Gov. would proceed slowly on Clinton replacement
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- November
- 26
  Gov. David Paterson, who spoke after thanking volunteers prepping thousands of Thanksgiving meals in Albany this afternoon, said he doesn’t want to rush his selection of a successor to Democratic Sen. Hillary Clinton, presuming she does indeed get nominated to be President-elect Barack Obama’s secretary of state. The governor said he wouldn’t want his selection to in any way force the confirmation process for Clinton.
  Paterson and first lady Michelle Paige Paterson were in Albany’s Empire State Plaza (across from the Capitol) to thank people helping prepare meals for the annual Equinox Community Dinner. There are more than 3,000 volunteers, and more than 8,000 people will receive meals.Â
  Paterson, a Democrat, said his first thought was to get the selection over as quickly as possible so he could get back to working on the state’s budget crisis. But if Clinton gets nominated, she would remain in office during the confirmation process.
  “I am reconsidering whether or not I should interfere with that natural process and name a successor, which is also almost like forcing the process when perhaps I should just let it work itself out and make my selection then,” he said, adding that he may find a way to indicate his choice privately to the successor so the person could start preparing.
  There is a diverse group of talented, sensitive and hard-working people, including women, minorities and upstate residents, who could step in for Clinton, the governor said. He noted that there is no one in statewide office who is from upstate or is Hispanic, and if Hillary Clinton’s replacement isn’t a woman, New York wouldn’t have a woman in statewide office.
  “What I think that’s true about New York is we have a number of people who would be great senators, and you’re going to have to be great because filling the shoes of our senator, Hillary Clinton, should she move on, is going to be very difficult. I’m glad it’s not me, because I’m not appointing myself,” he said.  When asked if he would appoint a screening panel or any kind of process to review potential replacements, Paterson said he’s learned that the process can become more of a problem than the selection. His administration will be consulting with people who have served in the Senate before, people who care about the state and are civic minded, and “just regular citizens.”
  “How many people would you need on a screening panel for everyone in New York to be happy,” he said.
  Paterson took a final question from a member of the legions of volunteers. His favorite pie to eat on Thanksgiving? “Any one that isn’t thrown at me,” he said in his trademark dry delivery. No really, his favorite is banana cream pie.
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on Wednesday, November 26th, 2008 at 5:47 pm by Cara Matthews.
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whatever happened to qualifications!
RFK Jr. or Lowey are his best candidates.
Au contraire! I humbly nominate NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, who is the son of the last person appointed to fill a US Senate seat from New York.
It would be historic, and righteous. (Only, no Rocky to name him.)
Do you remember when Agnew came here in 1970 to thrash Charles Goodell, to the benefit of Jim Buckley? I do. (And I was just in high school in California.)
My friends: you’re going to see ALL the hacks from the Democratic Party scrambling to be named to Mrs. Clinton’s seat. My humble prediction: whoever is appointed will lose in 2010, should he/she run, most likely to a strong Republican.
Nita Lowey is feeling like Brando in “On the Waterfront”—“I coulda been a contender.”
;>
lowey might be beatable in the general election…rfk jr
is not beatable
If RFK Jr. is not beatable, he would have been Congressman Kennedy or Senator Kennedy a long time ago.
Goodell! At least the NFL tries to hold the players and officials accountable. Even the pretense of that in government would be an accomplishment.
bobby jr was way more interested in the environment..having
seen his dad shot in LA he had no burning desire to
be an elected official….if he does get the appointment
he cannot be beaten in a general election…the Kennedy
name is simply way to powerful in new york..and don’t
forget ny is 5-3 democrat in registration…Nita on
the other hand could be beaten by say, rudy giuliani
More interested in the environment? What environment? The heroin environment? The Hugo Chavez communist, let’s get rid of free speech environment? He has publicly stated that he’d be interested in Lowey’s seat. Like a historian who eventually starts not just examining the past, but actually starts thinking backwards, the consultant has been so long consulting that he sometimes slips into worrying more about HOW someone gets elected than WHO should be elected. Because ultra left-wingers lately seem to have the votes does not mean that we should search for slippery ways to join them.
I am assessing his electoral chances…not indicating
my support….I would vote for rudy any day..but
new yorkers will not care about bobby’s history they
will only care that he is a kennedy
I hope RFK Jr. stays out of it, although the irony of being appointed to his late father’s seat is irresistable.
I was ten blocks away from the Ambassador Hotel, in junior high school, when a certain horrific incident occurred.
As a lifelong Republican, I FEEL for the descendants of RFK and JFK. I was in fifth grade in LA when the school principal announced, “Children, return to your classrooms,” in 1963.
And in junior high, two months after MLK’s assassination, getting called in Latin class: “There’s been a terrible tragedy”—ten blocks away, at The Ambassador
Those were awful days, ugly, repugnant.
I have NEVER disliked Ted Kennedy. And, in fact, I feel for him.
But, as to the NY Senate seat: okay—RFK could fill his father’s seat. But he has not yet been elected to anything, unlike his cousins in MA and RI.
correct..but governor patterson may want a friendly
non rival in the senate seat when he seeks election
in 2010….and he may want the strongest name on
the ticket next to him for purposes of pulling
votes to the democratic line particularly if
giuliani is the candidate..I too was horified at
the assasination and not because I was a kennedy
supporter…but rather because I was pissed that
a choice had been taken away from the american
people by violence..and it was my choice to
make in the general had he gotten the nomination
not the choice of some wild madman named sirhan
bishara sirhan