Paterson-paid pal doomed Caroline, insiders say

[ProSense]

Paterson-paid pal doomed Caroline, insiders say

Sunday, January 25th 2009, 9:15 PM

Gov. Paterson's decision to go nuclear on Caroline Kennedy was a hatchet job run by a pricey out-of-state consultant who specializes in political scandals, disgruntled administration sources said.

Judy Smith, a Washington-based PR guru and former Bush White House deputy press secretary, orchestrated the ill-conceived character attack on Kennedy, sources said Sunday.

There was an internal agreement among Paterson staffers to refrain from attacking Kennedy.

Then came the leaks from inside the governor's office that Kennedy's supposed tax, nanny and marital problems tanked her bid for Hillary Clinton's Senate seat - taking many staffers by surprise.

"There were radically different statements all coming out of the governor's camp at the exact same time," a Paterson adviser said.

The administration released a formal statement insisting no information gathered from candidates for Clinton's seat led to Kennedy's withdrawal.

Yet it was Paterson who signed off on Smith's plan to release dirt on Kennedy, the sources said.

Paterson loyalists are bemoaning his willingness to listen to a hired gun with little knowledge of New York politics, undercutting his own staff and projecting the image of an administration in chaos.

Paterson first brought Smith onboard last fall after his top aide, Charles O'Byrne, resigned in the wake of a tax scandal.

more

Ugh!

[DJ13]

1. Patterson needs to lose when he runs for reelection

He sounds like a tool of people who dont have the state's best interests in mind.

[Sultana]

2. He is so going to lose

I liked Spitzer but the fucker doomed himself. *shakes head*

[AtomicKitten]

6. Paterson effectively weakened his own candidacy for 2010 in a karmic boomerang.

Deservedly so; this stuff is appalling.

Well done, Paterson. Fucked it all up two ways from Sunday.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

29. What's with these Governors and senate seats?

seems infectious

[AtomicKitten]

31. This little piggie has MRSA.

:scared:

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=new-drug-resistant-mrsa-in-pigs

[Rosa Luxemburg]

32. that's all we need!

[liberalmuse]

7. Caroline for Governor!

It would serve him right. What a slimy thing to do.

[Metric System]

24. Now let's not get carried away, lol.

[liskddksil]

33. I'll take support her for Senator in 2010- Cuomo can be gov. nt

[Historic NY]

27. The Dems need someone to run against him.

[KittyWampus]

3. Too bad Caroline didn't just drop out. Maybe, JUST MAYBE the fucked attempts to push her into that

slot backfired.

And it's actually a good thing we know Kennedy had basic issues that would have bit her in the ass later on.

At least we know Gillibrand can get elected.

[DJ13]

4. Kennedy had basic issues that would have bit her in the ass later on

The article makes it sound more like a smear campaign than actual misdeeds.

[karynnj]

42. Do you have proof that any of these things were true?

I've seen no real proof on any of the charges. In fact, I have not seen anything where a person in a position to know has been willing to put his/her name behind them. This is swiftboating.

[ProSense]

5. How ethical of you. Why is a Bushie consultant doing character assassinations for Paterson?

Such Rovian attacks are hard for even seasoned politicians to handle.

[bottomtheweaver]

17. .

[onefreespiritedchick]

40. A picture worth a thousand words. n/t

[AtomicKitten]

18. There remains a faction of Democrats that subscribe to the by any means necessary theme in politics.

We saw their work in the primaries. Truly appalling. What's worse is that that same faction pretends to be completely oblivious to this vile behavior when the truth is they are fine with it.

[dkf]

10. Issues? Looks like it was made up by a Bushbot.

Its interesting how Gillibrand has a career made possible by Republican smear jobs.

[acmavm]

36. Issues? Any of it proven? And an affair? Gee, that rings a bell. Why does

the name Paterson and the word 'affair' ring a bell?

Oh yeah, because they sleezy bastard got into the governor's office even though it's widely known (and he admitted) that both he and the little woman did the same thing during a time of 'trouble' in their marriage.

