The state Senate has done the right thing by confirming Eugene L. Nicandri of Massena and Jonathan F. Foster of New York City as members of the New York Power Authority board of trustees.

Mr. Nicandri served as St. Lawrence County Court judge from 1985 to 2004 and is an excellent choice. Mr. Foster is an investment banker. Both were confirmed by a unanimous voice vote last Tuesday.

Now that this is done, the authority board should elect D. Patrick Curley chairman.

Mr. Curley was nominated by former Gov. Eliot L. Spitzer for a five-year term on the board and confirmed by the state Senate in October 2007.

He is president of St. Lawrence Business Consultants, a financial consulting firm that he started in 1977. The company serves clients in banking, manufacturing, education and other fields in the private, public and not-for-profit sectors.

Mr. Curley is an active community leader in Western New York. He has served three terms on the Orchard Park Town Board and chairs the board of trustees of Erie County Central Police Services. Prior to that, he served as an assistant vice president for finance at a Fortune 100 company and as a corporate loan officer for Marine Midland Bank, now HSBC.

A member of the National Board of Directors of the American Heart Association, he has served on the board of Mercy Hospital of Buffalo and on the President's Council of D'Youville College in Buffalo. He founded the Orchard Park Council of the Arts.

He is married to the former Carolyn Wells Garlock of Alexandria Bay, where they have a summer residence.

Mr. Curley understands power issues and has upstate New York's interests at heart. He would be a good choice to chair the Power Authority board at a time when leadership is crucial.

The board should waste no time in selecting him.