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Last Updated: Apr 1st, 2008 - 21:11:35 |
Spitzer Resigns; Paterson to Become New York’s First Black Governor
Eliot Spitzer has resigned as New York’s governor just two days after it was reported he was a client in a high-end prostitution ring. At a news conference Wednesday Spitzer stood next to his wife Silda to announce his departure.
Eliot Spitzer: “I go forward with the belief, as others have said, that as human beings our greatest glory consists not in never falling but in rising every time we fall. As I leave public life, I will first do what I need to do to help and heal myself and my family, then I will try once again, outside of politics, to serve the common good and to move toward the ideals and solutions which I believe can build a future of hope and opportunity for us and for our children.”
Federal prosecutors have yet to file any charges against Spitzer amidst reports he’s negotiating a plea bargain. Lieutenant Governor David Paterson will be sworn in as Spitzer’s replacement on Monday. Paterson will become New York’s first African-American governor and the first blind chief executive in the nation’s history.
For Paterson, the rise to governorship caps a groundbreaking career. He was born in Brooklyn to a prominent political family. As a baby, he lost most of his sight due to an infection. His family moved to Hempstead, New York, because New York City school officials refused to allow Paterson to attend regular classes. In 1984, he was elected to the State Senate representing Harlem. Paterson became minority leader in 2002 and then was elected lieutenant governor last year. He was one of the speakers at the Democratic National Convention in 2004 where he told the crowd, “I have a vision for New York State. I can’t see it with my eyes, but I feel it in my heart.”
Clinton, Obama Talk Michigan, Florida Re-Vote and Ferraro Resigns
On the campaign trail, Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama traded barbs Wednesday over the possibility of a re-vote in Florida and Michigan. Both states have already held their nominating contests, but the Democratic National Committee refuses to seat their delegates after they moved up their primary dates. In Washington, Clinton said the vote should either be counted—or re-done.
Sen. Hillary Clinton: “If you are a voter from Florida or Michigan, you know that we should count your votes. The nearly 2.5 million Americans in those two states who participated in the primary elections are in danger of being excluded from our democratic process and I think that’s wrong. The results of those primaries were fair and they should be honored. Over the last few weeks, there’s been a lot of discussion over what we should we do to ensure the voters in Florida and Michigan are counted. Well in my view there are two options: honor the results or hold new primary elections.”
Clinton won the Michigan and Florida contests in January. But the votes were widely seen as meaningless, because none of the candidates campaigned in Florida, while Senator Barack Obama and John Edwards stayed off the ballot in Michigan. Speaking in Chicago, Obama said his campaign shouldn’t be punished for having played by the rules.
Sen. Barack Obama: “The Clinton campaign seems to want to make up rules as they go along on this issue. We’ve simply said we’ll play by whatever rules are established. That’s what we did with Florida and Michigan at the outset. We were told they wouldn’t count. Senator Clinton agreed that they wouldn’t count until she thought maybe they should count. My bottom line is I do want to make sure that the Florida and Michigan delegations have an opportunity to
participate at the convention and we want to figure out an equitable way to do that and our campaign is in ongoing conversations with the Michigan delegation, the Florida delegation as well as the DNC (Democratic National
Committee) to find that equitable solution and I think it will be worked out.”
Michigan and Florida officials continue to draft plans for a re-vote. In other campaign news, former vice-presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro has left the Clinton campaign over her controversial remarks on Obama’s candidacy. Ferraro told a California newspaper this week Obama is only a contender in the race because he is black. On Thursday, Ferraro refused to apologize for her remarks but said she is stepping down to avoid becoming a distraction. Her departure comes less than a week after Obama advisor Samantha Power resigned after she was quoted calling Hillary Clinton a “monster.”
Obama Wins Mississippi Primary
Sen. Barack Obama has extended his delegate lead over Sen.Hillary Clinton with a primary victory in Mississippi. Obama won with sixty-one percent of the vote. Both candidates were in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, host of a key primary in six weeks. Clinton spoke to supporters in the town of Harrisburg.
Sen. Hillary Clinton: “I want you to know that if you will work for me for the next six weeks, if we can put together a great victory across this commonwealth. I will be there day in and day out fighting for you in the White House, making a difference for you, your families, your jobs, your health care. Let’s go out and make history together.”