This guys an ass.

[karynnj]

41. Do we know that???

Just because it was rumored on all the places rumors appeared does NOT make it true.

My disgust with this is NOT that she was not named to be Senator, but because this unverified slime was released after she was out of the race. We actually do NOT know that Kennedy would not have been re-elected. We don't even know how she would have fared as Senator. How many threads here have attacked politicians thought to have sold their souls to corporations and interest groups to gain the seat that they got. Kennedy was in a position to be seen as removed from that. We do not know if she would have been a disaster, an average Senator or a very good, well respected one. If a disaster, she likely would not run in 2010 or would lose the primaries.

As to Gillibrand, likewise we do not know how good a Senator she will be. If she is as conservative as some say, I bet within a few months - there will already be calls to primary her - though that would not be unique - there were calls for almost every Senator in office! I do think it fair to say in her case that she NEVER would have won a Democratic primary - had she not been GIVEN the position.

[NashVegas]

48. "We" Might Not Know It's True

But anyone with even an inkling of an idea how the press works knows it's true.

Negative, ridiculing stories like the ones NY Daily News were printing don't just write themselves. They start with an interested party feeding information to someone they can depend on to write it up.

[karynnj]

51. Gee

Do you also believe that had to be truth in the SBVT lies? There were many stories written in 2004 - though NAVY records back the very honorable Senator 100%. There were also stories on Obama and Rezko (even after he spent several hours with the Chicago Tribune). Need I mention that there were many articles on Rose Law firm or travelgate (it has to a scandal because it has a gate - even though it is the right of every administration to pick their people) or dozens of Clinton problems.

Yeah - time for a new standard - if there is a story in the newspapers - it has to be true. Not to mention - it was the NY Daily News. ("Though it didn't make the NYT, in the Daily News, the caption read - "save the live of my child - called the desperate mother" Paul Simon - Even 2 decades ago - the NY Daily News was a sensation seeking tabloid. http://www.metrolyrics.com/save-the-life-of-my-child-lyrics-simon-and-garfunkel.html

[acmavm]

53. You 'actually' know that do you? It's true and you have proof, huh?

This is just more repuke tactics from another of our worthless dems. Always remember, both he and the little woman had affairs. He said they were no one's business.

[spindrifter]

8. This is totally appalling!

[NYC_SKP]

9. Ugh!

What a filthy bit of news, I wish I could say I am surprised but I am not.

[DainBramaged]

11. maybe some one will make the connection to Gilibrand now......

A native of the Albany area, she is the daughter of two area attorneys. Her parents are divorced and her father, Douglas Rutnik, is an Albany lobbyist and a former public defender who had a longtime romantic relationship with powerful public relations maven Zenia Mucha. Douglas Rutnik also has ties to many powerful Republicans and Democrats in New York State and has drawn press attention for a real estate investment with New York Senate leader Joe Bruno, indicted January 23 on charges he defrauded the public while in office. Gillibrand's maternal grandmother, Polly Noonan, founded the Albany Democratic Women's Club and was a close confidant of longtime Albany Mayor Erastus Corning.

• Endorsed by the National Rifle Association, from which she has a 100 % rating.

• Twice voted against the $700 billion TARP bailout bill and was the only Representative from New York to vote for the May 2007 funding bill for the Iraq War. She has described her Congressional voting record as "one of the most conservative in the state."

• Despite reports that she is not supportive of gay marriage and her earlier position that she supported only civil unions for gay couples, the Empire State Pride Agenda endorsed her appointment and said she assured the group that she "supports marriage equality for same-sex couples."

• Attended the private all-girls Emma Willard School in Troy, NY and was an avid tennis player. She majored in Asian studies and studied Chinese at Dartmouth, where she graduated magna cum laude. She received a law degree from UCLA in 1991, after completing an internship at the United Nations Crime Prevention Branch in Austria.

