Ferraro, the first woman nominee for vice president, sent a letter to Gov. Paterson urging him to instead appoint one of New York’s six sitting female Congress members to replace Hillary Rodham Clinton in the Senate…

“You can’t send someone down there who doesn’t know the issues,” Ferraro told The Post. “If you send someone down there who doesn’t know the legislative process, they’ll get chewed up alive.”

“Our senator should be ready on Day 1,” added Ferraro. “Just knowing people down there [in Washington, DC]? It’s just not enough.”