The nature of the Senate is that it over represents rural areas. Wyoming has two senators just like New York even though New York has a population about 20 times that of Wyoming. That puts populous states like New York at a disadvantage.
Now New York's own governor has chosen someone from a rural area. Since this person has not been elected to the office, Gov. Paterson should have chosen someone who comes from New York City or nearby, so that the overwhelming majority of the state population would have one of its own in the Senate.
The list of candidates was weak except for Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, for whom Rep. Gillibrand worked briefly as special counsel when Cuomo was Secretary of Housing and Urban Development under President Bill Clinton. There was also former Nebraska Governor and U.S. Senator Bob Kerry, currently president of the New School in New York City.
This appointment will help define David Paterson in 2010 when he seeks to be elected to the office of governor, an office to which Paterson ascended unelected when his predecessor resigned in disgrace because of a sex scandal. Former governors Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt must be turning over in their graves.
No comments:
Post a Comment