Press Release: Gov. Paterson, Move Women Forward!
January 21, 2009
by The New Agenda
|11 Comments
Earlier today, The New Agenda sent out a press release renewing our call for Gov. Paterson to appoint a woman to fill Hillary Clinton’s Senate seat.
An excerpt (click here to see the full text):
After the 2008 election, ten states have lower representation of women in State Government positions. The U.S. Congress is still 84 percent male and women lost four seats overall. The U.S. Senate is 83 percent male, and women gained just one seat in the November election. This small gain will be lost if Governor Paterson appoints a man to fill Hillary Clinton’s Senate Seat.
Amy Siskind, co-Founder of The New Agenda said: “The women of New York State have always appreciated how Governor Paterson has fought for equality. Women’s representation in our Federal Government is astonishingly low and we ask Governor Paterson to not move us backwards.”
Hillary Clinton was the first woman to win a Senate Seat in New York State. This was an important step forward for the women of New York State, a state that ranks only 27th in representation of women in State Government.
This evening, we learned that Caroline Kennedy has withdrawn her name as a contender for the seat. We anticipate that Gov. Paterson will announce his choice in the next day or so.
Great press release!!! Thank you.
wow, that is some news about CK dropping out (she just confirmed a few minutes ago).
my bet is that Governor Paterson will appoint a woman–either Gillibrand, Weingarten, or retired judge Kaye (to hold the seat until the 2010 special election).
Carolyn Maloney just received an important house chairmanship (economics committee), making it worth her while to stay in the House.
the timing of this looks like Gov. Paterson may have given CK the heads-up that he was going in a different direction and the opportunity to drop out before he made the announcement.
I’m wondering if Andrew Cuomo may have promised not to run against Paterson in 2010, and this cleared the way for the Gov. to avoid a controversial appointment that would have pitted every New York pol who wanted the appointment against him.
anyway, NA’ers, betcha it WILL BE a woman appointee.
Mr. Paterson has talked about the importance of selecting a woman to replace Mrs. Clinton, which could boost such candidates as Ms. Gillibrand, Representative Carolyn B. Maloney, and Randi Weingarten, the president of the United Federation of Teachers.
http://community.nytimes.com/a.....ostComment
Now … if one of the Congresswomen moves up, who gets her empty seat? Weingarten, shall we hope?
KayJL said, “Carolyn Maloney just received an important house chairmanship (economics committee), making it worth her while to stay in the House.”
I think I read that Maloney was citing that as evidence of qualification for the Senate, which suggests to me that she still wants the Senate seat.
Paterson spoke of ‘balancing’ the ticket; if that means geographically, note that Gillibrand is from upstate, Maloney from NYC. He also wanted someone who could be re-elected longterm to build up seniority. Maloney is 60 iirc, Gillibrand quite a bit younger.
fsteele…I think at some point over the last few days I read somewhere that he spoke to Gillibrand more than once within the past week, which could also be an indicator.
I’ve been reading up around the net on CK withdrawing, and one possibility seems to be the questionnaires. apparently Gov. Paterson said yesterday he wanted to review the questionnaires of the top few candidates–then, as it’s being reported, there’s this sudden flurry of communication between CK and the Gov.’s office, and CK removes her name from consideration…so maybe not a coincidence? There have been reports that whether Gov. Paterson wanted to keep them private or not, the public had a right to at least some of the information, so maybe CK had a problem with the possible disclosure of something on the questionnaire???
anyway, if I had to put money down on any one of the remaining candidates, I’d probably bet Gillibrand.
I’m finding this whole scenario so interesting, and wondering if the Gov. may have some political courage, which is so rare these days.
KayJL,
I think the Gov has been displaying a lot of courage in all the stories I’ve seen that quote him directly! He took on the media for promoting CK, he said she was nothing special except for her name….
CK probably had many reasons for withdrawing. Perhaps her heart was never in it (thus her poor performance) and she was just going along with a last request from TK. His collapse and whatever the doctors told him at the hospital on Inauguration Day may have changed the family’s wishes — for example, if he may not live long enough to help her perform in office.
Anyway, I’m certainly glad she won’t be in the Senate.
Wow
What a development!!
Although I’m partial to Carolyn Maloney ( & I doubt she’s out)
I love the conversation around any of these “Qualified & Ready on Day One Women”!!
He has been using the importance of keeping “17/100″ in the Senate language.
At least the answer is soon.
Thank you “fsteele” for all your help with this.
tpt,
Glad to help, that’s what PumaResponders is for.
Now, shall we go after him to appoint a woman to fill Maloney’s or Gillibrand’s seat? How is that handled in NY? Will the Gov appoint that replacement too?
If he sees he can get a twofer to please the women’s groups by moving M or G to the Senate so he gets to appoint another woman as her Cong replacement, that might influence him toward M or G (if he still needs it).
Anyway, before CK dropped out, Paterson was talking about having a nominee by the weekend, so we still have a couple of days.
“fsteele”
Absolutely:
NY – PUMA’s are working to have him appoint a woman.
With Caroline no longer in the running ( or dominating the media attention) , we can concentrate on “a” :
Carolyn Maloney
Kristen Gillibrand
or someone of the level.
Thanks again for your support.
I said early on & still believe today; this is an opportunity for the PUMA movement to show what it can do “going forward”.
This was a “NY issue”; but it wasn’t / isn’t just about NYS.
When you have an issue in your state, “I’ll be there for you”.
You have my word.
tpt,
{{ thanks }}
But whether it’s Maloney or Gillibrand or some other Congressperson, who is going to take the CONGRESSIONAL seat that will become vacant? Does the Gov appoint that too?
fsteele and tpt – Re: fsteele’s post @ 7:41 – Would there be a run-off election?
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