NY Gov. settles racism lawsuit

[HudsonHawk]

1010wins.com - $300K Settlement Reached in Gov. Paterson Discrimination Suit

Posted: Friday, 01 May 2009 7:40PM

$300K Settlement Reached in Gov. Paterson Discrimination Suit

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- A racial discrimination suit stemming from Gov. David Paterson's takeover of the state Senate's Democratic minority in 2003 has been settled for $300,000.

Senate staff photographer Joseph Maioriello, who is white, had sued the state and Senate for $1.5 million, claiming he was a victim of discrimination when he was fired and replaced by a black man.

Paterson, who is black, denied the allegation. In court papers, the governor, who is legally blind, said he did not know for certain the race of either man. He said he chose a new photographer mainly out of "loyalty'' concerns, since Maioriello had worked for his political rival.

Paterson on Friday said his lawyer and the attorney general's office, which handled the case, recommended a settlement. The trial was scheduled to start next week in federal court in Syracuse. The governor could have been called as a witness.

"This was an employee of Senator (Martin) Connor who we did not pick up when I became leader,'' Paterson said. A number of others also weren't hired, he said.

Paterson had won a 2002 caucus election to lead the Senate's Democrats, defeating the incumbent Connor. Paterson took charge of 143 employees on the caucus central staff.

"I really was just trying to put a team around me that I knew. Clearly this was not the case of a normal leader succession,'' Paterson said Friday. "I basically dethroned the leader and a number of people close to him resented me.''

The staff included Maioriello, of Schenectady. He sued the state and Senate after the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission concluded there may have been violations, because his supervisors claimed he was fired for poor performance but provided no "substantive evidence'' to back it up.

Maioriello claimed he was told by Paterson's deputy he was being discharged "because some of the black Senate members of the Democratic Conference wanted to replace me with 'a man of color.'''

U.S. District Judge Norman Mordue concluded that raised a question of material fact for a jury to sort out.

[Morris]

Yeeahhhh, riiiiiiiiight there governor.

[Xiphos]

When I saw the headline I thought it was a lawsuit because maybe Spitzer only hired white whores.