There are millions of New York residents who are more qualified to hold a Senate seat. Gov. David Paterson should resist the pressure of party insiders and the Kennedy clan and appoint the most qualified person for the seat.
From a recent Hentoff column:
There is no question that 51-year-old Caroline Kennedy is genuinely civic-minded and, like any American, is entitled to expand what she feels is her mission in life. But hardly any unrenowned American with such limited qualifications as hers for the Senate would have a chance at a seat in that body, which, however fractured by partisanship, has considerable power to affect our lives.Read the full column at The Mercury's Web site.
And these years, despite the illusory McCain-Feingold campaign finance "reform" law, few Americans would have the financial resources to even contemplate running for the Senate in New York.
If Paterson does appoint Caroline Kennedy, her campaigns in 2010 and then for a full term in 2012 would cost $80 million by current fund-raising standards.
But that's not a problem. In the Dec. 9 New York Times, David Halbfinger reports that Ted Kennedy's "message, according to Democratic aides who were not authorized to discuss the conversations, is that Ms. Kennedy — backed by her family's extensive fund-raising network — would have the wherewithal to run back-to-back costly state-wide races."
Significantly, the report adds that the ability (of a Senate candidate to keep the seat for Democrats) "is a key concern for Governor Paterson, who has been deluged from every direction by politicians interested in the seat, which the governor is expected to fill early next year."
If that candidate is indeed Caroline Kennedy, her Republican opponent in one of the pivotal debates might gently say to her on television, "If your name were just Caroline Schlossberg, you wouldn't be here."
We have many entitlements in this country, but a family-name entitlement to a Senate seat is not one of them.
Originally posted at TONY PHYRILLAS
