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Former HUD colleagues Cuomo, Gillibrand, cited as Senate prospects
With Caroline Kennedy out, who is the frontrunner to replace Hillary Clinton as New York’s representative in the U.S. Senate?
New York Gov. David Paterson sounded coy earlier this week when he said that he was still weighing state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. “He has outstanding qualities and is someone I am considering,” Paterson told CBS News during the inauguration of President Barack Obama.
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(requires Java)MAP HINTS: Click expands a name. Control+Click centers map on a name. Solid lines are current relations. Dotted lines are former relations. For advanced tools choose Tools > Options from the menu at top. More help. Not seeing the maps? Please go here to check for the latest version of Java.The son of former Gov. Mario Cuomo, Andrew Cuomo has been popular as a first-term attorney general. As as a former secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development under Bill Clinton, Cuomo knows his way around Washington. His selection would remove him as a potential gubernatorial challenger, but it would also disappoint those who want to see a woman in that seat.
Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand, a second-term congresswoman from upstate Hudson, NY, is getting attention as the dark horse choice. Indeed, NBC’s Andrea Mitchell described her this morning as the frontrunner.
Gillibrand, 42, was a securities attorney before winning her Congressional seat in 2006. Ironically, she was Cuomo’s special counsel when he was HUD secretary.
Analysts say the moderate Democrat (she is a member of the Blue Dog Coalition) would boost a future Paterson ticket in several ways: She’s a woman who won handily in Republican, suburban upstate counties; she has a finance background and has worked hard on behalf of economically hard-hit dairy farming families.
Another woman said to be under consideration is Rep. Carolyn Maloney, 60, a North Carolina native who has represented the Upper East Side of Manhattan and parts of Queens since 1993. “We need someone who’s up to date and ready to go, and I’m in that category,” Maloney told MSNBC this morning.
But despite her 15-year tenure in Congress and her own recent tour upstate, Maloney is scarcely known outside her district and public opinion polls have shown her support in the single digits.
Until last night, Kennedy had been considered a leading candidate as a result of her close relationship to Barack Obama, and her family’s powerful political legacy. Her candidacy seemed to take off after she embarked on a short tour upstate and sat for press interviews. But she also faltered answering questions and was mocked nationwide for her frequent use of “you know” and “um.”
Kennedy cited “personal reasons” for her withdrawal last night, and the New York Post reported today that a source close to the governor said he had decided against her because “she was ‘mired’ in an issue over taxes, her nanny and possibly her marriage.” The story did not elaborate on what those might be.
Paterson has conducted interviews with a slew of potential candidates, including Nassau Country Executive Tom Suozzi, Long Island Rep. Steve Israel, and Buffalo area Rep. Brian Higgins, among others. He said he would announce a decision by the weekend.
The nominee will face re-election in 2010, but a Democrat is heavily favored to win.
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This post is tagged with: Andrew Cuomo, Brian Higgins, Caroline Kennedy, Carolyn Maloney, David Paterson, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Kirsten Gillibrand, Politics, Recent Stories, Steve Israel, Tom SuozziRead related stories: Politics · Recent Stories
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Jill Biden continues role of working spouseJanuary 29, 2009 at 11:38am
Her husband has a new job, but Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., is continuing to do her old job, albeit at a different location.
Fired U.S. attorney David Iglesias returns to old stomping grounds at Guantanamo
Former U.S. attorney David Iglesias – one of nine U.S. attorneys fired by the Bush administration in 2006 – has a new job.
Iglesias has been hired to prosecute suspected terrorists held in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for the Office of Military Commissions. He was reactivated as a member of the U.S. Naval Reserve JAG corps as part of a special prosecution team for Guantanamo detainees.
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(requires Java)MAP HINTS: Click expands a name. Control+Click centers map on a name. Solid lines are current relations. Dotted lines are former relations. For advanced tools choose Tools > Options from the menu at top. More help. Not seeing the maps? Please go here to check for the latest version of Java.“It’s the most important work I’ve ever done in my 25 years as a lawyer,” Iglesias told the Associated Press Wednesday. “Our focus is laser sharp. It’s just on terrorist cases and nothing else.”
But this job, too, could be politically insecure at a time when the Obama administration is circulating a draft order to close the Guantanamo Bay detention center and review the cases of the nearly 245 inmates still held there.
Iglesias said yesterday that his cases could still go forward in federal court, military court martial or with the commission. But it remained unclear what system the Obama administration hoped to use, and Iglesias stressed he was speaking for himself, not for the Office of Military Commissions.
For Iglesias, working as a Guantanamo judge advocate is a familiar gig.
After graduating from the University of New Mexico School of Law, he became a Navy judge advocate general who defended court-martialed sailors at the Cuban naval base His involvement in a hazing case there became the basis for Tom Cruise’s character in A Few Good Men.
In 2001, after making an unexpectedly strong bid for state attorney general, Iglesias was appointed U.S. attorney for New Mexico by George W. Bush on the recommendation of former Sen. Pete Domenici.
“I think there was a belief that, because I’d run for office, because I knew Heather (Wilson) and Pete (Domenici) personally, that somehow I’d be a much more politically savvy U.S. Attorney,” he told the Albuquerque Tribune in 2007. “When I just looked at the evidence and went by the book, there was this anger that I was acting too much like a career prosecutor and not like a political appointee.”
His 2006 firing played a key role in the subsequent resignation of then-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. A report by the U.S. Justice Department concluded that he was fired after Republican politicians, including Domenici, complained about his handling of voter fraud complaints and public corruption cases in New Mexico.