New results show Obama has also won the Texas Democratic caucuses. Because of allocation rules, CNN is projecting that Obama will net more delegates from Texas than Senator Clinton, who won the state’s primary. Also campaigning in Pennsylvania, Obama addressed supporters at a town-hall style meeting in Fairless Hill.
Sen. Barack Obama: “This is our moment. This is our moment to choose change over more of the same, to choose the future over the past. This is our moment to finally turn the page on the failed politics of yesterday. This is our moment to put the American dream within reach for every American.”
Family of Black Teen Slain by Police Awarded $28M
In Pennsylvania, a federal jury has awarded $28 million dollars to the family of an African-American boy slain by police more than five years ago. Michael Ellerbe was twelve years old when officers shot him in the back during a foot chase on Christmas Eve in 2002. Police say Ellerbe had been inside a stolen vehicle. He was unarmed. A civil suit from Ellerbe’s family said the officers had no cause to open fire.
New York Town Shuts Down Exhibit of Iraqi Artist
And here in New York, officials in the city of Troy shut down a community space Tuesday, one day after the opening of a controversial exhibit by an Iraqi-born artist. It marked the second time in a week the exhibit ‘Virtual Jihadi’ by Wafaa Bilal was shut down. Bilal was originally invited to display the installation at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy where he is an artist-in-residence. But school officials shut the installation down last Thursday after protests over the focus of the exhibit – a video game based on an Al Qaeda game where President Bush is targeted for assassination.
After Bilal accused RPI of censoring his art, the Sanctuary for Independent Media in Troy offered to host the exhibit until April.
An opening was held on Monday night, but early on Tuesday the city called to say the building was not up to code because the building’s doors were not wide enough.
Troy, NY official: “We’re going to put a placard on the front door stating that the place has been posted unfit and there should be no assembly there at all for any reason until these doors has been taken care of.”
The phone call came less came less than 24 hours after an inspection by code enforcement and fire officials cleared the building for use. At the exhibit’s opening on Monday night, Wafaa Bilal said the meaning behind the “Virtual Jihadi” was misunderstood.
Wafaa Bilal: “This artwork is meant to bring attention to vulnerabilities of Iraqi civilians, to the travesty of the current war, and to expose racist generalization and profiling.”
It is not the first time Bilal’s artwork has caused a stir. He had to flee his native Iraq after being arrested several times because his artwork was too controversial for Saddam Hussein’s regime.
Bush: Attacking Iraq “Will Forever Be Right Decision”
Next week, will mark the fifth anniversary of the US invasion of the Iraq. In the first of several speeches timed to coincide with the five-year mark, President Bush said his decision to invade will forever be the right one.
President Bush: “The decision to remove Saddam Hussein was the right decision early in my presidency; it is the right decision at this point in my presidency; and it will forever be the right decision.”
Bush was speaking before a conference of the National Religious Broadcasters in Nashville, Tennessee.
Father of Injured Student Accuses Colombia of “State Terrorism”
In Ecuador, the family of a Mexican student seriously wounded in last week’s cross-border attack on FARC rebels is calling for legal action against the Colombian government. The parents of Lucia Morett say their daughter was visiting the FARC camp for a research paper when Colombia attacked. She is currently recovering from deep shrapnel wounds. Lucia Moret’s father, Jose Luis Morett, called the strike an act of state terrorism.
Jose Luis Morett: “They have given her the most humane, warm and comforting attention possible, but keeping in mind that she is the victim of a terribly painful act. An act of state terrorism. To attack another nation, to attack civilians without any declaration of war. To come over and massacre people. Every human being deserves the same respect as a group of civilian students like the kids from UNAM that came with my daughter were.”
U.S. Could Add Venezuela to Terrorism-Sponsor List
Meanwhile the Bush administration has opened a process that could add Venezuela to the lists of states sponsoring terrorism. According to the McClatchy news service, the State Department has launched a preliminary legal probe into Venezuela’s alleged links with Colombian rebels. Colombia said it found documents proving Venezuelan ties following its military attack on the FARC base in Ecuador. Venezuela denies the allegations. The State Department currently lists North Korea, Cuba, Sudan, Syria and Iran as countries supporting terrorism.
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