Copyright 2005 The Buffalo News


By Robert J. McCarthy - NEWS POLITICAL REPORTER

A top aide to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton who is a member of one of Buffalo's best known political families has been quietly building a candidacy for lieutenant governor in 2006, according to several sources.

Leecia R. Eve, Clinton's counsel and daughter of former Deputy Assembly Speaker Arthur O. Eve, has contacted Democratic leaders in Buffalo and around the state about running for the No. 2 post. Erie County Democratic Chairman Leonard R. Lenihan is one who has discussed the race with Eve.

"She's definitely exploring the possibility of running for lieutenant governor, and she certainly comes with the credentials," Lenihan said.

Few others have publicly discussed running for lieutenant governor, a post that often adds ethnic and geographical "balance" to the ticket.

Attorney General Eliot L. Spitzer, who is Jewish and from Manhattan, is the top Democratic contender for governor next year. That leads to speculation that an upstate, African-American woman could broaden his appeal in the general election.

Eve, 40, has not made any official announcements or established a campaign committee. And on Thursday she would only say that she is considering the race.

But several sources indicate she has been discussing a potential bid with many of her father's former political associates and with top party and labor leaders. If she is successful, her emergence into the state's top Democratic leadership would prove another victory for the Clinton wing of the state party.

A graduate of Buffalo public schools and Smith College, Eve earned her law degree from Harvard Law School and a master's in public administration from Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government, where she specialized in urban economic development.

She worked for a private law firm in Washington before signing on as counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee under Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr., D-Del. A specialist in commercial, securities and intellectual property litigation, in 1999 she became the first female African-American partner at Hodgson Russ, upstate New York's largest law firm.

She joined Clinton in 2001, serving as a key aide in legislation involving homeland security, the judiciary and election reform.

She is also the daughter of Constance Eve, a retired Erie Community College professor who is active in the community.