The Empire State has a lot to recommend it -- Broadway shows, Niagara Falls, and baseball's World Series champions, the New York Yankees. But politics? As the locals would say, Fuhgeddaboudit.
Colorful, ethnic, tribal, the New York political scene is much like the Big Apple itself, a bit rough around the edges. But the political upheaval taking place in the state now has shocked even hardened New Yorkers and given disillusioned voters across the nation more reason to lose faith in their leaders.
Just in the past week:
-- Democratic Gov. David Paterson dropped his re-election bid because of evidence he may have pressed the girlfriend of his closest top aide to drop charges of domestic violence against the aide. That bombshell, along with accusations that Paterson broke ethics laws when he sought World Series tickets and then lied about his intention to pay for them, has spurred a drumbeat of calls for his resignation.
-- Rep. Charles Rangel, the state's most influential member of Congress, relinquished his post as chairman of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee after the ethics committee found that the Harlem Democrat had broken House rules on accepting gifts.
-- Rep. Eric Massa, a freshman Democrat from upstate New York, planned to step down next week after announcing he would not seek re-election because of health reasons. A House ethics panel is reviewing a potential sexual harrassment complaint against Massa by a male staffer.
-- Then there's Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, whom Paterson appointed to fill the rest of Hillary Rodham Clinton's term after President Barack Obama named Clinton secretary of state. Gillibrand is widely viewed as weak and nearly drew a primary challenge from former Democratic Tennessee Rep. Harold Ford, who opted out of the race but wrote a column in The New York Times Monday blasting party leaders for protecting Gillibrand and trying to "bully" him.
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