New York State, always seen as a leader in so many ways, desperately needs a complete change next year, when Kirsten Gillebrand must defend her appointment as the replacement for Senator Hillary Clinton, and Governor David Paterson, who became the chief executive of the state upon the resignation of Governor Eliot Spitzer due to a sex scandal, will run to defend his position.
Paterson has proved to be very uninspiring and overly controversial and now his public opinion ratings have plummeted, partially due to his poor handling of the Clinton Senate seat appointment, first seemingly flirting with the idea of Caroline Kennedy and then ultimately settling on Congresswoman Kirsten Gillebrand from upstate Albany.
Gillebrand has emerged as a big backer of the National Rifle Association, although she is now trying to separate herself from this powerful pressure group’s tentacles. But the latest revelation about her is that she did a lot of work in the 1990s for Big Tobacco when it was fighting the national and state governments which were pursuing law suits against all of the tobacco corporations. We do not need or want a senator representing New York, who works with such pressure groups as the above ones which undermine the American nation with their agenda.
It is essential that both Paterson and Gillebrand have strong primary challenges, and that both be removed from office in 2010. Paterson should be replaced by Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, who has vigorously pursued AIG bonuses and in so many other ways has fought for the people of his state. Gillebrand should be replaced by someone who is NOT an NRA or Big Tobacco supporter, and has worked all of his or her career for principle and decency in public affairs. Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy, Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, and Congressman Steve Israel are three such possibilities.
In any case, New York State deserves a Governor in the line of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Herbert Lehman, and Mario Cuomo, and a Senator in the tradition of Robert F. Wagner, Robert F. Kennedy, Daniel P. Moynihan, Hillary Clinton, and Charles Schumer!