Bill Clinton, Mario Cuomo as "caretaker" of NY Senate seat possible scenario

The former president is among several boldface names being touted as possible "caretakers" for New York's Senate seat -- people who would serve until the 2010 elections but wouldn't be interested in running to keep the job.

As the process of picking Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's replacement gets messier, the option may become increasingly attractive to Gov. David Paterson, who has sole authority to name a successor.

A big name like Bill Clinton or Democratic former Gov. Mario Cuomo could have an immediate impact for New York in the Senate while letting the large field of hopefuls duke it out in 2010, according to three Democratic Party advisers in New York and Washington who are close to the discussion with Paterson's inner circle on this issue.

Two others in the party confirmed that Paterson is still considering the caretaker option. The advisers spoke on the condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to comment.

http://wcbstv.com/politics/ny.caretaker.senator.2.897875.html

ENOUGH! :thumbsdown:

LIKE WILLING TO SELL OUT FOREIGN ELECTIONS FOR A CRONY:

After Mining Deal, Financier Donated to Clinton

By JO BECKER and DON VAN NATTA Jr.
Published: January 31, 2008
Late on Sept. 6, 2005, a private plane carrying the Canadian mining financier Frank Giustra touched down in Almaty, a ruggedly picturesque city in southeast Kazakhstan. Several hundred miles to the west a fortune awaited: highly coveted deposits of uranium that could fuel nuclear reactors around the world. And Mr. Giustra was in hot pursuit of an exclusive deal to tap them.

Unlike more established competitors, Mr. Giustra was a newcomer to uranium mining in Kazakhstan, a former Soviet republic. But what his fledgling company lacked in experience, it made up for in connections. Accompanying Mr. Giustra on his luxuriously appointed MD-87 jet that day was a former president of the United States, Bill Clinton.

-snip


"Kazakhstan’s president, Nursultan A. Nazarbayev, whose 19-year stranglehold on the country has all but quashed political dissent."

"Mr. Nazarbayev walked away from the table with a propaganda coup, after Mr. Clinton expressed enthusiastic support for the Kazakh leader’s bid to head an international organization that monitors elections and supports democracy."

-snip

Just months after the Kazakh pact was finalized, Mr. Clinton’s charitable foundation received its own windfall: a $31.3 million donation from Mr. Giustra that had remained a secret until he acknowledged it last month. The gift, combined with Mr. Giustra’s more recent and public pledge to give the William J. Clinton Foundation an additional $100 million, secured Mr. Giustra a place in Mr. Clinton’s inner circle, an exclusive club of wealthy entrepreneurs in which friendship with the former president has its privileges.

LINK:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/31/us/politics/31donor.html



TURNING A BLIND EYE TO WELL DOCUMENTED LABOR & HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS:

When the Clintons Mine Big Bucks
By Steve Weissman
t r u t h o u t | Perspective

Thursday 03 April 2008

-snip

In June 2005, Giustra provided his luxurious MD-87 jet for Clinton to make speeches in Mexico, Colombia, Chile and Brazil. According to Bloomberg News, the tour earned Clinton $800,000 in personal income. Giustra "has since put his plane at Clinton's disposal at least a dozen times to raise money for charity, his wife's presidential campaign or himself," Bloomberg reported.

American law does not permit Giustra, as a Canadian, to contribute directly to Hillary Clinton's campaign. Whether providing his plane to raise campaign money counts as a contribution, I leave to the legal eagles.

A far more telling payoff involved Colombia, which has long faced international condemnation for its well-documented violations of labor and other human rights. In the oval office and after, Bill Clinton never let this get in his way, steadfastly backing a free trade agreement with the country along with a $3 billion "Plan Colombia" to fight drug traffickers and guerrillas. As he publicly told Colombian President Alvaro Uribe and others in Bogota, he was "absolutely convinced that it was vital to American interests that Colombia succeed" against the left-wing narcotraficantes.

In September 2005, Clinton hosted "a philanthropic event" at which one of his aides arranged for Giustra to meet Uribe. According to The Wall Street Journal, the two men sat in the hallway speaking for about ten minutes. A Clinton aide later told Giustra the meeting had gone well.

Giustra wanted Colombian oil. He was working with a Canadian group that subsequently paid more than $250 million to operate oil fields in conjunction with Colombia's state-owned petroleum company. Giustra's associates - now operating as Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp. - also signed an oil pipeline deal and was invited to do further oil-development work in Colombia, the Journal reported.

