Virtual Town Hall: 5 Questions for Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand

This is the second installment of MYD’s “Virtual Town Hall,” a series of exclusive interviews with newsmakers, lawmakers, and other fascinating New Yorkers. Our first was with Rep. Carolyn Maloney, and today we have Senator Gillibrand. The format is simple: We ask any five questions. They answer. No edits! 

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) is the current junior U.S. Senator for the state of New York. She was appointed by Governor Paterson in 2009 to fill the seat vacated by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Previously Gillibrand represented New York’s 20th District in the U.S. House of Representatives. Gillibrand is seeking election to her Senate seat in a special election this fall.

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)

1. You received inspiration and lessons from your political family, how do you recommend that young people find mentors and learn the craft of politics?

I was fortunate to grow up with a wonderful role model for public service – my grandmother. She taught me the importance of organizing to give voice to people who had no voice. When I was young, I worked alongside her on the front lines, licking envelopes, making phone calls, and working to elect candidates we believed in. Before I decided to pursue public service, I did the same thing, working with women across New York to raise money for other women candidates that cared about the same issues I did. But it wasn’t easy to break in and get a job. Finally, I approached Andrew Cuomo at an event here in New York City. Andrew was serving as Secretary of HUD under President Clinton at the time and he challenged all of us in the audience to get involved. I told him what I’d been doing and that I was having a hard time making inroads. He ended up inviting me to DC to interview for a job with him at HUD. Andrew became just the mentor I needed. I worked as special counsel under him until 2000 and it was that job that made me realize that I truly wanted to work at the federal level and to run for congress. So, my advice to all young people is to get involved, organize your friends and others who care about the issues you care about and seek out mentors that can help guide you to great opportunities in public service.

2. The Obama administration is calling for a crackdown on Wall Street bonuses but some state and local officials, included Mayor Bloomberg and Governor Paterson, have come out against increased taxes, citing the importance of the financial industry to the New York economy. Where do you stand on the issue?

I’m proud that we were able to pass legislation that establishes common sense rules of the road for the financial industry. My priority has been to make sure that we never again suffer from a financial crisis due to too much risk in the system, institutions that are too big to fail, and a lack of proper oversight and accountability. To this end, one of the proposals I’ve fought for is the establishment of an independent Consumer Financial Protection Agency that has real teeth. We must have systems in place that protect all American families, put consumers first and remove bad actors that threaten our financial security.

3. As a member on the subcommittee for Green Jobs, how can work to ensure that green job training for the unemployed is targeted to difficult-to-employ populations? How will you work to ensure that women, who are traditionally under-represented in green job fields from engineering to carpentry, are included in the push for green jobs in NY?

Creating Green Jobs and fair opportunities for all workers are two of my top priorities. Women-owned small businesses are among the fastest growing segment of our economy, and in order to promote economic development and sustainable growth, this segment of businesses must be supported. That’s why I, along with my Republican colleague Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine, recently introduced the bipartisan Fairness in Women-Owned Small Business Contracting Act of 2010. This legislation would address the imbalance in workplace opportunity that women face by enabling female entrepreneurs to receive non-competitive federal contracts when circumstances permit, providing them with the tools to compete fairly in the federal contracting arena. This bill would put women-owned contracting firms on par with other federal small business socio-economic contracting programs and will help the federal government to finally meet its goal of contracting 5% of its annual work to companies owned by women.

In addition, as part of the Environment & Public Works Committee-passed climate bill, I secured language, working with Green For All, a coalition of Environmental Justice, Religious, Labor, and Environmental groups that creates a framework to target employment and training opportunities in green construction to workers and communities who traditionally have had little access to career-track jobs with high-road contractors in the building trades. If the Senate proceeds with comprehensive climate and energy, which I hope we will, I will fight for similar language in that legislation.

4. You moved from serving a slightly more conservative constituency upstate from representing the whole state: how do you balance serving public interest with serving public opinion? How do you balance your principles with what your constituents want?

I ran for Congress in 2006 because I am passionate about serving my constituents. It was my number one focus as a Congresswoman and is my number one focus as a Senator as well. I will always serve the people I represent. Being a strong representative and advocate is not simply about how you vote, it’s about making government open and transparent; it’s about making sure people have access to opportunity; it’s about being accessible to all your constituents by going to supermarkets or diners to speak one on one with everyday citizens. Remember, when I represented one of the most conservative districts in the state, I was voting more than 93% of the time with the Democratic majority. This was not a Democratic district yet they sent me back to Congress with 68% of the vote in 2008. It was because they knew every day I woke up with the goal of fighting for them in Washington. I look at my job as Senator the exact same way.

5. Some of our members are interested in running for political office, but one of the most difficult problems they see with politics is how much money one needs to raise to be a viable candidate. As a successful fundraiser, what advice would you give these young people?

One thing I would say is that before I ran for office, I spent years raising money for other people here in NYC. I worked with the Women’s Campaign Forum and other advocacy groups and organized mostly women to raise money for candidates and organizations that shared our values. That’s a good start. You meet people who want to help and you build important relationships with them. If you help them by raising money for them, they’ll most likely never forget you.

Campaign T-Shirt Tracker! — Inaugural Gillibrand Edition

Let’s face it – we’re into politics, and we’re young enough that we can still remember college.  And what’s one of the hallmarks of the college experience?  All the random t-shirts for things.  And we at MYD love t-shirts, from last summer’s Don’t Vote For Pedro to the Big F***ing Deal.

