Albany, NY – A sharply divided state Court of Appeals this morning upheld Governor David A. Paterson’s authority to fill a vacancy in the office of lieutenant governor.
Writing for a 4-3 majority, Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman held that the state Constitution does not preclude Mr. Paterson’s appointment of Richard Ravitch as lieutenant governor, as state Senate Republican Leader Dean G. Skelos had maintained.
Rather, the Court agreed with the governor’s position that Public Officers Law §43 gave him the power to name Mr. Ravitch to fill the position that became vacant on March 17, 2008, when Mr. Paterson became governor with the resignation of Eliot Spitzer.
Today’s ruling ran counter to two lower court decisions, which found Mr. Paterson lacked the authority to appoint a lieutenant governor. It reversed a ruling by the Appellate Division, Second Department, upholding an injunction against Mr. Ravitch serving in the position.
Mr. Paterson appointed Mr. Ravitch on July 8, at a time when Republicans and Democrats in the Senate were split 31-31 and could not agree on who should conduct the day-to-day affairs of the chamber. The lieutenant governor presides over the Senate and casts a tie-breaking vote on certain procedural matters.
Shortly after the appointment, the leadership gridlock was resolved, but Mr. Paterson continued to say that he wanted to designate a lieutenant governor to erase doubts about the line of succession to the governorship should he become incapacitated.
(Source: NY Law Journal)
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Clever lawyering. Poor drafting by the people who wrote the state constitution (mostly long dead). The language does support Patterson for the most part, whereas the legislative history was totally against him. As the federal government allows for an unelected Vice-President who then becomes President, it seems states will look to the federal model, though it would be nice if this was done by saying so explicitly.