• After law school, clerked for a U.S. Court of Appeals judge who had been appointed by Ronald Reagan, according to the New York Daily News. She later worked for a private law firm where she spent time working on behalf of client Philip Morris — Altria, the new name for Philip Morris, donated $17,000 to Gillibrand's 2008 campaign. During the Clinton administration, Gillibrand worked as a lawyer for the Department of Housing and Urban Development under Andrew Cuomo and later returned to private practice, working for the law firm Boies, Schiller & Flexner.


http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1873589,00.html

Gillibrand once worked for both D'Amato and Andrew Cuomo, another candidate for the senate seat. She was a special counsel when Cuomo ran HUD in the 1990s and her father was close to both Senator D'Amato and Governor Mario Cuomo in the same time period. Her former law firm, Boies, Schiller & Flexner, has been the largest single donor to her House campaigns, and David Boies, the senior partner at the firm, contributed $25,000 to Paterson's campaign committee on December 23, 2008, while the governor was considering Gillibrand's candidacy. Boies' son Chris, also a partner in the firm, contributed another $25,000 on the same day.

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/archives/2009/01/the_new_frontru.php

[catgirl]

44. Whoa!

This is a pretty serious allegation. If this is true, Paterson should step down.

[DainBramaged]

55. The donations are factual, I'm just reporting the news

Some here think I shouldn't be posting important stuff like this..........

[NashVegas]

49. Wow, Looks Like Paterson Sold the Seat To the Highest Bidder

And let Kennedy hang her ass in the wind while the bids were coming in.

[Muttocracy]

12. I wonder if we'll ever know what happened - so many "aides" and "people close to"

on all sides here. All I can tell is there are some political folks with poor judgement who the principals didn't control, and who took it upon themselves to ruin this process. If Paterson authorized this, it's dreadful. If not, he clearly has a discipline problem among his staff/operatives, and needs things to be WAY tighter to avoid this kind of rumormongering in the NYC and Albany press.

[MarjorieG]

13. Wow. Pay to play, plus Schumer gets to be top dog. Hardly room for Caroline, and honest portrayal.

[Clio the Leo]

14. But what was the motivation? NT

[karynnj]

46. Some guesses

1) Anger of most established NY politicians who were all behind HRC for President. Look how many Chicago people have been pulled into DC - many NY area people would have come with HRC. Caroline Kennedy is hated by them for her endorsement. (Yes, many have the level of vindictiveness.)

2) A misguided view by Patterson that he would lose support from Obama and many Democrats when he didn't pick Kennedy - so the goal was to make it appear to be all her fault.

[NashVegas]

50. I'd Call That a Good Assessment

Because I was backing Clinton, there's a small part of me that thinks, "maybe it's not such a bad idea for CK to have to feel 1/10 of the petty ridicule Clinton received during her bid for the nomination."

Maybe next time we finally have a viable female candidate she'll think twice about all the shit women have to put up with before using her prestige, as the daughter to one of our most admired presidents, to swing the vote away from a sister.

[karynnj]

52. There was NO reason that all women should have backed HRC

The fact is that she thought Obama was better. It is actually sexist to assume that women had to back her.

I am Jewish - in 2004 was I disloyal to support John Kerry, who impressed me more than any candidate in my life over fellow Jew, Joe Lieberman? (Now HRC is better than Lieberman - but I know that I (as Karyn suggest, a woman) really did not want the Clintons back.

Petty ridicule? HRC was the inevitable candidate and the media spoke of her campaign as "flawless" for over a year - ignoring anything that could have been a problem. In reality, the britleness of her and Bill's response to ANY hint of criticism likely were more responsible for her loss than anything. Bill especially created a LOT of self inflicted wounds. The biggest source of ridicule was when HRC spoke FOUR times of sniper fire in Bosnia - before she was called on it. (There were people questioning it from the first time here - because it would have beenfront page news - followed by articles questioning sending the First Lady and especially her daughter there.)

I think the media was FAR more likely to try to ridicule others more than HRC - to name three - Howard Dean, John Kerry and Al Gore. (Or do they not count because they are male?)

