The Right Use of Politics

Questions still remain about the legality of Governor Paterson's appointment of Richard Ravitch as Lieutenant Governor.

It has been derided as primarily a political move that, based on the opinion of State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, will not pass legal muster given provisions of the State Constitution that seem to require that the Lieutenant Governor be elected, rather than selected, as part of the regular gubernatorial vote.

But even if that's true, from a practical as well as a political standpoint, Mr. Paterson's action was preferable to the hand-wringing and verbal slaps that were his previous response to the Senate deadlock.

In essence, the upper house of the Legislature was held hostage to the whims of one renegade Senator, Pedro Espada. He first shook down his fellow Democrat, Malcolm Smith, for a powerful committee post in exchange for his support for the Majority Leader's post and then, believing Mr. Smith was not living up to his end of the bargain, manipulated his Republican counterpart, Dean Skelos, for an even bigger plum—the job of temporary president of the Senate—to swing the balance of power to the GOP delegation.

Securing that post put Mr. Espada, a walking ethics violation who could be indicted on several different counts in the coming months, in a position to succeed Mr. Paterson if he left office, and to preside over the state temporarily if he so much as left its environs. The Governor may ultimately be proved to have acted illegally, but if so his conduct—particularly given Mr. Ravitch's undisputed competence— would still be preferable to the gross irresponsibility displayed by Mr. Skelos in creating that possibility.

We don't know whether the Paterson move played any role in spurring Mr. Espada to make the deal that led to his returning to the Democratic fold and breaking the deadlock, but it couldn't have hurt. And while the price he extracted was the post of Majority Leader, at least in this case he will no longer be next in line to succeed the Governor. That by itself is a big improvement.

If the Ravitch appointment is ultimately nullified, the state should amend its constitution to prevent future situations like the one that existed. We also hope that legislators respond to the negative outcry by making needed reforms that show they no longer believe anything goes. If they don't, they deserve to be booted during next year's elections. Some already warrant that fate no matter what happens from here.