There were several things I would have liked to post about today, not the least of which could have been Bildo O’Reilly’s chivalrous offer to stand next to the little lady Sarah Sanders at White House Press Briefings and fend off mean ole reporters — presumably by flinging delicious deep fried chickpea dough-balls at them - who dare question Sander’s lies too provokingly.
But the Schneiderman resignation would not let me to settle on a less seismic story, so I got to poking around and decided to introduce to you his replacement, the estimable Barbara Dale Underwood.
Underwood is currently the New York solicitor general who once clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall and has had a distinguished career in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, according to The Albany Times Union.
A 1998 New York times profile described her as intimidatingly smart:
“Even really, really smart people describe Barbara D. Underwood as ''intimidatingly smart,'' despite their bewilderment over her decision to leave a tenured professorship at Yale Law School 16 years ago to toil in the low-rent vineyards of the Brooklyn District Attorney.
But since then, Ms. Underwood, who has a potent sense of intellectual curiosity and pragmatism, has become the senior appellate lawyer of choice for state and Federal prosecutors in New York, having won rulings for them on constitutional issues in criminal law. Now 53, she has been named Principal Deputy Solicitor General of the United States, which means she will argue cases on behalf of us all before the Supreme Court.”
Barbara is now 73, and it remains to be seen if she wishes to be more than a seat warmer until the New York State Assembly appoints a replacement; preferably one who wishes to stand for the office on their own in November.
Should she decline that honor Spectrum News offers a list of potential candidates:
“Speaking on NY1 Monday night, political strategist Basil Smikle says by weighing the numbers and dynamics, State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie actually has a fair amount of power when it comes to naming a replacement. After that is done, Smikle says the Democrats will head a convention later this month to begin a statewide formal nominating process.
"Well the governor, the attorney general, and the comptroller, so what would happen is the legislature would likely fill, choose somebody to fill the seat for the remainder of the year. But, my guess is you would want someone who would actually want to run for the position, starting at the convention in May. To get the nomination you need 25 percent of the vote to get on the ballot, I think 40 percent to get the official designee or nominee of the party so you want someone that would have the intention to continue to run and then that person would be on the ballot in September in the primary formally, and then in November in the general election," Smikle explained.
Several perspective names are being floated to run as his replacement include former Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, Public Advocate Leticia James, former State Superintendent of Financial Services Benjamin Lawsky and State Senator Michael Gianaris.”
Preet has my vote, should Underwood decline.
Whoever fate sorts out to take Schneiderman’s job, his actions, which I have no reason to doubt, are damaging and depressing to, obviously, all personally involved, but also the resistance as a whole.
As for that Mrs. Betty Bowers has a good suggestion:
Sharpen those pencils Ronan.