So Caroline Kennedy (or rather her spokesperson) sent over written answers today to some 15 questions posed by the eb. It’s the first time we’re getting a real feel of her specific political views. The answers are IMO overall mixed leaning positive.
Here are some that stand out:
Q. Does she support state or federal legislation that would legalize same-sex marriage?
A. Caroline supports full equality and marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples.
EXCELLENT. So she starts off to the left of most of the Dem caucus on this one.
Q. Has the North American Free Trade Agreement worked?
A. Caroline believes that Nafta has had unintended, negative consequences in some regions of New York, and that is why she agrees with President-elect Obama that we need to take a careful look at the agreement and pay particular attention to its impact on jobs and wages in American manufacturing communities. She also believes that we must ensure that American communities and workers benefit as we craft new trade agreements.
Eh. She could have made her opposition to NAFTA stronger but ‘protectionist’ is now seen as a dirty word even in Dem circles.
Q. Do you support any federal or state restrictions on gun ownership? If so, which ones?
A. Caroline Kennedy is a strong supporter of gun control. She supports New York City’s and New York State’s gun control laws. On the federal level, she support the Brady Law, and other measures to keep guns out of the hands of minors and criminals.
Oh yes, I’m sure this will endear her to upstaters she so desperately wants to win over. throws up
Q. Do you believe that an undivided Jerusalem must be the national capital of the State of Israel?
A. Yes, Caroline believes that an undivided Jerusalem must be the national capital of the State of Israel.
Pander pander.
Q. Do you support the federal Employee Free Choice Act, otherwise known as the “card-check” bill?
A. Yes, Caroline supports the federal Employee Free Choice Act.
Ah finally! Something good.
Rest of the questions at the link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12…
Support for mayoral authority of public schools is probably a consequence of being besties with Bloomberg. She also gives a big fat no to vouchers for private schools. Take that Lieberman!
Possibily even more progressive than Hillary. Consider me unsurprised.
Unfortunately, it is only because of her surname that the Governor even feels pressured to have no choice but to appoint her to replace Hillary, despite the deep talent pool the Democrats have in the Empire State.
Kennedy’s appointment, if it goes through, smacks of elitism, which I think the Democrats worked very hard to get rid of during the election campaign. This article from the New Republic gives a strong argument regarding that point. To be fair, there is also a pro-Kennedy appointment article in the same publication. But I think the first article makes a better argument.
You’ve got Kristen Gillibrand, Andrew Cuomo, Brian Higgins, Mayor Byron Brown of Buffalo and a number of other talented politicians from both NYC area and upstate. Despite her policy positions, I think the Governor should ignore the pressure and look for someone else.
I know some here don’t like gun safety laws, but I appreciate that she supports common-sense gun laws. Oh yes, and supporting marriage equality is a HUGE plus in my book! And hey, support for EFCA is also a big plus.
The only thing that concerns me is the “undivided Jerusalem” stuff, but nearly everyone in Congress panders to AIPAC in some way. Maybe if Caroline Kennedy answers more questions herself & becomes more accessible to the people she wants to represent, I’ll feel much better about appointing her to the Senate.
But at least they’re being honest.
Good answers, though. The people who thought for some bizarre reason that Caroline wasn’t going to be a commie liberal smoked too much of James’ ganja.
As to whether she’d support the Dem mayoral candidate in 2009 (and whether she backed Bloombo’s term-limits extension). I’m going to be really appalled if she gets picked and then endorses Bloomington for mayor (or refuses to lift a finger for our nominee – which would be in keeping with her lifelong political habits until January of this year).
Just as some background, I grew up in Buffalo. The holidays has allowed me to have some conversations with family and friends who live in Buffalo and Syracuse.
Based on what I’m hearing from upstate, Gov. Paterson is quickly developing a huge problem in upstate. His budget is angering citizens in Buffalo, Syracuse, and (presumably) Rochester. These areas are the liberal areas of upstate. If he loses these, he’s in real trouble. He can still win NY with out upstate, but he’d need to win at least 60% in every county from Rockland County. More importantly he will likely lose the support of upstate members of the Assembly and State Senate.
Buffalo and Syracuse are just beginning to have some successes in changing their economies and are finally getting some downtown development. I assume the same thing is happening in Rochester, but I don’t have anecdotal evidence to support that. The new budget he proposed removes a great deal of the tax incentives that are supporting developent efforts.
On top of that, study after study shows that NYS taxes are choking business development in upstate. Businesses locate in NYC to be close to ports, corporate headquarters, financial markets, etc., etc. upstate doesn’t have the same benefits to make up for the tax load. Gov. Paterson has now added a ton of new taxes, cut programs western new yorkers depend on, cut many of the development projects that upstate was counting on and the tax benefits that future job growth hinges on and he’s doing it just as these areas are starting to see some benefit.
Furthermore, those in Western NY (usually defined in the state as Erie, Niagara, Orleans, Genessee, Wyoming, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua and Alleghany counties) are beginning to get angry that they pay the highest electric rates in the country (save HI and AK) yet the Niagara Power Authority (controls the supply and cost of power produced at Niagara Falls) sends the “Cheap Energy” to New York City. The opinion of those I talk to and the reports in the local media complain that while the WNY economy flounders under high taxes and high energy costs, NYC gets cheap power produced in WNY’s backyard.
My family consists of several teachers, a construction worker, a sales person, a hospital secretary, and a union representative for a local IBEW office. Each report that they themselves, a majority of coworkers, and the organizations for which the work are very upset with the budget. These represent key constituencies in upstate (teachers unions, blue-collar unions, medical field, and business people). Angring these groups could chum the waters, especially for a downstate republican like King.
They also state anecdotally that the appointment of Caroline will be seen as another black eye given to upstate. Most of the people I spoke with don’t have a specific issue with Caroline except that she’s shown no interest in NYS’s problems until Hillary’s appointment provided an “easy” path to the Senate. Few will be happy having an inexperienced political figure representing them when there are perfectly acceptable people from upstate who could take the position. Most tend to argue that the upstater= candidates are unknown outside their districts, but they’d have two years to make themselves known to the rest of the state. Caroline would have to use the two years to understand the problems of upstate. The opinion I’m hearing is that too few downstate representatives bother to fully understand upstates problems because they don’t need them to win elections.
This also represents a problem for Caroline. If she is seen as Paterson’s downstate advocate in the US Senate, a republican like King could run upstate with the message of “what have the dems done for you lately?”. I don’t think this gives King a mass of new voters. I do believe that it drastically reduces democratic turnout in upstate cities while it drives up republican turnout in the rural counties of the Southern-tier, Finger Lakes, and Adirondaks. I believe it also gives King a wind in cities like Watertown, Plattsburg, Binghamton. Being from downstate, a republican like King can probably make a significant dent in the margins democrats run up in the boroughs and probably wins the NYC Suburbs. This is a path for the republicans to win the seat in 2012.
Now that I have said all that, no matter who is appointed he/she will have a challenge in 2012. If the appointee is a downstater, he/she will have to prove to upstate that their problems are understood and at a level beyond the understanding of politicians in recent memory (yes HRC included). If an upstater is appointed, this person can spend less time proving themselves upstate and it becomes a fairly quick intro to the other parts of the state that he/she is not from, but must introduce himself/herself to downstate and show that he/she can address NYC’s needs and understand their issues too. Personally, I think it would be easier for to introduce an upstater to downstater than another downstater to a cynical upstate.