Reflections From a Murky Pond

New York’s unelected Governor, David Paterson, is in a bit of hot water, or he will be if this story gets the media attention that it deserves. It seems that he’s cost the New York taxpayers an unexpected $300K because of his racism and explicit and overt racial discrimination.

Because of Paterson’s racism the state of New York has had to spend &300K to “secretly” settle an embarrassing federal racial-discrimination lawsuit stemming from Paterson’s firing of a White photographer in order to hire a Black one.

So far, as of this this posting at least, this is getting only local attention, and that even that is minimal, but the New York Post is running the story. I’m unsure, given the color of the times, if it will be picked up by other outlets or not.

The state has secretly settled an embarrassing federal racial-discrimination lawsuit, The Post has learned. The suit accused Paterson, back when he was Senate minority leader in 2003, of firing a white Senate photographer in order to replace him with an African-American.

~*~

The settlement ends a civil-rights action first filed in 2005 by Joseph Maioriello, 56, of Schenectady, a 26-year Senate employee who originally sought $1.5 million.

He was fired from his $34,000-a-year job as a photographer two years earlier and replaced by a black employee, El-Wise Noisette. The shakeup happened after Paterson ousted then-Sen. Martin Connor (D-Brooklyn) as the minority leader.

~*~

In the lawsuit, Maioriello claimed he was told by John McPadden, then Paterson’s chief of staff, that he was being fired because a number of minority senators wanted to replace him with “a minority photographer, a black photographer.”

He said he was also told, “You got to remember who Sen. Paterson is. Sen. Paterson is black.”

Governor Paterson’s disrespectful and flippant response – with more than a touch of the “Cripple Card” – was to claim that he didn’t see well enough to have fired Maioriello because of his race.

As reported by the Daily News, the firing of Joseph Maioriello was not an isolated incident. It was part of a concerted effort on the part of the Democrats to purge Whites from State Senate offices.

The suit was filed after the federal Equal Opportunity Employment Commission ruled that “there is reason to believe that [civil rights] violations have occurred” in the case.

The agency found a possible pattern of discrimination, noting that the Democrats in the Republican-controlled state Senate also fired a white graphic artist and replaced her with a Hispanic after Paterson took the leadership post.

Paterson served as Senate minority party leader from 2002 until 2006. It seems that, under Paterson the Blacks in the New York Senate added a new and darker meaning to his position as “Minority Leader.”

Fortunately for the rest of us Mr. Maioriello was brave enough and perseverant enough to fight the up-hill struggle that any White man must fight when filing a charge of racial discrimination against a Black. While I wish he’d refused the settlement and had forced Paterson and his “posse” to go to federal court in Syracuse, I can understand his need to take the settlement and get on with his life.

Tags: Blacks | Civil Rights | Crime | Democrats | Discrimination | Law | New York | Patterson | Politics | Prejudice | Racism

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 2nd, 2009 at 11:17 am and is filed under Politics. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.