Background: In January, Governor David Paterson of New York appointed House Rep Kirsten Gillibrand to the Senate seat formerly held by Secretary of State Clinton.
Recently, there has been much controversy surrounding perceived establishment efforts to "clear the field," or ensure that viable potential primary challengers opt out of participating in the upcoming 2010 Democratic primary for the senate seat.
Good news: Senator Chuck Schumer, the senior New York senator and supporter of Kirsten Gillibrand, has stated that he does not intend to take measures to stop Carolyn Maloney, a House Rep, longtime member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, and viable candidate, from participating in the senatorial primary:
New York Newsday:
New York Sen. Chuck Schumer said Wednesday he doesn't anticipate asking a potential Democratic rival to Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand not to challenge her in New York's Democratic primary.
Schumer has endorsed Gillibrand and said he wholeheartedly supports her 2010 Senate bid.
An adviser to Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., said last week she plans to challenge Gillibrand and would be announcing her candidacy in upcoming weeks. Her entrance would create a potentially contentious and expensive primary battle.
Schumer said he's spoken with Maloney in recent days, but not about whether she would run. He said he doesn't anticipate asking Maloney not to.
I wrote a few days ago that establishment efforts to clear the field for an unelected appointee would amount to pulling up the ladder, or blocking a path to career ascension which Schumer himself enjoyed earlier on in his career.
I thank him for this encouraging, party-unifying and organically fair decision. I hope that this represents a sincere about-face on the part of senior party leadership to allow talented politicians to compete fairly for career promotions rather than allow these enormously important and powerful positions to be distributed by power-brokers in a top-down and non-transparent fashion.
Thank you, Senator Schumer.