....December 19, 2:47 PM
 
 
 
Will Caroline Kennedy Bring Camelot To New York?

By MICHAEL SCHENKLER

I write Not4Publication on weekends.

More than two weeks ago on November 29, in a column published on December 4 titled “And The Next Senator From New York Is . . .,” I wrote:

“However, we like the dark-horse pick of . . . Caroline Kennedy. An early Obama supporter and member of the Obama Veep selection panel, she had been mentioned for UN Ambassador. She is a New Yorker, a woman and extremely electable. She likely would bring to Paterson more positive publicity than any other on the list. The daughter of JFK emerged as a national figure during the Obama campaign and is the likely person to carry on the family’s Senate legacy with the illness to Uncle Teddy.

“Keep your eye on Governor David Paterson in days and weeks to come.

“We’ll be keeping our eye on the little girl we remember from Camelot.”

That was long before anyone else was picking the only surviving member of the family that helped turn many of us on to politics.

For the first five days after publication, I received nothing but scoffs and statements of disbelief.

Then last weekend, CNN picked up the Caroline Kennedy story and touted her as a leading candidate. The scoffs changed to questions.

The next week went by and the mainstream media seemed to narrow the choice to AG Andrew Cuomo or Caroline Kennedy – interestingly, Cuomo was divorced from Kennedy’s first cousin Kerry – daughter of Bobby – and the couple had resided in Douglaston, Queens. The Caroline Kennedy pick had become almost universally accepted. She was almost approaching the status of frontrunner.

I was smiling – it’s a feather in one’s political column to be the first to correctly make a call. And there I was with no one opposing Caroline and some good inside intelligence that Paterson thought it a real good idea. And it was this column that first said the next Senator would be Caroline Kennedy.

Then last Thursday, I woke and the first email on my Blackberry was a NY Post article where a New York elected official made fun of the idea of Caroline Kennedy’s selection by comparing her name recognition to J-Lo and saying: “I wouldn’t make J-Lo the senator unless she proved she had great qualifications, but we haven’t seen them yet.”

It was Congressman Gary Ackerman who mocked Caroline Kennedy’s experience and explained he was taking himself out of the running and he wouldn’t want to replace Clinton “because I don’t do Utica, and that’s a qualification for the job.”

Ackerman is the first prominent New York Democrat to question Kennedy’s credentials at a time when it was looking more and more like my pick would be come Paterson’s choice. After all, the Governor could appoint her and few of the other almost dozen and a half potentials could feel slighted.

Needless to say, I wasn’t happy that one of my oldest friends and business partner was the one stepping forward with one-liners to try to derail my pick.

Well, it is now two weeks and a day after I first picked Caroline in writing and almost three weeks that my very reliable source told me what Governor Paterson was thinking.

My tune has not changed. The following are the reasons for my conclusion:

• Obviously, Paterson still wants a Senator who will perform well for the country and New York State. But of at least equal importance will be the electability of that person who will be running with Paterson in 2010 and what that person can do to help Paterson’s election chances.

• Of the five Democrats running Statewide in 2010, only Senator Chuck Schumer and Attorney Andrew General Cuomo were elected by the people. Paterson replaced a disgraced Eliot Spitzer; Tom DiNapoli replaced a disgraced Alan Hevesi; and now Paterson would name Hillary’s successor

• Appointing AG Andrew Cuomo — the leading contender to Ms. Kennedy would result in the State Legislature – Shelly Silver – naming a replacement Attorney General and that person would have to run with Paterson on the ticket – another (4 out of 5) not elected by the people.

• Both DiNapoli and that person would need help in a reelection campaign while Cuomo would be a positive ticket-booster as Attorney General and Kennedy as Senator.

• Kennedy, her family and her established network bring fundraising and campaign-power to the table.

• I checked back with my very reliable source who said, “It’s hers if she wants it.”

• Caroline Kennedy comes from a family with a legacy of public service. During the Presidential campaign she transitioned from private person to public figure by endorsing Obama and serving on his Vice Presidential selection panel and transition team.

