Tuesday, December 9, 2008
A Tangential Thought
Maybe the Blaggy Bottom scandal will have an ancillary (and salutary) impact here in my home state. Maybe it will put a little bit of pressure on N.Y.S. Governor David Patterson to appoint the most qualified person to replace Hillary Clinton -- say, Carolyn Maloney. To be sure, there's no pay-to-play going on here, as far as anyone knows. But the personal agency of one aged Senate Lion does smack of self-interest over public interest. In the light of the Illinois Shuffle, maybe a bit of Caesar's wifery will obtain.
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5 comments:
Alegre is talking about another possibility:
Leecia, Not Caroline
http://alegrescorner.soapblox.net/showDiary.do;jsessionid=C83BD18259227F5F948135F7A11FEC8F?diaryId=1777
Ted Kennedy is part of the American Aristocracy-self interest seems to be part of the job description.
Interesting. Thanks, harpie. The Times even floated ideas such as Shirley Jackson, president of RPI -- but she's probably too far afield from politics to make it through this gauntlet.
Since Nov 4, many nominations were payback for early support of Obama. I can see Caroline in the line hat in hand.
On Brian Lehrer today, the guest (Fred Dicker, state editor for the Post, so FWIW) pointed out that Paterson is keenly aware that there is not now currently a major statewide political leader with any strong association with upstate -- Hillary worked very hard to be their senator -- which would indicate that Carolyn Maloney is a nonstarter. But Shirley Jackson would be an excellent choice. Running for re-election might be the toughest part of the job for her, but she'd check off a lot of boxes in New York politics -- and be a voice for technologically adept government policy at a critical time.
Personally, I'm sure Caroline Kennedy is a wonderful person in her own right, but I can't think of a single reason to appoint her except that she's a Kennedy. Her cousin, Robert Jr., probably has more qualifications (for an environmental angle) or his sister Kerry (for a human rights angle, although she's the state AG's ex-wife, which could be messy) if he feels it necessary to further burnish the Triborough Bridge and Idlewild Airport.
I heard the end of that Brian Lehrer segment, and was pleasantly surprised to hear him plunk for Shirley Jackson.
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