[NashVegas]

58. I Never Said That All Women Should Back Her

What I have said, vociferously here and elsewhere, was that women should not use their gender to *attack* Clinton.

To claim that Clinton did not stand through 8 months of ridicule and cheap shots is to be living in planet Denial.

[karynnj]

59. I don't think that Hillary had anywhere NEAR the cheap shots

thrown at her that Al Gore and John Kerry had. I think the comments about appearance were wrong, but Gore was hit with wearing "earth tones". Hillary was MOCKED for her exaggerated Bosnia story - but John Kerry was ridiculed more on Vietnam - where he was a genuine war hero. There was absolutely nothing like the the media condoned attacks on his service. This would be like allowing people who claimed to have been in the DC area park on the day Vince Foster committed suicide on the TV for about two months speaking of what they "saw", without even asking to prove they there and not questioning their ties (to say Rush Limbaugh). Not to mention - there is nothing silly or ridiculous about windsurfing which Kerry did for a total of a couple of hours in 2004. It requires strength, agility and mental focus. (If you want to say the clothes look funny - compare to the jogs that Clinton took in tight shorts in 1992. As to expense, all the Presidents who golf at exclusive clubs likely spent more.) In addition, consider they created a new way of looking at Senate accomplishments - giving him credit only if he were the first named sponsor. In 2008, HRC was given much credit for SCHIP, while in 2004, Kennedy mentioned that Kerry and he wrote the precursor bill (from which many ideas and language was taken). Teresa Heinz Kerry, who has sponsored a huge amount of significant work on women's issues - like pensions and health and on green building and other environmental issues was completely smears.

You clearly liked, admired and supported HRC. Attacks on people you like hurt disproportionately. HRC was actually given preferential treatment until - at the earliest - she and Bill over reacted and attacked everyone after HRC gave a bad answer(s) on the immigration question. I really think it was the reaction - not the answer that hurt.

[NashVegas]

62. Not Going There Any Further

CK got a tough ride. Sucks. But I'm sure it was an eye-opening experience.

[liskddksil]

15. boy does this guy need to be primaried

and lets take out his pick as well while we're at it so we can get Caroline Kennedy 2010.

[Grateful for Hope]

16. Can't wait for the next Gov primaries

n/t

[MadBadger]

19. I think the outing of her tax issues proves that Paterson's people had it in for Caroline.

[bottomtheweaver]

20. I'm going to be nice and say Paterson is running with the wrong crowd.

He should have appointed Caroline two months ago and skipped the Machiavellian calculations. He'd have a lot more friends and a much rosier future now if he had.

[Thrill]

21. Hello Governor Andrew Cuomo

[Historic NY]

28. exactly Paterson lost me.

[TreasonousBastard]

22. How many more dubious sources and hit pieces will we...

have by the time she IS actually DOING SOMETHING IN THE SENATE?

[DainBramaged]

23. LOTS, too bad you and a few others seem to be covering for her here

It's called SUNSHINE, and if she has NOTHING to hide, she'll let us know won't she?

[TreasonousBastard]

25. Why the assumption she does? Since there's nothing you...

or anyone else can do about it, and she will be our Senator for at least two years, why not just wait and see how she does in the job? Why the hysteria and desperate search for crumbs of scandal?

You really don't have any other choice but to sit back and accept it, aside from pissing in the wind-- just like all those people pissing in the wind about how terrible Obama was in the seeks before he was even sworn in.

(Where ARE all those people, anyway? There must still be something to complain about-- the Republic still has time to fall.)

[saracat]

26. And carolines padding of her DOE resume and the tax consequences mean nothing?

Sheesh. Caroline never even donated a nickel to the fund raising arm she represented. And the DOE actually raised "less" money during her tenure as opposed to the 200+ she claimed which included 4 years she wasn't invoved. The money they claimed she raised was after her term. Paterson was trying to save her and himself the embarassment.

[democracy1st]

30. trust me a guy that admitted to having a affair that lasted years is a embarassment

[paulk]

34. "sources say"

well, I guess it's the full on trashing of David Patterson now.

