Gov. Paterson's Ticket Mess Gets Worse

The Public Integrity Commission already found that Gov. David Paterson (D-NY) misled investigators and was engaging in unethical behavior when he obtained free tickets to Yankee World Series games at the new Yankee Stadium. Now, the independent counsel (and former Court of Appeals Chief Justice) Judith Kaye has made similar findings. Kaye was brought in to investigate the matter by Attorney General Andrew Cuomo:

Kaye, acting under orders from the attorney general, forwarded her findings to Albany County District Attorney David Soares to weigh criminal charges.

"The evidence indicates at a minimum the above-described portions of the governor's testimony before commission staff were inaccurate and misleading," the report found.

"The evidence developed in the [Office of the Attorney General's] investigation under the independent counsel warrants consideration of possible criminal charges."

Paterson believed that he was entitled to the tickets because he was Governor of New York and that his presence at the World Series game was somehow related to his official duties as governor.

The report makes a strong case for perjury, and notes that Paterson had a window of opportunity to correct himself and the testimony, but did not do so before the close of the proceeding. That puts him in a real bind, and it will be up to Albany County DA David Soares to consider charging the governor on perjury and perhaps obstruction of justice.

If we want to see Albany cleaned it, justice demands nothing less.

There is an ongoing culture of entitlement among elected officials who think that they can do as they see fit, regardless of the legality and ethical considerations. Paterson has been a longtime Albany fixture, and thought nothing of taking the free tickets, even though he knew or should have known that it violated state ethics rules on accepting gifts from entities that employ lobbyists, such as the New York Yankees. The team did nothing wrong here - the illegality stems from Paterson's failure to follow the law and make the necessary payments and disclosures. Then, Paterson compounded the mess by obstructing the investigation by giving false and misleading statements.

Quotas On the NY Court of Appeals?

Governor David Paterson has to nominate someone to fill retiring Chief Justice Judith Kaye's seat on the New York Court of Appeals by January 15, 2009. She retires effective December 31.

He's not happy that there were no women among the choices put together by the nonpartisan Commission on Judicial Nomination. In fact, he's looking for ways to circumvent the state constitution's requirements to choose from the list proffered.

Paterson says the selection process ``has to be called into question'' when the commission was unable to identify even one qualified woman.

While noting the recommended candidates are highly qualified and the state Constitution says the governor ``shall choose'' from the list, he says he won't disobey constitutional rules but will consider his options.

Cuomo says there is ``something wrong'' with the process.

There was a time when we were supposed to be judged by the content of our character and not the color of our skin. The same should apply to being gender neutral when determining who should be appointed to the highest court in New York. Yet, Gov. Paterson thinks that a woman should replace Justice Kaye.

Still, one can't help but wonder how exactly the Commission was able to overlook other judges in the state that could fill the slot capably. They proffered the following choices: Current Judges on the Court of Appeals, Judge Theodore Jones and Judge Eugene Pigott and the other choices are Justice Jonathan Lippman, Justice Steven Fisher, George Carpinello, Evan Davis, Esq., and Peter L. Zimroth.

Why wasn't A Gail Prudenti among those chosen? She's the presiding judge from the Second Department. Or Cheryl Chambers? Leslie Stein?

There are clearly women who are sitting on the Appellate courts throughout the state who have the experience and jurisprudence to sit on the bench, but are they the best qualified? The Commission thinks not. Does that require an investigation or methods to circumvent the constitutionally derived procedures?