Posted on 01/22/2009 12:23:57 PM PST by reaganaut1
ALBANY — Problems involving taxes and a household employee surfaced during the vetting of Caroline Kennedy and derailed her candidacy for the Senate, a person close to Gov. David A. Paterson said on Thursday, in an account at odds with Ms. Kennedy’s own description of her reasons for withdrawing
The account emerged 14 hours after Ms. Kennedy announced that she was taking her name out of contention for the Senate seat vacated by Hillary Rodham Clinton, and as Mr. Paterson appeared to be leaning toward selecting Representative Kirsten E. Gillibrand, an upstate lawmaker in her second term in Congress.
Hard feelings toward Ms. Kennedy were clearly building among the governor’s staff on Thursday, after a dramatic evening in which she was reported to be dropping out, then wavering, then ultimately, shortly after midnight on Thursday, issuing a statement ending her candidacy.
The person close to the governor said Mr. Paterson “never had any intention of picking Kennedy because it was clear that she wasn’t ready for prime time.
“She had botched her rollout. She was unprepared. She clearly had no policy experience and couldn’t handle the pressure of the public stage.”
But other Democratic operatives and people who talked to the governor said that he had all but decided to select her as senator, and that his staff was arranging a press conference for late this week.
An aide to Ms. Kennedy said Thursday that while Ms. Kennedy had not been told for certain that she was the choice, there were strong indications that she would be.
During the early afternoon Wednesday, the aide said, Ms. Kennedy became aware of what the aide referred to as a “personal situation” that could prevent her from fulfilling her duties as senator.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Kirsten Gillibrand is certainly far better looking than the former junior senator, however. Any freepers from her district who have a sense of what kind of representative she has been? At least she has been north of Yonkers and might have a sense of what the upstate needs.
Botched on all sides. Perhaps the only good news today. Obama is busy improving the lives of terrorists the world over.
Exactly! Stealin’ it!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.