Lynch Aide Not Going to Albany
It looks like Bill Lynch’s associate, Luther Smith, will not be joining David Paterson’s administration after all.
Smith is a longtime consultant in Lynch’s firm who also worked for Paterson’s 2006 lieutenant governor campaign. So, when Paterson became governor earlier this month, Smith was a logical guy to reach out to.
As Lynch told me on March 12, Paterson “plucked one of our guys, out of my firm, to go work for him, Luther Smith.”
But that job hasn't materialized and, as of now, Smith is still working at Lynch’s Harlem-based firm. When asked if Smith was still joining the administration, a spokesman for Paterson emailed yesterday to say, "No comment."
When reached via email this morning, Smith said he never planned on joining the administration. "The day after the Spitzer story broke, I went up to Albany at Paterson’s request," he said, adding that "Paterson just wanted a few familiar faces around him and a few extra hands in his office. A couple of us were there to pitch in." Smith said he stayed there through Paterson's swearing-in ceremony on Monday "and left Albany the next day."
- Poll
- Obama (D)
- McCain(R)
- Spread
- RCP Average
- 49.4
- 42.8
- Obama +6.6
- Candidate
- Favorable
- Unfavorable
- Spread
- Obama
- 56.4
- 36.3
- +20.1
- McCain
- 50.1
- 41.3
- +8.8
Good. It is Bill Lynch's bad advice that has landed Paterson in the situation he is already in.
Luther Smith made C. Virginia Fields what she is today.
Hey, 3:27, that's not saying much. CVF was unemployed since leaving office until very recently. Someone who has been in public office for almost 20 years should have had multiple offers from multiple sectors.
Luther Smith made C. Virginia Fields what she is today . . .
A HAS BEEN ! !
Hack is often used to describe Luther Smith. However, hack is a verb, and that implies activity - something unknown to indolent Smith.
Luther Smith corrupted community boards throughout the borough at the behest of Fields in her quest for funding for her mayoral bid. He was her hatchet man who decimated the good people from the boards and put in corrupt campaign contributors.
Also he is a lazy campaigner ( I know, I campaigned with him and he sat mostly on his fat ass) and the only good thing about him going to Albany is that it means one less parasite in the city.
For more, visit http://virginiafields.com/
"Hack"? "Lazy"? "Parasite"?
These are the kinds of cheap shots taken by cowards who don't have the balls to identify themselves and obviously don't really know Luther.
I worked with him a few times and while I didn't always agree with his point of view, I certainly could never call him a lazy campaigner. He worked hard and put in long hours at his job.
I think he rubbed some folks the wrong way because he wasn't willing to always cowtow to some of the the know-it-all white liberals who occupy the island of Manhattan. As long as you do everything that they want, you're a paragon of virtue, but when when one deviates from their wishes you become a "hack".
And he often told them about themselves.
The comment about community boards is laughable. Luther did no more or less than anyone else in his role has done. CB's have always been part patronage mills. They were that before Fields, they were that during Fields and they're that now (all of Stringer's claims to reforms notwithstanding.
I argued with him often because he seemed singularly focused on the ethnic imbalance of political power in NYC without the appropriate attention to the role of policy in that imbalance.
If you want to disagagree with his politics, do so, but stop with the cheap shots.
Well, as one of the above "white liberals from Manhattan" I can say that I found Luther Smith effective every time I worked with him. My experience, I was not treated as if I was entitled, or dis-entitled. He worked with people, white or black, when they stepped up and helped make things happen for the city. He told me the truth, and never stabbed me in the back.
Without a doubt, had Luther not stayed on top of the African Burial Ground issue, it would not have gone anywhere. I think this is especially important, considering how little real authority the Borough President's office really has, so it took both insight and persistence for Luther to break through and get this important project done. Very few people were successful wresting this thing from GSA, the mega-federal government agency, but he did.
It is also hard for me to see why someone would question his effort to engage African Americans more powerfully in the running of the city. There is no doubt African American's have not had much of a chance to help steer on the important issues, and the city needs all the participation it can get.
More power to Luther Smith, and others who feel as he does.