The governor is frustrated and chagrined, the advisers said, because he believes that he extended Ms. Kennedy the chance to demonstrate her qualifications but that her operatives have exploited the opportunity to convey a sense that she is all but appointed already. He views this as an attempt to box him in, the advisers said.
"You have people going around saying, 'Oh yeah, it's a done deal,' " said one of the advisers, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the selection process and did not want to anger the governor. "The quickest way to not get something you want is to step into somebody's face."
The governor's frustration follows reports last week that Kevin Sheekey, a top deputy to Mr. Bloomberg who has been advising Ms. Kennedy, had called a labor leader and told him that Ms. Kennedy was going to be senator, "so get on board now," and that a member of Senator Edward M. Kennedy's staff was helping Ms. Kennedy reach out to unions.
It was not clear on Tuesday whether the governor's reaction would seriously damage Ms. Kennedy's chances to win the appointment or if it merely reflected Mr. Paterson's desire to regain control of the selection process after Ms. Kennedy's very public political debut.
But Ms. Kennedy's ties to Mr. Bloomberg's political team and her waffling over whether she would support a Democrat in next year's mayoral race appear to be angering some Democrats. On Tuesday, Sheldon Silver, the Assembly speaker, became the most senior elected official in the state to say that that Mr. Paterson should not select Ms. Kennedy to the Senate seat.
There are many people in New York politics that are gunning for Kennedy, and only one faction backing her. Senator Chuck Schumer and Michael Bloomberg are part of the 'Wall Street' political faction, deriving their power from Manhattan elites, publicity, and huge sums of money provided by the financial industry. Their political operatives - Josh Isay comes to mind - are the ones ferociously pushing Kennedy. They are also part of the machine that supported Joe Lieberman against Ned Lamont in Connecticut (lots of CT voters work in NYC), helped Chris Shays for reelection in 2006 and 2008, and attacked Eliot Spitzer with a vengeance (behind the scenes supporting his primary challenger Tom Suozzi backed by right-wing money from Home Depot exec Ken Langone).
Spitzer fell because of his own personal weakness, but he fell hard because he made a lot of enemies on Wall Street while building no sustainable alliances with anyone else in the state. Now it seems like the Wall Street axis that helped to take him down has begun to make the same mistake Spitzer made with the Kennedy appointment. Rather than build a coalition, the Wall Street crew allied with the Kennedy family and is clearly bullying the Governor with an aggressive PR campaign around celebrity, while hoping that Kennedy's glow from Obama will reflect onto her Senate chances.
This is angering a lot of factions in New York politics, including minorities in New York whose candidate lost to Bloomberg in 2005, Andrew Cuomo's crew, Shellie Silver and Albany politicians, update Democrats, Republicans, and certain progressive whites and labor interests that have been boxed out by Bloomberg. Stories like this, this, this, this, this, and this are the result.
Caroline Kennedy is being transformed right now from a liberal inheritor of Camelot and loyal behind-the-scemes public servant who bestoyed the family's blessing on Barack Obama to what Republican Peter King calls a "People Magazine celebrity" who "has never held a real job" and is being manipulated by Wall Street interests and sleazy Manhattan politicians.
There's some element of truth to this 'transformation', but selective cherry-picking of details from anyone's life can tell any story you want. What is cherry-picked is a function of political power and political calculation from the coalition backing her, and the people opposing her. This is a factional fight within New York politics, and Kennedy and her life has become the football. At first, before the opposition had time to organize, we heard what her backers wanted us to hear - Caroline Camelot Kennedy. But now, because they didn't organize a sufficiently strong political coalition and alienated allies, she is being turned into a lazy and secretive political heiress.
Some people are even comparing her to Sarah Palin, though to be fair, Palin did run and win the Governor's office in Alaska, and Kennedy has done nothing of that ilk. I think a more apt analogy is Paris Hilton, a celebrity who is famous because she's famous. Even Fran Drescher is asking for the Senate seat, and with her advocacy for cancer patients, Drescher might be more accomplished than Kennedy in politics.
I don't know how Kennedy gets appointed now. It could still happen, though she's a much weaker candidate for reelection in 2010 than she was even two weeks ago. That video of her running from reporters is awful, and the narrative of an entitled celebrity heiress is being cemented. Obviously politics is fluid, and perhaps she can do something remarkable, but this political fight has really damaged her reputation. I suppose there's a reason she kept out of the limelight her whole life. |
