Black Democrats in New York Face Imminent Loss of Clout

(New York Times) — Even as Democrats gathered in the ballroom of a Manhattan hotel last week to celebrate their party’s sweep of statewide offices in New York, a sober realization began to dawn among some in the crowd: What once seemed like a new golden age for the state’s black political establishment could be on the verge of an abrupt collapse.  Come January, the state’s first black governor, David A. Paterson, will leave the Executive Mansion after serving less than one term. RepresentativeCharles B. Rangel, the dean of New York’s Congressional delegation and head of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee until this year, will return to Washington as a member of the Democratic minority, as willRepresentative Edolphus Towns, who will lose the top post on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

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