Shirley Ann Jackson Turns Down Offer to Run for Lieutenant Governor of New York


Shirley Ann Jackson

Eliot Spitzer, the attorney general of the state of New York and the clear frontrunner to replace George Pataki as governor, has chosen a black man — state senator David Paterson — as his running mate for lieutenant governor. But it appears that Paterson was not Spitzer's first choice. Published reports say that Spitzer first approached Shirley Ann Jackson, president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, about joining the ticket. Jackson, a physics scholar of international repute, previously served as chair of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

RPI confirmed that Jackson was approached about running for lieutenant governor. However, Jackson is in the middle of a $1 billion fundraising campaign. She advised Spitzer that she wanted to stay at RPI to complete what she had started.

Copyright © 2006. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education. All rights reserved.