Niagara County Legislator Renae Kimble has worked throughout her political career to expand opportunities for African-Americans in public life. But, she’s also spent much of her career fighting the evils of domestic violence. So when the Empire State’s first African-American got himself into trouble for allegedly trying to pressure or at least cajole an alleged domestic violence victim into not testifying against her attacker, Kimble didn’t hesitate.

“I can’t defent this,” she flatly states. “When you have a Governor of New York who has apparently called a victim of domestic violence the night before her hearing to try to get her to not testify against her attacker who also happens to be his aide, When you have a Governor who has used the state police in order to influence such a victim not to testify, then I say that Governor has to leave. Really, it’s only a matter of time. What I would say to him is, ‘Please…Spare us the agony. It’s time to go!”

Legislator Kimble acknowledges that this wasn’t an easy decision for her.

“Look, I always liked David Paterson,” she points out. “He came all the way up to Niagara Falls to do a dinner for me when no one knew who he was. But, there are some things that just aren’t right. There is such a thing as right and wrong and this was wrong. We need to have more recognition that some things are just simply wrong in Albany and, unfortunately, we don’t have that now.”

A self described liberal on some issues and a conservative on others, Kimble believes the time has come for Albany’s powerful to make the hard decisons that need to be made, no matter what.

“We have got to CUT spending in Albany which means that someone has got to make the tough decisions that need to be made,” she declares. “That’s what we are elected for: To make the really hard decisons. To do the things that need to be done. Right now our medicaid program is killing our counties. we’ve got to find ways to reduce our spending on medicaid. Excessive state spending is killing our ability to create the new jobs our people need. We can’t just go on year after year not facing our problems and expecting that they are going to go away….And, this current situation with Governor Paterson is a prime example. He’s got to go!”