Governor Paterson Must Appoint a Woman to Replace Senator Clinton

ALBANY, NY (11/20/2008)(readMedia)-- In the event Senator Hillary becomes President Obama's Secretary of State, NOW NYS strongly urges Governor Paterson to appoint another woman to the Senate. Not any woman, but a woman who believes in women's equality and important issues such as economic justice, ending racisim, reproductive rights, passage of the equal rights amendment, lesbian rights and ending violence against woman. As the Governor explained in his Democratic Convention speech to our NOW NYS delegation, when Hillary failed to secure the Democratic nomination, he understood the disappointment for many of her supporters, and why they were unwilling to "wait until tomorrow.

NOW NYS wants to remind the Governor of his powerful words when he stated, "Can we understand the feelings of individuals who worked hard enough, who tried hard enough and who always seemed to come up with less than their talent and character would take them? Do we really and truly and sincerely recognize what it does to a nation that too often has systematically dismantled opportunity for half of the human race? If we truly understand that, then we'd understand why a lot of supporters wouldn't say, 'We'll get 'em tomorrow' or 'Wait till next year.' Because it's been next year and next year and next year." We ask that our Governor remember these sentiments along with the fact that women make up over fifty percent of the population.

And soon Governor Patterson may well face a historic opportunity to at least maintain such presence as women now hold in the US Senate. Indeed, the percentage of women in leadership should reflect our presence in the population. And studies show how important it is that young girls see women in leadership positions.

Considering that, aside from Hillary, our presence in the US Senate, along with our entire NY State leadership, is exclusively male, the appointment of yet another man to the Senate would leave us with all-male leadership. In other words, women would be even more underrepresented than is the current case.

NOW New York State implores Governor Paterson to recall that he understood why women disappointed about Hillary's loss were saying they could no longer "wait until tomorrow." And we ask that, in the interest of justice and fairness, his appointment reflects the words of that tireless Congresswoman of old, Bella Abzug (D-NY) who battled for and secured gender parity for all Democratic Party conventions when she said "A Woman's Place Is In the Senate!

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