The Governor No One Voted For

By Steve Poftak
March 1st, 2010

I’ve written about New York’s insane political world in the past, and it took another turn this week, when the NY Times finally (after two whiffs) printed its stunning piece on NY Governor David Paterson.

To start at the beginning, Eliot Spitzer got elected Governor with a little known LG, David Paterson. Spitzer had to resign after the “Client 9″ scandal and Paterson took over. During the fighting over control of the state senate, Paterson appointed Richard Ravitch as LG. To give you a sense of the drama involved, Ravitch was sworn in tableside at Peter Luger’s steakhouse to beat a court injunction. His appointment was invalidated, then allowed up the rungs of the court system in NY, before finally getting approval by the state’s highest court.

Now, with Paterson in deep trouble, Ravitch may end up as Governor. He’s a well-respected figure but the state will end up with a Governor that literally not one person cast a ballot in favor of. Is that liberating or de-legitimizing? We’ll see.