LOL

same old, same old

[RFKHumphreyObama]

35. If Paterson is using a Bush operative to discredit a fellow Democrat

Then he really is a creepy slimeball. If this is true, I have officially lost all respect for him and hope he gets primaried and goes down in 2010

[polichick]

37. That is some sick stuff. So much for Paterson; NY can't get rid of him fast enough.

[old mark]

38. Patterson replaced the Gov who charged whores to the taxpayers,

then admitted to long term cheating on his wife, now this shit.
Seems like a rotten bunch all around in NY politics.

mark

[NashVegas]

45. Spitzer Paid for His Own Hookers, Thanks

At least get that right.

[Beacool]

60. True.............

LOL!!! At least the guy paid for his own pleasures.

:eyes:

[acmavm]

54. You need to go back and reread the Spitzer stories. You apparently

don't know what you're talking about. Spitzer was a slut, but it was on HIS OWN dime.

[old mark]

61. Sorry to impugh your former Governor's integrity. I just heard about the

tax money for hookers story this morning. Being from Pennsylvania, home of the dirtiest state politics and politicians in US history, I just assumed the story was true.

Your former Gov isn't as much of a shit as I had thought.
My appologies.

mark

[acmavm]

63. Not MY governor. I just know what really happened.

edit: Don't be so pissy. You studidity isn't my fault.

[K Gardner]

39. Disgusting.

[NashVegas]

43. No One In Washington Forced Maloney To Hold Pressers Outside Capitol Chambers

With whomever would listen, while she reeled off Kennedy's negatives and her own positives.

Paterson fucked up big time by allowing any horse shit at all. All the back-tracking in the world is not going to wipe the shit stains off of his, Maloney's, and Gillibrand's faces.

[The Backlash Cometh]

47. I don't know why. But a sleazy Democratic politician comes across

worse than a Republican one. I think it's because they're a greater danger to the Democratic party since they're moles.

[Jennicut]

56. Lovely. I had some hopes for Patterson after Spitzer had to quit

But now...yuck. I thought all along Caroline would have made a good Senator. Now we are stuck with DINO Gillibrand. I am not from NY but in CT we watch the stuff that goes down there closely. Caroline should move to CT and run against Loserman. And Patterson, using a Rethug to slime Caroline that way is terrible.

[SuperTrouper]

57. Paterson is a f-ng a-hole! What a moron! He needs to resign now!

:mad:

[ProSense]

64. After Criticism, Paterson Cancels Trip to Davos

January 26, 2009, 12:32 pm

After Criticism, Paterson Cancels Trip to Davos

By Jeremy W. Peters

Updated, 4:06 p.m. | HYDE PARK, N.Y. – Gov. David A. Paterson, seeking to contain some of the fallout over his administration’s handling of the United States Senate appointment, said on Monday that he had canceled a trip to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, later this week.

The governor also tried to distance himself from members of his administration who have been quoted anonymously in recent days saying that various problems with Caroline Kennedy sank her bid to become a senator.

Mr. Paterson at first denied that his administration was the source of the leaks, but he then backtracked somewhat, saying he was unaware where the leaks originated.

“I’m denying it,” he said in an appearance at an environmental conference at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library Presidential Library, here in Dutchess County. “But there’ve been leaks coming from my administration throughout this entire process of choosing a senator of contradictory types of information. Now as you know this is a pretty serious thing, and actually one that I would condemn.”

He added: “I would love to know who is responsible. But at this point, I’ve been unable to determine that.”

As for his trip to the World Economic Forum, Mr. Paterson said, “I think I’ll stay here.” He added: “Perhaps it would be a better idea to go at another time, send a couple of assistants and stay right here with the leaders of the Legislature and work on the budget.”

more

[LittleBlue]

65. This is disgusting.

It's become obvious he prolonged the appointment in order to trash Kennedy.

Why else did he waffle for so long, and then appoint Gillibrand just a day or two after she withdrew. Answer: he had his nominee all along, he just needed time to trash the competitor.