Lt. gov. can stay — for now
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- July
- 30
The Associated Press is reporting that a mid-level appeals court ruled today that Richard Ravitch can continue serving as lieutenant governor until a lawsuit over the constitutionality of his appointment is resolved. There is one caveat—he is not authorized to preside over a Senate session. (The Senate is scheduled to meet in special session next week to take up the issue of New York City school governance.) The next court date is Aug. 18.
Gov. David Paterson appointed Ravitch as lieutenant governor July 8, a month after a leadership coup that had paralyzed the Senate. The Senate dispute was resolved the next day, with Democrats taking control of the chamber after Republicans and two Democrats had put the GOP in power.
Also on the next day, Senate Minority Leader Dean Skelos, R-Nassau County, and Sen. Pedro Espada, D-Bronx, filed a lawsuit challenging Paterson’s appointment. (Espada participated in the coup but ultimately went back to the Democratic conference.)
A state Supreme Court justice in Nassau County had ruled that Ravitch could not serve as lieutenant governor until the lawsuit was resolved. Lawyers for Paterson and Ravitch went to a mid-level appeals court to protest the prohibition on Ravitch serving as lieutenant governor. Last week, the appeals court shot down the ban on a temporary basis. Today’s ruling extends that decision.
Paterson said today that he wants Ravitch to work with him on a plan to eliminate the state’s $2.1 billion budget gap. The governor said he and Ravitch would present a recommendation to the Legislature this fall. Paterson has said he would call the Legislature into a special session on the budget in September.
This entry was posted
on Thursday, July 30th, 2009 at 4:56 pm by Cara Matthews.
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Jay Gallagher has covered Albany for Gannett News Service since 1984 and has been Albany Bureau chief since 1989. He`s a native of the Boston area and likes to point out that in this millennium, the score is Red Sox 1 championship, the Yankees 0. 
Cara Matthews has been a statehouse correspondent in the Albany Bureau since August 2005. Prior to that, she covered Putnam County government and politics at The Journal News for nearly five years. Before that, she worked at newspapers in Connecticut and covered the state Legislature for one of them. 
