Politics on the Hudson

A Queens assemblyman and two good-government groups sent the governor a letter Monday urging him to appoint a lieutenant governor and resolve the leadership impasse that has paralyzed the Senate since June 8.

Democratic Assemblyman Michael Gianaris and the heads of the Citizens Union and Common Cause/NY said current law permits the governor to appoint a lieutenant governor until the next regularly scheduled election (in 2010).

“The governor’s counsel had this brought to his attention a few weeks back and he is reviewing it currently. We just thought it was important to escalate the debate and get things moving a little quicker,” said Gianaris, adding that someone from New York University School of Law’s Brennan Center for Justice first pointed it out to the governor.

The law does appear to be mandatory and require the governor to appoint someone, said Gianaris, who is not offering himself up as a potential candidate.

“The governor’s indicated they’re reviewing this, they want to do their due diligence and see what their legal conclusion is, what their counsel’s office finds and I think we should go out and do that but the time is growing short because of what we’ve been watching,” he said.

Dick Dadey, executive director of Citizens Union, said the preference would be for the governor to recommend someone and have the person ratified in separate votes by the Assembly and Senate.