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Home / NY: Governor Paterson Appoints Lt. Gov.NY: Governor Paterson Appoints Lt. Gov.
Last Updated on Thursday, 9 July 2009 01:52 Written by rslcpol Thursday, 9 July 2009 01:41
Despite warnings from the Attorney General, Governor Paterson has appointed a Lieutenant Governor:
Mr. Paterson said he hoped the appointment of Mr. Ravitch, a lifelong public servant who was chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority during the late 1970s and early 1980s, would break a tie between Democrats and Republicans in the Senate and send them back into session after a month of no work. The lieutenant governor presides over the senate and can break voting ties.
But Senate Republicans denounced the selection as illegal. Political watchers say they assume that there soon will be a constitutional challenge to the appointment, as well as any laws on which Mr. Ravitch casts a vote.
The governor said that if there is a legal challenge, he wanted it to be made “expeditiously.”