-snip

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/040308R.shtml

HELPING OUT HIS BUDDIES IN THE BANKING INDUSTRY:

A chronology tracing the life of the Glass-Steagall Act, from its passage in 1933 to its death throes in the 1990s, and how Citigroup's Sandy Weill dealt the coup de grâce.


On April 6, 1998, Weill and Reed announce a $70 billion stock swap merging Travelers (which owned the investment house Salomon Smith Barney) and Citicorp (the parent of Citibank), to create Citigroup Inc., the world's largest financial services company, in what was the biggest corporate merger in history.

The transaction would have to work around regulations in the Glass-Steagall and Bank Holding Company acts governing the industry, which were implemented precisely to prevent this type of company: a combination of insurance underwriting, securities underwriting, and commecial banking. The merger effectively gives regulators and lawmakers three options: end these restrictions, scuttle the deal, or force the merged company to cut back on its consumer offerings by divesting any business that fails to comply with the law.

-snip

Citicorp and Travelers quietly lobby banking regulators and government officials for their support. In late March and early April, Weill makes three heads-up calls to Washington: to Fed Chairman Greenspan, Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, and President Clinton. On April 5, the day before the announcement, Weill and Reed make a ceremonial call on Clinton to brief him on the upcoming announcement.

-snip

Weill and Reed have to act quickly for both business and political reasons. Fears that the necessary regulatory changes would not happen in time had caused the share prices of both companies to fall. The House Republican leadership indicates that it wants to enact the measure in the current session of Congress. While the Clinton administration generally supported Glass-Steagall "modernization," but there are concerns that mid-term elections in the fall could bring in Democrats less sympathetic to changing the laws.

-snip

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/wallstreet/weill/demise.html



SELLING OUT MIDDLE CLASS JOBS DESPITE OPPOSITION FROM HIS OWN PARTY:

Clinton Proposes Renewing China's Most-Favored Trade Status

Congressional reaction mixed amidst larger China policy issues


WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, June 3) -- President Bill Clinton on Wednesday proposed renewing most-favored-nation (MFN) trade status for China, saying it was "clearly in our nation's interest" as he urged Congress to support the request.

-snip

House Speaker Newt Gingrich welcomed Clinton's recommendation for renewing MFN status for China, and vowed to work in a bipartisan manner to ensure that China receives it from Congress.

Gingrich, joined by Reps. Bill Archer (R-Texas) and Philip Crane (R-Ill.), made his comments in a letter to Clinton.

-snip

House Democratic leader Richard Gephardt issued a statement Wednesday opposing Clinton's plan to extend China's trading status for another year.

http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/06/03/china.trade/

ENOUGH OF THE CLINTON LEGACY!

K&R!

They cannot keep their power(s) from this appointment.

For some reason, the Kennedy name is anathema to them. Gee, I wonder why.

... except in your mind.

UNLESS both Hillary and Bill have "blessed" the appointment of Caroline - which I suspect they have not, given her timely and critical endorsement of Obama.

They ( and more importantly , she) view the seat as her/his legacy, which should not be succeeded by a Kennedy.

Let the games begin and with this New Year's PR salvo, Patterson is is forewarned..

It's "reality" in your mind.

You can't provide one single shred of factual evidence to support your conspiracy theory.

ala Nita Lowry. I think their umbrage flows deep and strong - primarily from Ted's and Caroline's support of Obama at a critical time.

I admire Hillary - and wish Bill would just get out of her way to be the best Sec. St. we have ever had, but that duo is so powerful on the world stage that I think Obama will; have his hands full to establish primacy, as he should.

:shrug:

So I'm sure you have some quotes from the Clintons on this?

in the Senate.

They will try ANYTHING to keep Caroline out.

I never had a problem with Caroline Kennedy until 'progressives' started their nutty theories like you just wrote. Now I'm glad she'll never get the seat.

You been hiding under a rock for the last 20 years?

... were "hoping Ted would be the last Kennedy they had to confront.'

By the way, when has the DLC ever confronted Ted Kennedy?

and spoke of being ALL of them. It is clear from the comments on positions that she is closer to her uncle's. I would say the DLC fought Kennedy's and Kerry's initiative to filibuster Alito - which was the right thing to do because of his outsied the mainstream views on things like unitary President. Some, for political reasons, ended up voting for it as it became popular with the Democratic base.

I would say the DLC fought Kennedy's and Kerry's initiative to filibuster Alito

They either did or they did not. If they did, how did they do it?

and said that it would not happen. Many - like HRC and Reid voted for it after first being against it - changing as Congress was lobbied.