Iglesias was born to Baptist missionaries working on a small island off the Caribbean coast of Panama. When he was 7, his parents moved to Oklahoma, then to Gallup, where his father was a pastor. After graduating from Santa Fe High School, he attended Wheaton College and then the University of New Mexico law school.
Before taking his new position, Iglesias had been publicizing his first-hand account of his firing and practicing business law part-time in Albuquerque.
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This post is tagged with: A Few Good Men, Alberto Gonzales, Barack Obama, David Iglesias, George W. Bush, News, Pete Dominici, U.S. Naval ReserveRead related stories: News · Recent Stories0 Comments
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Jill Biden continues role of working spouseJanuary 29, 2009 at 11:38am
Her husband has a new job, but Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., is continuing to do her old job, albeit at a different location.
Muck Tracker Thomas Ricketts is Winning Bidder for Chicago Cubs
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If Not Caroline Kennedy Then Who
This post was archived from createpositivechange.org/. View the original on the Wayback Machine.
Fired Us Attorney David Iglesias Returns to Old Stomping Grounds at Guantanamo
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Muck tracker – Hillary Clinton confirmed as secretary of State
New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton was confirmed as secretary of State Wednesday afternoon in a 94-2 vote of the U.S. Senate, reports NY 1. Sens. David Vitter (R-LA) and Jim DeMint (R-SC) voted against the nomination.
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The relationship map to the left is interactive.• Solid lines are current relations. Dotted lines are former relations.• Expand items with + signs by double-clicking or by selecting multiple items in the map and pressing the “e” key.• Move an item in the map by clicking and dragging.• You can also delete items, separate boxes and save maps. Right-click on the map or select Map Tools for these options.• Find out more about an item in the map by right-clicking on the item and choosing Information about…• View map color key.• This interactive map requires Flash player.
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New owners take charge of Houston AstrosNovember 23, 2011 at 7:38am
After a long vetting process by Major League Baseball, ownership of the Houston Astros passed Tuesday to businessman Jim Crane and his partners.
Muck tracker – Caroline Kennedy withdraws
Caroline Kennedy has withdrawn her name from consideration to fill the Senate vacancy created by Hillary Rodham Clinton’s resignation to become secretary of state, reports the New York Times.
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The relationship map to the left is interactive.• Solid lines are current relations. Dotted lines are former relations.• Expand items with + signs by double-clicking or by selecting multiple items in the map and pressing the “e” key.• Move an item in the map by clicking and dragging.• You can also delete items, separate boxes and save maps. Right-click on the map or select Map Tools for these options.• Find out more about an item in the map by right-clicking on the item and choosing Information about…• View map color key.• This interactive map requires Flash player.
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New owners take charge of Houston AstrosNovember 23, 2011 at 7:38am
After a long vetting process by Major League Baseball, ownership of the Houston Astros passed Tuesday to businessman Jim Crane and his partners.
Latham & Watkins is feeder firm for Justice Department
Administrations come and go, but Latham & Watkins remains a constant – a white-shoe law firm that serves as a de-facto farm team for the U.S. Justice Department, regardless of a president’s political leanings.
“We’ve said it once and we’ll say it again: Young law dogs with Department of Justice aspirations should consider Latham & Watkins,” advised the Wall Street Journal’s Law Blog. “The firm seems to be the DOJ’s home away from home.”
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(requires Java)MAP HINTS: Click expands a name. Control+Click centers map on a name. Solid lines are current relations. Dotted lines are former relations. For advanced tools choose Tools > Options from the menu at top. More help. Not seeing the maps? Please go here to check for the latest version of Java.The latest defection is partner Kathryn Ruemmler, who has just been tapped as principal associate deputy attorney general in President Barack Obama’s Justice Department. Reummler is a superstar litigator who had previously been part of the government’s Enron prosecution team.
The revolving door is also swinging in the other direction. While Ruemler heeds the call of government service in a Democratic administration, Alice S. Fisher, the Justice Department’s criminal division chief who oversaw high-profile prosecutions in counterterrorism and corporate fraud under George W. Bush, recently returned to the firm’s ranks.
And the two are hardly exceptions.
Other Latham & Watkins alumni who worked in the Bush Justice Department include heavyweights Michael Chertoff, who was assistant attorney general before becoming secretary of the Department of Homeland Security; and Philip Perry, the vice-president’s son-in-law who served as associate attorney general before becoming general counsel for the Homeland Security department.
Serving in earlier Democratic and Republican administrations was partner Beth Wilkinson, who prosecuted Timothy McVeigh for the Oklahoma City bombing and who subsequently married Meet the Press moderator David Gregory.
Expanding beyond the Justice Department, the list of the firm’s notable alumni is even broader including Bruce Babbit, the former governor of Arizona and U.S. secretary of the Interior; Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox; and former Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Fred T. Goldberg.
Although the firm is headquartered in Los Angeles, it has offices throughout the world, including in Abu Dhabi, Barcelona, Brussels and Paris.
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This post is tagged with: Alice S. Fisher, Barack Obama, Beth Wilkinson, George W. Bush, Kathryn Ruemmler, Latham & Watkins, Law, Michael Chertoff, Philip Perry, Recent Stories, U.S. Department of JusticeRead related stories: Law · Recent Stories0 Comments
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Former HUD colleagues Cuomo, Gillibrand, cited as Senate prospectsJanuary 22, 2009 at 12:40pm
With Caroline Kennedy out, who is the frontrunner to replace Hillary Clinton as New York’s representative in the U.S. Senate?
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1 Comments
#1. Sttuart 01.22.2009
Er. no Kennedy hasn’t been the front runner in weeks. Cuomo was the front runner. And I could tell from the fuss that some gun control group in NY was making this week that Gillibrand had become the front runner.
She’s a perfect choice and one smart woman.
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