So, it’s a state election year.  With all of our statewide elected offices up for election this year (including BOTH U.S. senators), what looks to be a wild multiple-candidate throwdown in the election for state Attorney General, AND both houses of the state legislature up for reelection…there will be a lot of competitive campaigns, a lot of campaigning, and therefore a lot of campaign swag.

So, when 2010 NY campaign t-shirts come our way, we’ll be posting pics, sometimes with comments.  Above left, here’s a look at our first catch of the 2010 cycle, a Gillibrand shirt we snagged at the Senator’s low-dollar event last week.

At right is a close-up of the logo design on the t-shirt.  It’s bold and busy, with lots of familiar NYC symbols (interesting when you consider that she represented an upstate district in congress).  I’m usually not a fan of t-shirts this busy – between the symbols substituting for letters (or crowding in on top of them), the variation in letter sizes, etc.  That said, I think it hangs together.

I’m a huge fan of the fact that Gillibrand is all over the Democratic brand, prominently displaying the color blue, the word Democrat, and even the donkey logo.  This kind of reflects her current style as a senator and candidate — instead of  trying to be all things to all people, Gillibrand’s been taking strong positions on issues we care about, from healthcare to equal rights issues like Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, and doing what she can to move the ball forward.

As always, this post does not constitute an MYD endorsement of Senator Gillibrand, as MYD does not render endorsements in contested Democratic primaries.

Breaking: Harold Ford Jr. Decides Against Senate Bid

The New York Times reports:

Under intense pressure from Democratic Party officials,
Harold E. Ford Jr., the former Tennessee congressman, has
decided not to challenge Sen. Kirsten E. Gillibrand in the
primary this fall, according to two people told of his plans.

He has told friends that, while he is convinced he could
prevail against Ms. Gillibrand, he feared the winner of the
primary would have little money and remain highly vulnerable
to a well-financed Republican challenger at a time when the
Democratic party controls the Senate by a slim majority.

New York Democracy?

Last week, Representative Carolyn Maloney, whose district covers the East Side of Manhattan and parts of Queens dropped her bid to challenge Senator Kirsten Gillibrand in the Democratic primary.  Borough President Scott Stringer also abandoned his exploratory efforts into running for the Senate seat.   No matter what your thoughts are on Maloney, Stringer or Gillibrand individually, this all begs the question: when did New York get a government-by-appointment?

Clyde Haberman’s July 13th column for the New York Times points out:

There are six statewide elective offices. Four of them are now filled by politicians who were not the people’s choices. They fell into their positions by virtue of someone else’s malefaction or ambition.

The governor, as noted, is unelected. He has now named a lieutenant governor, an appointment whose legality is uncertain. The state comptroller was handed the job by his Assembly colleagues after his elected predecessor resigned in disgrace. The junior United States senator is also an appointee, selected by the unelected — dare we say accidental — governor.

So much for democracy, right?  New Yorkers certainly deserve to have a choice when they head to the ballot box and while Gillibrand may very well have won in the end anyway, it was nice to think that there would at least be some competition.  Even if Representative Maloney was not favored to win, she should still be recognized for her efforts to imbue a litte more democracy into our state.

Support A Public Option for Healthcare? Sign Senator Gillibrand’s Petition

From TAP:

As you know, there is a historic effort underway in Washington right now to finally address the health care crisis in this country, and I need your help.

As I’ve written over at DailyKos and as I told Howard Dean last week, I believe that a robust not-for-profit public option must be a part of the health care reform package Congress passes this year. I feel that opening up a Medicare For All type system to everyone would lower costs and increase efficiency by injecting some much needed competition into the market.

I was very pleased to see the Senate HELP committee pass a bill out of committee last week that included a public option, and I assure you, I am going to do everything in my power to ensure that a public option remains in the final bill. I feel that not only must the public option be national and accountable to Congress, but it must be made available to all Americans right away. We’ve kicked health care reform down the road for far too long already. As others have said — I think rightly — a public option has already been triggered.

We are at a critical time in the health care reform debate, which means we must keep the pressure on. That’s where you come in. The online community has done so much already — and trust me, those of us fighting for real reform feel encouraged by your advocacy and those who are opposed to it are feeling the pressure. Will you help me keep the pressure on? Please join me in advocating for a public option by signing my petition today. I truly believe that health care is a right, not a privilege, and that the time for real reform — including a public option — is now. As the President said last night, the status quo is NOT an option and with you by my side, I intend to continue to fight for the real reform that Americans deserve.

Thanks for all your hard work.

Listen: Senator Kirsten Gillibrand Conference Call

Yesterday Senator Kirsten Gillibrand hosted a conference call with the NYSYD to update everyone on what she’s up to as our Senator, and then answer some questions.

Take a listen!

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Gillibrand versus Maloney

Rep Carolyn Maloney

House Representative Carolyn Maloney has decided to run against Senator Kirsten Gillibrand in the Democratic primary for the junior Senator’s seat in 2010. 

Sen Kirsten Gillibrand

The back story here is that when then-Senator Hillary Clinton was appointed by President Obama to become Secretary of State, Governor Paterson filled the vacancy with then-Representative Kirsten Gillibrand over others such as Caroline Kennedy and Rep Maloney. (Remember Scott Murphy? He filled Gillibrand’s empty House seat.) But Gillibrand will have to run for re-election come 2010, and Maloney’s decision means she won’t sail through the primaries. 

In recent months, Senator Gillibrand has been racking up a huge number of endorsements, and seems to have the political weight of the White House behind her. But Maloney is saying New Yorkers deserve a choice: 

“She’s decided to run because she believes there needs to be a debate on the real issues and she wants to give New Yorkers a choice,” Maloney’s adviser said. “She believes her record and results make her the right person to fight for New Yorkers.”