GOP gets Long Island Judge to Block Lt Guv
In his remarks yesterday, Governor Paterson acknowledged that a legal challenge to his appointment of a Lieutenant Governor was likely, and asked that it be done quickly. Within hours, the GOP found a sympathetic judge on Long Island to issue an order suspending the appointment.
At the request of Senate Republicans, a Nassau County judge issued an order shortly after midnight Thursday effectively suspending Gov. David A. Paterson’s appointment of a lieutenant governor, a Senate GOP official said.
State Supreme Court Justice Ute Wolff Lally issued a temporary restraining order which bars Paterson’s appointee, Richard Ravitch, from “exercising any of the powers of the lieutenant governor’s office,” said the official, who declined to be identified.
A hearing on the order is expected as early as today or tomorrow, possibly in Mineola, where the judge resides, the official said.
The Albany impasse moves to Long Island. Those interested can squeeze in their weekend at the Hamptons.
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Characterizing the judge as “sympathetic” is unfounded partisan hackery. Personally, I hope Paterson’s appointment is found to be legal. The judge issued a temporary restraining order to determine the legality of the move, he did not side with Republicans. It is far better to hold a quick hearing on the legality than to wait until the Lt. Governor has been in office a while and then challenge the position.
Gee Mike, I think you’re jumping the gun to suggest that characterizing a judge as “sympathetic” means anything beyond the legal merits of the case. However, thanks to your comment, I decided to Google Judge Wolff… I must admit, I did assume that judge-shopping was involved, since the judge is not based in the Capitol District.
I’ll wait until I hear more, but I would not be surprised to learn that Judge Wolff is more than a random choice. Her son, Grant Lally, is an active Republican who ran twice for Congress, was a Karl Rove operative in Ohio during the 2004 election, and was fined $280,000 for failing to report campaign contributions from his parents.
At least own up to what you wrote, the back-tracking attempt is amusing. First there is your post title -
then the statement -
The partisan slant is quite clear. Also, there is nothing even close to “legal merits” written in the post.
Have fun Googling. Judge Lally was chosen as woman of the year in 2007 by the Fraternal Order of Court Officers - I’m sure that is nothing more than a cover for one of Karl Rove’s groups.
And your point is… that it WASN’T Republicans who brought this case to Judge Wolff? Maybe an ad-hoc group of concerned non-partisan citizens took it upon themselves to bring this case to Judge Wolff at her home last night… yeah, that’s it.
Mike, let me break this to you gently… this is not the Congressional Record. RT bloggers do not take an oath to remain impartial in our postings. We have a point of view here. If you wish to take us to task for factual errors, please do… but it doesn’t take a Sherlock Holmes to detect our position in a headline or a sentence… we are advocates and make no bones about it.
Oh, I see. Being a partisan advocate give you a license to spew innuendo and opinion without being concerned about accuracy and facts. Yup, you sound just like a typical politician - something we need a whole lot less of around here. Thanks for the clarity.
Mike, if you see a factual error or inaccuracy, we welcome the correction.In this case, you haven’t offered anything except your displeasure with our tone.
A wise man once said that “perception is reality” - that being the case, your tone is fair game for commentary, unless you don’t believe in free speech. I prefer to operate without a “tone” and concentrate on just setting the record straight. Partisan politics is a zero-sum game with losers on both sides of the fence.