Sources are saying that President-elect Obama will name his administration's first LGBT official with the selection of Nancy Sutley, the openly gay Deputy Mayor of Los Angeles for Energy & the Environment, to lead the White House Council on Environmental Quality.
While this is not as huge as naming an openly gay Cabinet member (though there are still a few of those positions open which could go to LGBT individuals) it is still a pretty big step. It's also pretty amazing that we're going to have a President who actually cares about the Environment. The news of her new position pleases California's League of Conservation Voters and gives hope that, with the environmental team Obama has assembled, we'll actually make progress towards cleaning up the planet. What a nice change from the continual downward spiral on environmental issues we've been in for the last several years!
Meanwhile, Marie Cocco makes some really good points in a piece on the excitement over Caroline Kennedy potentially filling Hillary Clinton's Senate seat. As I've noted before, I actually really like the idea of Caroline becoming New York's new Senator, largely because of my admiration for her. But Cocco rightly points out that Kennedy's family connections and good works alone shouldn't qualify her for a seat in the Senate.
The fact remains, though, that Senate appointments often go to people who've never held elected office before- Ted Kafuman, the new Senator from Delaware, for instance, or Jean Carnahan of Missouri who was appointed in her husband's place when he died just before winning the election. If we want to change this, we'd have to end the appointments of Senators to vacant seats and just hold immediate special elections instead, like they do in the House.
No matter who Governor Patterson appoints, they won't have to be elected by the people of New York until 2010, and possibly not even then if they decided not to run. I honestly think Caroline Kennedy would make a hell of a Senator. And if if turned out that she didn't, the people would have their say in two years, like they will on whomever the Governor chooses.
I'm completely biased, though, and freely admit that I was disgusted by Ted Kafuman's appointment. I felt it should have gone to someone who'd held elective office and wasn't just a friend of Joe Biden. This situation is a bit different, given all the good works that Caroline has done, but I can still see that I'm totally embracing a double standard on this.
But, what can I say? Nothing is ever black and white in life. While Kaufman's appointment is blatantly that of a seat warmer for Beau Biden's run in 2010, Kennedy's would be that of a woman who could become a true liberal leader in the Senate for decades to come.
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