Opinion

HOW DAVE SHOULD USE THE SENATE PICK

AS he ponders his pick to succeed Hillary Clinton in the US Senate, Gov. Pater son needs to think outside the box – and make a choice that signals where he wants to take New York and both the state and national Democratic Party.

Paterson faces a fiscal crisis and a Legislature that’s already balked at making the politically painful spending cuts needed to put the Empire State on the road to recovery. Plus, he faces a tricky task in the 2010 election if he seeks to keep the job he inherited after then-Gov. Eliot Spitzer‘s spectacular fall.

Names bandied about have included everyone from Rep. Nydia Velázquez to Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown to Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. But Paterson should think beyond the usual identity-politics algebra, beyond the claims of various politicians who might think they have a “right” to the historic appointment.

After all, this is the Senate seat once held by Robert Kennedy and Daniel Patrick Moynihan – men of ideas and political principle.

And the candidate who best represents the ideas that Paterson has tried to align himself with – accountable, honest, efficient government – is Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi.

Some political observers will dismiss the idea as pie-in-the-sky – after all, Suozzi lost badly to Spitzer in the 2006 primary. What can he do for Paterson?

Inspire confidence that the governor means what he says, that’s what. And show that Paterson sees where New York’s future really lies.

Suozzi has a strong record of reform, fiscal responsibility and results in turning around a dysfunctional local government. He showed courage in taking on Nassau’s Republican machine and Albany incumbent rot.

The governor also has longstanding ties to Suozzi – his senior adviser, Bill Cunningham, was a top Suozzi aide in Nassau, and Paterson’s father Basil has been a partner at the same Mineola law firm as Suozzi’s dad.

Suozzi was the first Democrat to win the Nassau executive job since the ’70s. At the time (2001), Nassau was mired in multibillion-dollar debt and widespread allegations of corruption, leading to its designation (by the Maxwell School of Public Affairs at Syracuse University) as “the worst-run county” in the country.

He set about cleaning up the mess with a return to fiscal responsibility – cutting the county workforce, saving more than $100 million through “smart government” initiatives and balancing the budget.

He led the “Fix Albany” reform effort, encouraging citizens to vote against incumbent legislators to undermine the out-of-touch arrogance that comes with a 98.5 percent re-election rate, earning the anger of Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver.

And he has constantly criticized the outsized tax burden shouldered by New Yorkers, ballooned by unfunded state mandates and rampant Medicaid fraud.

The Senate desperately needs this fiscally responsible, problem-solving, reform-minded perspective – especially in an era of Democratic dominance.

This decision is a test not only of Paterson’s judgment but of his political vision. And appointing a fiscally conservative, socially moderate, Catholic county executive will win the governor credibility with the suburban centrist voters he’ll need to win in 2010 – and whoever he appoints to Clinton’s seat will be on the same ballot.

Paterson has been saying all the right things as the state confronts its fiscal crisis. But talk is cheap, and getting the Legislature to cut spending – and take on powerful public-sector unions in the process – will require not just good intentions, but a backbone of steel.

Appointing Suozzi – or someone like him – would show that Paterson means what he says, that he’s not beholden to the usual special-interest suspects of the downstate Democratic Party.

JPA@independentnation.org