Politics, despite being universally known as a dirty business, is actually quite funny. Instead of bothering with soap operas, you can get all the melodrama you want from City Hall, the State House or Washington. Governor Paterson played out one of those humorous scenes last night, when talking about Blagojevich and his own dilemma in choosing the next Senator from New York.
From The Daily Politics:
Paterson gave no clues as to whether he's any closer to picking Clinton's replacement (quite a few would-be senators showed up at the governor's fundraiser last night and helped add another $3 million to his 2010 campaign fund).
He did, however, express a belief that the Illinois governor's alleged attempt to auction off President-elect Barack Obama's Senate seat to the highest bidder should be seen as a cautionary tale to all the Senate hopefuls here in New York.
Paterson appears to be taking the mess to heart, himself, saying:
"If ever there was a time when a governor has to focus away from personal interests or anything else and think about who would be the best candidate for the state because of the seniority system in Washington, who is likely to get re-election, who shows integrity, who has ideas as to how to move the state, who's a hard worker, those have too be the issues in which the governor is wed to.""For anyone that wants to be senator...the accusation should reignite a feeling in those people that the only actions they should take should be to try to demonstrate that they are that person. No other attemps at undue influence or anything that would in any way impinge upon the process or comptromoise the integrity of the process."
Now I'm not saying that David Paterson is in any way, shape or form like soon to be ex-Gov. Blagojevich. I do not honestly believe that he'd ever blatantly auction off the open Senate seat here in the way that Rod did in Illinois. Though to think that it is truly about the best person for the job and all that "lofty idealism" will rule the day is absurd.
With the mess going on in the Democratic caucus in Albany (and that the Gov. has sat in on those deal-making meetings), Paterson' unwillingness to make the rich shoulder some burden with the budget gap and the overall malaise that hovers over our State Capitol with no end in sight, I just can not believe that there won't be some sort of backroom deal somewhere in this. It's almost.....it is laughable to think that the "integrity of the process" will not be impinged upon.
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