Thursday, January 25, 2007
More Spitzer Appointments
Liz Benjamin Capitol Confidential
Liz picks up on the DiNapoli angle........here is her spin on things.............enjoy........andy
Here’s one way to whittle the number of legislative members clamoring to be state comptroller…
For the first time, Gov. Eliot Spitzer has tapped a member of the state Assembly - Alexander “Pete” Grannis, a Manhattan Democrat - to serve in his administration.
Spitzer announced this morning that he has nominated Grannis, who interviewed for the comptroller’s post Tuesday, to serve as commissioner of the state Department of Environmental Conservation.
Grannis, one of the longest-serving members of the Assembly, was elected in 1974. He chairs the Assembly Insurance Committee and is a member of the Ways & Means Committee.
UPDATE: Click here to read the entire press release, which includes a detailed history of Grannis’ background.
Grannis, who worked as compliance counsel at the DEC prior to his election to the Assembly, is nonetheless not the most obvious choice to be commissioner.
Just recently, Spitzer was praising Assemblyman Tom DiNapoli, a Long Island Democrat who chairs the Assembly Environmental Conservation Committee and was long considered a frontrunner for the DEC post. But DiNapoli seemed uninterested in that job.
DiNapoli, who interviewed to be state comptroller yesterday, mounted a campaign for lieutenant governor last year but quit the race after he was passed over by Spitzer, who hand-picked his running mate, LG David Paterson, then the Senate minority leader.
DiNapoli was also mentioned as a possible candidate for state Secretary of State, but Spitzer instead chose Lorraine Cortes-Vasquez, a former aide to ex-Assemblyman, onetime Bronx Democratic boss and current political consultant Roberto Ramirez, for that post.
Another individual whose name was mentioned as a potential DEC commissioner, Judith Enck, who served as an adviser to Spitzer in the AG’s office, has been named deputy secretary for the environment - a second floor position.
Prior to joining the AG’s office, Enck was a senior environmental associate at NYPIRG an before that was executive director of the Environmental Advocates of New York.
Salaries for these two posts were not included in the press release that announced them.
After Spitzer won, it was widely speculated that he would dip into the Assembly majority for commissioners. But so far, he hasn’t done so - much to the chagrin of some Assembly Democrats who were hoping to move on.
Before the announcement about Grannis, the only legislator Spitzer had tapped to serve in his administrator was former Republican state Sen. Mike Balboni, who is deputy secretary for public safety
Liz picks up on the DiNapoli angle........here is her spin on things.............enjoy........andy
Here’s one way to whittle the number of legislative members clamoring to be state comptroller…
For the first time, Gov. Eliot Spitzer has tapped a member of the state Assembly - Alexander “Pete” Grannis, a Manhattan Democrat - to serve in his administration.
Spitzer announced this morning that he has nominated Grannis, who interviewed for the comptroller’s post Tuesday, to serve as commissioner of the state Department of Environmental Conservation.
Grannis, one of the longest-serving members of the Assembly, was elected in 1974. He chairs the Assembly Insurance Committee and is a member of the Ways & Means Committee.
UPDATE: Click here to read the entire press release, which includes a detailed history of Grannis’ background.
Grannis, who worked as compliance counsel at the DEC prior to his election to the Assembly, is nonetheless not the most obvious choice to be commissioner.
Just recently, Spitzer was praising Assemblyman Tom DiNapoli, a Long Island Democrat who chairs the Assembly Environmental Conservation Committee and was long considered a frontrunner for the DEC post. But DiNapoli seemed uninterested in that job.
DiNapoli, who interviewed to be state comptroller yesterday, mounted a campaign for lieutenant governor last year but quit the race after he was passed over by Spitzer, who hand-picked his running mate, LG David Paterson, then the Senate minority leader.
DiNapoli was also mentioned as a possible candidate for state Secretary of State, but Spitzer instead chose Lorraine Cortes-Vasquez, a former aide to ex-Assemblyman, onetime Bronx Democratic boss and current political consultant Roberto Ramirez, for that post.
Another individual whose name was mentioned as a potential DEC commissioner, Judith Enck, who served as an adviser to Spitzer in the AG’s office, has been named deputy secretary for the environment - a second floor position.
Prior to joining the AG’s office, Enck was a senior environmental associate at NYPIRG an before that was executive director of the Environmental Advocates of New York.
Salaries for these two posts were not included in the press release that announced them.
After Spitzer won, it was widely speculated that he would dip into the Assembly majority for commissioners. But so far, he hasn’t done so - much to the chagrin of some Assembly Democrats who were hoping to move on.
Before the announcement about Grannis, the only legislator Spitzer had tapped to serve in his administrator was former Republican state Sen. Mike Balboni, who is deputy secretary for public safety