• Finally, after two weeks of speculation which began about Dec. 4 when Not4Publication said she was the person to watch, Caroline Kennedy has indicated a desire to fill the Senate seat.

• She is an attorney, bright and brings the star power that New York State is accustomed to and the Governor needs, as he mounts his re-election campaign.

No, I haven’t spoken to David Paterson or Caroline Kennedy about this.

But I’ll bet they’ve spoken to each other – extensively.

I love the idea.

Remember where you first heard it.

 
 
Choosing A New Senator In Illinois & New York

By HENRY STERN

We have been watching the implosion of Illinois politics, triggered by the arrest of Governor Rod Blagojevich by FBI agents.

Three issues arise. First, this case was urgent, and if the arrest had not been made the conspiracy (if there were one) could have advanced and the seat might have been sold. Second, cursing the President-elect, although offensive, is not a crime in this country. Three, a conspiracy indictment usually requires that some act or conversation take place. The defendant’s puffery alone is insufficient.

Nonetheless, Rod’s trash talk and demands for money make it clear that he has disgraced his office, if that were possible.

Fifty Democratic U.S. senators called for the Governor to resign, and then demanded that he “under no circumstance make an appointment to fill the vacant Illinois Senate seat.”

The Illinois Attorney General jumped into the fray by asking the Illinois Supreme Court to declare the governor incapacitated to appoint a senator.

We also call attention to New York’s soon to be vacated US Senate seat, now occupied by Secretary of State-designate Hillary Rodham Clinton. The prospective candidates are acting with relative decorum, compared to Illinois. Nor would Governor Paterson hang a “For Sale” sign on the vacancy.

That is essential, because if Paterson were to be compelled to resign for any indiscretion, New York would have a real problem with the succession. The state has had no Lieutenant Governor since March 17, 2008, when Eliot Spitzer’s resignation took effect and Paterson replaced him.

Next in line for governor is the president pro tempore of the State Senate, currently Dean Skelos, a Republican from Long Island, who succeeded Joe Bruno in July. The Democrats will control the upper chamber in January, but their slim 32-30 majority, and the publicized defections by the so-called Gang of Three, make it possible that no president pro tempore will be elected when the Senate convenes, or that the Republicans will organize the Senate with help from some Democrats.

Under the New York State Constitution, the succession for governor would then proceed to the Speaker of the Assembly, Sheldon Silver. He has said he would decline the office, but he might change his mind in the interest of the people of the State. His accession would unite the power with the position. It could usher in a new era of state governance. There will no longer be three men in a room deciding public issues. One man will suffice.

Paterson has indicated his intention to appoint a replacement senator that could win reelection in 2010. That can be read to mean a candidate who has the capacity to raise major funding for the two campaigns. It is a qualification that would eliminate many of the aspirants, particularly those whose careers have been in public service.

The celebrity of two of the candidates, Caroline Kennedy and Andrew Cuomo, the daughter of a President and the son of a governor, will bring additional attention to the governor’s choice. Cuomo has plied the trade of politics all his adult life, working in his father’s campaign, going to Washington during the Clinton years, withdrawing from an early race for governor and winning election as attorney general. Ms. Kennedy has been an American icon since she was three years old, and never faulted for anything she ever did, or criticized for ruthlessness.

Both of the famous nominees, and most of the others, are highly qualified individuals who would make fine Senators. Is there a Pat Moynihan or Hillary Clinton among them? If so, could he or she raise the money now required to be elected?

From a practical point of view, the Blagojevich plan (seats for sale) may be easier to implement than the Paterson search for truth, justice, progressivism, geographic, ethnic and gender diversity and electability. New Yorkers will demand the most thorough consideration of this important matter, and a majority is likely to express its dissatisfaction with whatever our governor does.

We do believe, however, that he will make an honest choice on the merits of the case. This is, after all, New York and not Illinois.

StarQuest@NYCivic.org

Not4Publication.com by Dom Nunziato
Michael Schenkler can be reached via this contact form.