We agreed.
These guidelines are very general and cannot cover every possible situation. Please don't assume that Pajamas Media management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment. We reserve the right to filter or delete comments or to deny posting privileges entirely at our discretion. If you feel your comment was filtered inappropriately, please email us at story@pajamasmedia.com.
17 Comments
1. cedarford:I wouldn’t nominate a Jew (Lowey), or someone from NYC (Velazquez).
Voters recently elected 3 Jews as Governor, Mayor of NYC, and the other Senator, Schumer. Appoint another Jew as the 2nd Senator? Excessive.. New York has 1,625,000 Jews out of 19,298,000 people. Patterson has to balance his constituencies and not favor Jews centered around NYC.
And right now, Patterson, Schumer, and Bloomberg(obviously) are long-time NYC power wielders. A 4th bigshot from NYC, occupying the other Senate seat, would also be excessive. And seen as a slap in the face to Upstaters & Long Islanders that don’t think NYC is the Center of the World, of America, even New York State.
He might try a black, but if Illinois appoints a black to replace Obama, it would be like Cuomo appointing a paisan pal in a similar situation. If Illinois doesn’t, it makes it much easier for Paterson to go with a black from Upstate, like Buffalo’s mayor.
Dec 4, 2008 - 2:21 am 2. seven:I liked the expression sherrif of Wall Street. He was defrocked. We of course need a Jew.. Since we are in the season of justice and reparation for previous intolerances.
Dec 4, 2008 - 4:54 am 3. Maggie:Appoint whoever. I hope Rudy runs for the seat and wins.
Dec 4, 2008 - 5:47 am 4. Karin:I’m just glad that Bloomberg declined. He is one of my top despised people in politics (the others being Schumer, Biden, Rangel, etc.)
Dec 4, 2008 - 5:48 am 5. Brian Richard Allen:I live upstate (way upstate), and we are a red island in a sea of blue. If I can’t have at least a RINO, I’d like to see someone North of Albany. We do exist up here, dutifully paying our state and property taxes for the benefit of the city and LonGisland.
Cedarford, didn’t Buffalo’s mayor do something wacky lately?
Or, cedaford, perhaps he could make a truly radical move — and nominate an adequately talented AMERICAN.
Assuming, that is — and on the off chance any popped up thereabouts — there is, in Noo Yark’s “Democratic” political circle, a single, um, jerk, capable of recognizing talent?
Brian Richard Allen
Dec 4, 2008 - 5:53 am 6. MarkD:Los Angeles – CalifUBAMAcated 90028
Brian #5,
Don’t you know we have no adequately talented New Yorkers? We had to import Clinton. Maybe California has some OTH Hollywood star, or maybe Pelosi has a sister.
There is no Initiative, no Referendum, no Recall, and no hope in New York.
Dec 4, 2008 - 6:35 am 7. urbanleftbehind:Draw from a hat with given number of candidates reflective of the WHOLE state’s racial breakdown (and yes, the white bracket would have to include the requisite #s of Italians and Jews). Its what I’ve recommended for Illinois.
Dec 4, 2008 - 6:56 am 8. Andy:Appoint Rudy. He will do what is right for NY.
Dec 4, 2008 - 7:04 am 9. Thinking Person:note to MarkD….Don’t let anyone from Minnesota have a say either. They elect wrestlers and are now pushing for a psuedo-comedian (Frankenfurter) for public office.
Dec 4, 2008 - 7:15 am 10. Carl D. Kaminer:Thinking Person…
You call Al Franken a “psuedo-comedian”? Doesn’t that imply that he’s at least “sort of” funny? I bet you laugh at train wrecks.
Poor Governor Paterson… where WILL he find a suitable replacement for Hillary Clinton in a such a red-state bastion of conservatism like New York?
Dec 4, 2008 - 8:03 am 11. kk:Paterson could leave the seat open and no one would notice the difference, but he should go for a wise old placeholder to give the Dem machine enough time to decide for the voters in advance of 2010. Paterson’s fantasy must be to appoint State Senator Kruger in order to get THAT Independent Democrat out of the way of realizing Paterson’s dream of one party rule.
Giuliani couldn’t win anything in NY anymore – except maybe county sheriff.
Which is really too bad because I am so disgusted with the NY Dem machines that I want a really strong challenge to Schumer in 2010, and now we will have both Senate seats on the ballot.
Suozzi deserves much better than the Dem machine has handed him.
Dec 4, 2008 - 4:47 pm 12. MIK:It’s gotta be an upstate woman. First, Paterson is getting a lot of heat because he has to appoint a successor to Chief Judge Judy Kaye from a list given him by the Commission on Judicial Nomination, created by the state constitution in an effort to insure merit selection of COurt of APpeals judges. All those on the list are men. What this means, I believe, is that that appointment and the senatorial appointment will be announced the same day.
I think it’s gotta be an upstater since Paterson has to be looking for what will do him the most good in 2010 (when he will be up for election himself). He’s got NYC; he has to make sure that he does well upstate.
Dec 4, 2008 - 7:44 pm 13. OneWithTheWorld:Hasn’t Bloomberg already paid Paterson for this Senate seat? Sure, there’ll be some shucking and jiving but if Bloomberg wants to replace Hussein, he needs national status. Paterson, who is as dirty as Rangel, probably has already cashed Bloomberg’s checks.
Dec 5, 2008 - 1:41 pm 14. james:Do New Yorkers ever ask themselves why electoral votes are moving south and west?
Dec 5, 2008 - 9:39 pm 15. Harry:I was born and raised in NYC and wouldn’t live there again for any reason.
Do you even hear yourselves? No qualified person who still lives in your state would deign to run for office. And if he did it would be prima facie evidence that he is unfit to serve.
It started with the savaging of Keating by the Kennedy Gang (a little history for all you children out there.) And it continues to this day.
It’s going to be Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg. End of discussion.
Dec 6, 2008 - 12:41 pm 16. Gilligan:With Charlie Rangel facing impeachment and expulsion over his long history of corruption and tax evasion there is going to be a pressing need for a camera happy black demagogue from New York in the Capitol.
Al Sharpton is the obvious choice.
Dec 6, 2008 - 6:53 pm 17. Gary Ogletree:The writing is just too cute by half. Lost interest in the content and gave up early.
Dec 7, 2008 - 6:43 am