Governor Spitzer has tapped former Governor Pataki’s liaison to the Jewish community, Karen Paikin, to stay on in that role. To our knowledge, she is the only Pataki staffer to flip into the new administration.

We expect (without any knowledge to back us up) that Avi Schick, a former top deputy at the AG’s office and now the downstate head of the state’s powerful economic development agency, Empire State Development, will still offer advice and guidance on Jewish issues to the new governor in addition to his duties at ESDC. Looks like it will be a great team. (On a personal note, we also advise him to check the desks drawers and closets for any ties that outgoing chairman, Ambassador Charles Gargano, may have left.)