Stimulus Bill Puts Carolyn Maloney in Hot Seat, Not Senate Seat, by Liz Peek

Editor’s Note: Liz Peek is a financial columnist and the author of wOw’s Wall Street Weekly and SHEconomics.   

As a Democrat in Congress, NYC Representative Carolyn Maloney finds herself between a rock and a hard place. Or, more accurately, stuck between President-elect Obama and angry taxpayers. Her party is pushing hard to pass Obama’s stimulus plan, but voters have made it clear that they have had quite enough of bailouts. Maloney concedes that supporting the first TARP legislation last fall “was probably one of the most unpopular votes I’ve ever taken since I’ve been in Congress.”

While her colleagues are eager to play ball with their party’s new standard-bearer, Maloney may need to be the team’s cheerleader. You see, she wants Hillary Clinton’s Senate seat, and being cozy with Obama may well boost her chances. After all, Caroline Kennedy’s out-of-the-blue candidacy stems from her family’s endorsement of candidate Obama; it is not exactly the expected outcome of a life raising children on Park Avenue.

New York Gov. Paterson will appoint Hilary Clinton’s successor in a matter of days. And his choice will doubtless reflect the complicated political chess-playing that office-holders thrive on. He is expected to choose someone who is close to the new president, presumably in hopes that Obama will be more sympathetic to the needs of New York. It is likely, too, that by choosing a candidate favored by Obama, Paterson might find the popular new president lending a hand in his next campaign.

All this scheming may leave poor Ms. Maloney in the dust. Maloney has been in Congress since 1993, and before that served on the New York City Council. She has long championed women’s issues and has secured the support of NOW, the National Foundation for Women Legislators, the Business and Professional Women’s Organization, the National Women’s Political Caucus, the Council of State Legislators, the 504 Club (a group for people with disabilities), the Business Women’s Roundtable and a whole gaggle of other organizations. But none of those matter unless Paterson favors her, too.

Like other senatorial hopefuls, Maloney has met with Patterson, and says their 55-minute conversation “went very well,” but like her supporters, she has no idea which way the state’s chief executive will jump.

Some Republicans are calling for an election, which might better serve Maloney’s interests. There’s the rub. From her point of view, it must seem unconscionable that Caroline Kennedy, who has never been bruised by having to run for office, may just sail unsullied into the seat to be vacated by Hillary Clinton — and darned unfair.

Ms. Maloney gets worked up over unfairness — in any venue. She recently co-sponsored the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which will help women demand equal pay for equal work. The legislation passed the House once before, in 2007, but ran into opposition in the Senate from Republicans who viewed it as anti-business and would likely spawn costly lawsuits.

Congresswoman Maloney sees it as important legislation to help counter embedded workplace discrimination against women, and she applauds the urgency with which Congress tackled the issue. “One of the important messages of the new Congress is what your first vote is. And the first vote was on the very famous Lilly Ledbetter decision which literally rolled back the opportunity for women to try to change pay discrimination.”

Meanwhile, like her fellow Democrats, Maloney is on the griddle. Our conversation was cut short by her need to return to the debate taking place on the stimulus bill and the second tranche of TARP. Like so many Americans, Maloney is frustrated by the challenge of getting the economy moving.

”We seem to be trying so many things and things don’t seem to be working.”