The Hon. David Paterson
Governor of New York
State Capitol
Albany, NY 12224
Dear Governor Paterson,
We were born in the same city. And I’ve enjoyed watching from afar your refreshing style of governance and the manner with which you share your thoughts about it with the public through the press. I don’t represent any aspirant to the US Senate. These words are merely the views of one citizen.
Beyond being native New Yorkers, we also have this in common: We are both, sometimes, authors of diaries that we post to the Daily Kos. I address you respectfully as one “Kossack” to another in this important public forum where, to put it mildly, we have read every argument against the possible appointment of Caroline Kennedy to the seat about to be vacated by Senator Clinton, and yet most of us that gather here still hope you will appoint Kennedy.
To back up that claim, I will post a poll for the assembled to express their own views…
First, let me say that you’ve handled the process of this upcoming appointment with great skill and fairness. You’ve given all aspirants a chance to make their case, had them fill out detailed disclosure forms, and met with them personally, often under the radar of the media. Nice work.
According to multiple reports, nobody in New York media or politics can say with certainty what your decision will be. That’s refreshingly consistent with the “no drama” tone set by President-elect Obama. It’s the new zeitgeist for American politics.
Kennedy fits that new national tone best among all the aspirants.
The very thing that some of her critics raise most loudly against her is what will make her an exceptional senator for New York: that she hasn’t, to coin a phrase from the president-elect, been “boiled and seasoned” in the dysfunctional ways of Washington DC. Many of us do not agree with some respected colleagues who think it’s so important that the next senator be picked from a “farm team” system of electoral politics, as if your appointment should be about the appointee and who “deserves” it more. I glean from your own public comments that you see it as I do: the appointment is, rather and more rightfully, about who can do more for New York.
There was an interesting observation the other day in an AP story that speaks to the core of my argument. Simply put, Senator Ted Kennedy’s national political organization, when he will no longer be able to legislate, will either disperse and be scattered to the winds, or, if you appoint Caroline Kennedy, will become an enormous and lasting lever of influence for years to come on behalf of her new constituents:
Michele Swers, a Georgetown University professor of American government, agreed. "If he would take her under his wing, that might help her in terms of getting on big policies earlier, and getting things that she wants included on committee bills more than she might normally get as a freshman senator," she said.
Aside from his own expertise on Senate intricacies, the senator also could provide his niece with access to his staff, widely considered one of the most expert and effective in Congress.
In that same story, Senator Barbara Boxer of California, who chairs the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, virtually assures that if you appoint Kennedy she will work to bring her in to fill Senator Clinton’s vacancy on that committee. You know what that means for New York. That can’t be said so confidently about anybody else you might appoint.
Beyond the legitimate public sentiment among many New Yorkers and citizens nationwide that “the dream” long associated with the Kennedy political organization – the one that fought for Civil Rights, immigrant rights, women’s rights, health care for all, a higher minimum wage, gay and lesbian equality, funding for public schools and so much more during years when too many Democrats turned their backs on those core principles – must continue, there are very practical considerations for New York that come with the suggestion of putting that organization to work from a new geographical base in the Empire State.
For various years in the 1990s, as political reporter for The Boston Phoenix, I had a front row seat to observe the national Kennedy organization and Caroline’s unique role in it. There simply has been no comparable progressive engine for change in US politics for decades until last year when the Obama organization built one. And consistent with their record of recognizing worthy causes and adding their weight to push them, Caroline Kennedy and Ted Kennedy joined with that construction of a national movement and remain part of it today in substantial ways that other US Senate aspirants for New York have not. (And, not insignificantly, that means that much of Obama's grassroots small donor base will rise to the challenge of similarly funding Kennedy's 2010 and 2012 reelection campaigns.)
You’ve listened to all the other arguments, pro and con, I don’t need to repeat them here. And you’ve demonstrated, again, your own political smarts in taking the various and conflicting polls on the matter with the proper grain of salt, referring to them as “popularity contests” devoid of the record that the next senator will build over the next two years before facing election. It’s clear that the conflicting factions and forces that have sought to stampede you into deciding one way or another have failed to do that and that you’re going to make your call based on the deliberative process you’ve undertaken.
This weekend, as you come to your final decision, I’m sure you’re aware that the survival of that particular dream shared by so many New Yorkers, Americans and people around the world is also in your hands. How wonderful that the best decision for improving the daily lives of New York citizens, upstate, downstate and in between, coincides so perfectly with the path that will also keep that dream alive and put it to work for them.
Good luck to you, Governor, in your decision, and we look forward to reading your future diaries in this shared Town Hall of the Internet.
Al Giordano