NEW YORK - Hours after Caroline Kennedy abandoned her hopes for a New York Senate seat, political sniping broke out yesterday between Gov. David A. Paterson's camp and allies of America's most fabled Democratic dynasty.
The two sides offered conflicting claims about the sequence of events leading to Kennedy's pullout and whether she was, in fact, a serious contender to fill the seat vacated by Hillary Clinton.
"The events of the last day illustrate very clearly why the governor never intended her to be the senator," said a person close to Paterson. The source spoke on condition of anonymity.
Paterson plans to announce his selection to fill Clinton's seat today, sources say.
"Yesterday's events were a fiasco, and her entire rollout has been a fiasco, botched from the beginning and botched throughout," the Paterson associate said, adding that some "potentially embarrassing issues" emerged during the vetting process, involving taxes, Kennedy's nanny and her marriage.
Individuals close to Kennedy offered a different account, saying that Paterson had been prepared to offer Kennedy the position before she asked to be dropped from consideration. She issued a one-sentence statement yesterday: "I informed Governor Paterson today that for personal reasons I am withdrawing my name from consideration for the United States Senate."
"She did not have any issue with taxes, no issues about her marriage or her nanny, none of that is even close to in play," another source said. "This woman does everything exactly how it's meant to be done."
Those close to Kennedy said the health of her uncle, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, did not factor into her decision. He has been undergoing treatment for a brain tumor and was hospitalized Tuesday after suffering a seizure.
"He has a serious illness, but he's actually in as good a shape as he's been for a very long time," said Bob Shrum, a Democratic strategist who has been close to the Kennedy family for decades.
Much of the Washington political establishment was dumbfounded by Caroline Kennedy's decision. Rep. Louise M. Slaughter, a New York Democrat and one of the earliest and most vocal proponents of Kennedy's appointment, expressed surprise and "a keen sense of disappointment."
Speculation about who would get the Senate appointment centered on Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand, a second-term House Democrat from upstate New York, and state Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo.