Doubt he wants to give that up for 2 years.

You really think the Big Dog wants to start at the bottom of the food chain, being bossed around by Chuck Schumer? Please...

Being the former President and gonna mean shit to those guys...and I'm not being sarcastic when I say that.

be funny.

Yeah, he'd do it.

They will be a caretaker unless they do the job well enough to get reelected.

Two of the best leaders we've had and that's all you've got to say?

They were both mediocre. Clinton was far better than his predesessor, which really doesn't say much because GHWB was far from great.

Bill did some good things but looking back, I think he was, in many ways, more flash than substance and now, he's just more annoying than anything.

I usually get the "mediocre" line from Republicans. They thought Pataki was an improvement, I guess.

Bill Clinton is not as popular as he used to be. And he was considered a good President, but not a great President. Deal with it.

http://www.pollingreport.com/clinton1.htm

The facts put him much closer to the latter category...

Certainly the finest President since Truman

He's entitled to use the title President because he was... but how does Senator fall into it too?

Mark.

As a resident of NY, I want a Senator, not a caretaker.

In her attempts to become a "public figure" she has left most New Yorkers "less than impressed." There is really nothing there but a memory of her father. And that is not sufficient basis to appoint her.

Reality is most New Yorkers were becoming "less than impressed" with Hillary. And so really have had enough of the family dynasties. Even the Kennedy dynasties. Reality is Ted is the last of the Kennedys.

Governors routinely appoint replacements to House and Senate members that vacate their office due to death or some other reason. All of the sudden, it becomes a major soap opera, not just in Illinois (the Blago-Burris circus), but in New York as well. Perhaps all of this drama is because of how profitable it has become to hold public office, at the expense of the citizenry.

Mischief ensues.

It's not like Governor Patterson came out of nowhere.

By you logic we shouldn't take any Vice-President who has to take over the reins seriously because he wasn't elected to be President.

Regards

Too many people run into federal gov't then come out and earn 10s of millions. At least CK has her own.

Add to that how many of their powerful friends will get gov't contracts and favorable legislation and you've got a fun little stew. Suddenly I wonder if part of the resistance to CK is partially based in all the campaign contributions that haven't been invested in her candidacy.

her qualifications make her a lightweight. I cannot believe that in the entire state of NY that there is not another very well qualified candidate to be appointed to the Senate. We need to create our own Camelot and stop living on the dream of yesterday. A caretaker for a couple of years would be alright and if Caroline Kennedy wants to be a Senator so badly, then let her run for election.

The problem is what role would he play? Even when HRC became a Senator there was concern that she would not take the role of being a Senator with no seniority - and she had not been President. So, is the thought that he would be given a special role? Just as HRC wouldn't he wouldn't get a chair. What committees would he want to be on? HELP? Where he would be one of the Junior Senators to Kennedy running the committee? SFRC where he would be junior to Kerry running the committee? Finance where Baucus runs the committee? Commerce where Rockefeller runs the committee? Judiciary where Leahy runs the committee? Note that ALL these chairs endorsed Obama.

There were some early Presidents who did then become Senators, but that was in a day when the Presidency was less "imperial", for lack of a better word. My question was (and still is) how would he fit in? I really doubt the chairs would surrender their power.

and, as a NY'er

PLEASE

On edit: I can't think of a worse scenario.

:boring:

elipses are so 2008.

If you have a comment to make. Make it.

Or else...take your extended periods and put them somewhere.....utter uselessness.

I think I saw it on NY1 but I can't find a link.

http://www.observer.com/2009/paterson-opposes-caretaker-new-york

Also looks like CK has overcome at least one hurdle.

passing on the caretaker option.

Obama's legislative undoing of Bush's terrible record, although I still think we need to think long-term rather than short-term, even in New York, which is often a more certain blue state than others.

It looks to me as if Peter King wants that job in 2010. I think it would be a good idea to appoint somebody who has the most likely chance to build a coalition statewide (whether one is in place now or not) and tear King's bid to bits from the git-go.

:popcorn:

Bill is not interested in the job, but it would be so much fun to see the reactions if he did get appointed. I don't know which heads would explode faster, those on the right or those on the left.

LOL!!!!!

:rofl:

But I doubt he would want to do it...he is very effective where he is...

And the notion of an ex-President in the Senate would be too tempting for the lemming media...they would talk about nothing else 24 hours a day...

If Paterson picks Caroline that will be fine...she will do a good job once she gets up to speed...