Is Lt. Governor Appointment Legal?

Assemblyman Michael Gianaris of Queens says he supports the appointment of a Lieutenant Governor for New York, but the Attorney General says it's not legal.

Good Day NY spoke with Gianaris not long before word came that Republicans involved in the legislative stalemate secured a court order blocking the appointment.

(AP) -- Republicans said Thursday that they have secured a court order suspending Gov. David Paterson's plan to appoint a lieutenant governor to preside over the gridlocked New York Senate.

GOP Senate spokesman John McArdle said a judge in Nassau County issued the order overnight. He said it temporarily suspends
Paterson's plan to have Richard Ravitch provide a tie-breaking vote and preside over the Senate.

Paterson spokesman Peter Kauffmann said the temporary restraining order was received Wednesday night, after he said all
the necessary appointment papers were filed with the state  secretary of state.

Ravitch, a former Metropolitan Transportation Authority chairman, said he didn't know of the court action.

Ravitch said he was sworn in at 8 p.m. Wednesday, hours after Paterson made the surprise appointment long thought to be
constitutionally prohibited.

The Senate has been gridlocked since a June 8 coup by a Republican-dominated coalition over the Democratic conference that
thought it won the majority.

McArdle said the court order is scheduled to be argued Friday. The coalition had immediately slammed Paterson's appointment of
the 76-year-old Democrat known for crisis management as a political move to boost his weak poll numbers as he campaigns for election in 2010.

Paterson's televised speech was promoted through his campaign Wednesday and robo calls were made Wednesday night by the campaign praising the Democratic governor's action.

Ravitch told The Associated Press Thursday that he will be "addressing serious problems that the state faces and I am not now
and I will never be a candidate for elected office." 

Ravitch recently championed a transit bailout plan. He was chosen by then-Gov. Hugh Carey to help dig New York out of its 1974
fiscal crisis. He also worked for President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1966 and was part of the National Commission on Urban Problems.