To state the obvious – this has been a fairly epic election season. In particular, the US Senate remains in a state of flux more than 60 days after election day. Minnesota’s election isn’t legally over yet. It’s unclear if Illinois will have a second senator anytime soon. And, of course, there’s the New York senate appointment.
We’ve written about the jockeying for Hillary Clinton’s senate seat before, but a lot has happened since. Caroline Kennedy, you know, has started a conspicuous campaign for the vacancy during which she’s received mixed reviews, you know. Then, reports surfaced that indicated Governor Paterson has sent questionnaires to potential appointees Steve Israel, Carolyn Maloney, Kristen Gillibrand, Jerrold Nadler, Tom Suozzi, and, of course, Caroline Kennedy. Others have speculated that Andrew Cuomo, in his position as Attorney General, has already disclosed all the information on the questionnaire so that he needn’t fill out the paperwork to be in consideration for the appointment.
One name that was previously floated as a potential appointee didn’t get a questionnaire – our own Mayor Byron Brown. The Buffalo News headline read: “Brown left out in Senate search.” Not a lot of people thought Brown was a serious contender for this appointment anyway, so this news didn’t really surprise anyone. But it appears Mayor Brown or his staff may have called Governor Paterson to say “Hey, you forgot me” as today’s Buffalo News reports that Brown has belatedly received his Senate questionnaire. It’s debatable as to whether it’s more embarassing to not receive the questionnaire in the first place or to receive it belatedly.
When asked who should be appointed to fill Clinton’s Senate seat, 6% of Buffalo Rising readers voted for Mayor Brown. 6%. This isn’t a scientific poll, of course, but it’s somewhat telling that the Mayor lagged every other choice (including ‘none of the above’) by a wide margin in a poll conducted by a hometown media outlet.
On a related note, if you haven’t read Geoff Kelly’s recent Artvoice post on Mayor Brown, the BPD and Syaed Ali, check it out.