Yet another reason to be proud New Yorker - dare I say we have a feminist governor? Via Zuzu, we find that Governor David Paterson was "outraged" this week that no women were nominated to lead the state's Court of Appeals.
Forced to choose between seven men from a recommended panel, Paterson expressed his discontent saying, "What we really wanted to do is just publicly acknowledge ... the disappointing fact that they spanned the globe and couldn't find a woman in New York state that was qualified to serve as the chief judge," adding that the panel's rejection could be discouraging to women. Ya think?
Additionally, not one of the three women on the Court of Appeals made the cut. The current chief judge of Court of Appeals, Judith Kaye, plans to resign at the end of the year.
Also on the New York tip, feminist organizations just publicly endorsed Rep. Carolyn Maloney to take Hillary Clinton's seat in the Senate. Considering her impeccable history as a pro-choice advocate in the state, it sounds like a good pick to me - we certainly need a good fit to take Clinton's place.
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Governor Paterson impresses me every time I hear him speak. He is a pretty awe-inspiring person in general, I think.
I like Maloney but I feel pretty strongly that we don't need another downstate senator. Upstate NY is dealing with a whole different set of issues and Hillary Clinton has been a powerful advocate for job creation along the southern tier and for keeping families on their farms. As far as I can tell Chuck Schumer hasn't noticed that there's life west of the Hudson.
Clinton's going to be hard to replace.
Unfortunately, Governor Patterson probably just sold out the gays by making a deal with the gang of three. While we don't know the details yet, the deal to share power in the Senate probably resulted from Patterson and Malcolm Smith agreeing to put off a vote on gay marriage.
This is all about politics - by complaining that there were no women or Latinos nominated for the judgeship, Patterson will look better when he ends up choosing someone who does not fall in those demographic categories for Senate.
I agree. Though Carolyn Maloney is certainly qualified, an upstate Senator would at least acknowledge the western part of the state that has economic, farming and employment issues vastly different from NYC. Since the state senate balance of power is decidedly downstate, an upstate representative on the national scene would do more to benefit the residents of NY state. Byron Brown, Buffalo's mayor, was an effective state senator before his current position and would be a fine choice (not to mention, he would also become the ONLY African-American senator). Brian Higgins has gotten more done in Congress for the WNY area than anyone before him and also would make a great senator. Though I would like to see a woman in the senate as much as anyone else, these two men would bring a different and much-needed perspective to the Senate (BTW, both pro-choice Democrats.)
Yeah, I kind of agree that this is probably a stunt, sadly. I'm a public activist in NY and we've been fighting Patterson's cuts to the SUNY and CUNY budgets hard. I've never found him awe-inspiring and I really wish Spitzer hadn't stepped down. But, we'll keep fighting the good fight and certainly this one move of his was a good one.
"What we really wanted to do is just publicly acknowledge ... the disappointing fact that they spanned the globe and couldn't find a woman in New York state that was qualified to serve as the chief judge"
Am I missing something? Did they span New York or the globe? I mean obviously the actual idea that he's pissed about women being excluded is good, but doesn't confusing NY with the globe seem a little... arrogant and NY-centric?
Rep Maloney is the most wonderful nominee. She is the sponsor of both the Era and the WEA in the House - working to include women in the Consitution.
I sent an e-mail to the governor urging him to choose Maloney to be Hillary's replacement (I live in her NY district). She has my full respect.
Any other New Yorkers who want to
EMAIL: http://www.state.ny.us/governor/contact/index.html (...and use a New York address)"
Thanks for totally ignoring Paterson's failure to speak out against the NYS Senate deal that takes same-sex marriage off the table for 2009! He's acknowledged being in the room while the deal was brokered, but hasn't expressed the slightest bit of regret. What a brave politician, ignoring his party throwing queers under the bus while carefully trying to keep his approval ratings high with women.
Good job there, calling him a feminist the day after the LGBT community (many of whom worked extremely hard to put the state Senate in Democratic control) got completely shafted, with not a single person in the party leadership even expressing the slightest bit of disappointment that the validity of my life and my rights just got used as a goddamn bargaining chip.
I'm not proud to be a New Yorker today. I don't think anyone even wants me to be proud to be a New Yorker today. If same-sex marriage is used this way, how likely do you think it is that GENDA will come to a vote? No one is talking about this while they praise Paterson to the high heavens, but these issues are about my goddamn life. I want to feel safe at work, and I want to get married, and I want to feel like my concerns are more than something to trade away so the Dems get bigger offices.