Kirsten Gillibrand

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U.S. Senator

Kirsten Gillibrand

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D-NY

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Positions
Leadership: No leadership position
Committees: Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Senate Special Committee on Aging
(subcommittees and past assignments)

Candidates for the NY-Senate Class I Seat:
(Next election: 2 November 2010)

Confirmed: None so far
Considering: None so far
Rumored: None so far
Potential: None so far
Dropped-out: None so far
(more info and editing for the NY-Senate Class I Seat)
On the Web
Official website


Kirsten Gillibrand, a Democrat, is the Junior Senator from New York in the United States Senate. She represented the 20th Congressional District of New York between 2007-2009. On January 23, 2009, Gillibrand was appointed by New York Governor David Paterson to fill the seat in the United States Senate vacated by Hillary Clinton, who assumed the office of United States Secretary of State in President Barack Obama's administration. She resigned from the House of Representatives on January 26, 2009, and was sworn in as a senator on January 27.[1]

Contents

Record and controversies

Congressional scorecards

Click through the score to see the records of other members of Congress and full descriptions of the individual votes.

Want to see someone else's scorecard added to the list? You can do it!

Organization 2007 Scorecard
Score - Agree ratio 		2008 Scorecard
Score - Agree ratio
American Civil Liberties Union not avail. not avail.
American Conservative Union 8 - 2/25 not avail.
AFSCME not avail. not avail.
Americans for Democratic Action 95 - 19/20 70 - 14/20
Club for Growth not avail. not avail.
Drum Major Institute not avail. not avail.
Family Research Council not avail. not avail.
Information Technology Industry Council not avail. not avail.
League of Conservation Voters not avail. not avail.
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People not avail. not avail.
U.S. Chamber of Commerce 60 - 12/20 not avail.


Political courage test

Rep. Gillibrand did not respond to the 2008 Political Courage Test when asked to do so by national leaders of the political parties, prominent members of the media, Project Vote Smart President Richard Kimball, and Project Vote Smart staff.[2]

Financial bailout bill

Gillibrand voted against the $700 billion bailout bill in the 110th Congress, saying the bill did not do enough to protect taxpayers nor did it provide enough financial return for taxpayers investment.[3]

Energy

Gillibrand campaigned in 2008 on a record of voting to improve automotive mileage standards, for investments in renewable energy, and for tax credits to small businesses that embraced the use of alternative energy supplies. She also called on domestic energy producers to use existing leases for oil and gas development and for a release of oil from the country's Strategic Petroleum Reserve.[3]

Health care

During her 2008 re-election campaign, Gillibrand pledged to support a national health-care system that Americans could buy into. This plan would be an alternative to plans already offered by private insurers. She also said small businesses should be encouraged, through the use of tax credits, to offer health insurance to their workers, and she also approved of giving tax credits to low-income families who elected to purchase health care.[3]

Gun rights

In 2008, the National Rifle Association gave Gillibrand a 100-percent rating in its lawmaker scorecard. Gillibrand also introduced legislation in the farm bill that would have increased lands available for conservation and hunting.[3]

Iraq War

For more information see the chart of U.S. House of Representatives votes on the Iraq War.

Schedule posting

Gillibrand became the first member of the House to post their schedule online after pledging to do so in the 2006 campaign.[4] An archive of her daily postings can be found here.

Gillibrand said she was also among the first to post her earmark requests online and to voluntary post her personal financial disclosure forms as well.[3]

Biography

Born in Albany, Gillibrand graduated from Dartmouth College and the University of California, Los Angeles Law School. After graduation, she worked as a law clerk on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. During the Clinton Administration, she served as Special Counsel to the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. At the time she ran for Congress in 2006, she was a partner in the law firm Boies, Schiller & Flexner. She and her husband Jonathan have two children.

Congressional career

2006 elections

In the 2006 congressional elections, Gillibrand defeated incumbent Rep. John Sweeney to take control of her seat.

2008 elections

Gillibrand faced Sandy Treadwell (R), a former New York State GOP chairman, in the 2008 congressional election. The incumbent raised more than $4 million to beat back Treadwell's self-financed challenge, holding on to her conservative upstate district with a centrist message and record in Congress.[5]

Senate appointment

On December 1, 2008, then President-elect Barack Obama announced his nomination of Hillary Clinton for Secretary of State. Clinton's confirmation created a vacancy in the Senate to be filled by appointment by Gov. David Paterson. Gillibrand was one of several people rumored by the media, including Caroline Kennedy and Gillibrand's former boss, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, to be under consideration as Clinton's replacement.[6] Clinton was confirmed as Secretary of State and resigned her Senate seat on January 21, 2009.

On January 23, Paterson named Gillibrand as his appointee to Clinton's vacated seat. Paterson said Gillibrand would serve in that role until a special election is held in November 2010 for remainder of Clinton's term (which ends with the 112th Congress in January 2013). Gillibrand acknowledged many New York residents did not know her, and pledged to follow in Clinton's example and work hard for her constituents.[7] Gillibrand resigned from the House of Representatives on January 26, 2009.[8]

On the day of the appointment, Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-N.Y.) announced she would challenge Gillibrand in the 2010 Democratic primary. A likely Republican opponent is Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.), who has shown interest in running for the Senate seat.[5] The seat's regular election cycle continues in 2012, for the six-year term ending in 2019. [9]

Money in politics

This section contains links to – and feeds from – money in politics databases. For specific controversies, see this article's record and controversies section.

Top Contributors to during the 2008 Election Cycle
DonorAmount (US Dollars)
Boies, Schiller & Flexner$ 394,664
Davis, Polk & Wardwell$ 333,100
Corning Inc$ 150,650
JPMorgan Chase & Co$ 145,000
Morgan Stanley$ 141,525
National Amusements Inc$ 130,350
Goldman Sachs$ 120,150
Blackstone Group$ 106,700
Sullivan & Cromwell$ 105,625
Paul, Weiss et al$ 98,400
Source: The Center for Responsive Politics' www.OpenSecrets.org site.
Note: Contributions are not from the organizations themselves, but are rather from
the organization's PAC, employees or owners. Totals include subsidiaries and affiliates.
Links to more campaign contribution information for Kirsten Gillibrand
from the Center for Responsive Politics' OpenSecrets.org site.
Fundraising profile: 2008 election cycle Career totals
Top contributors by organization/corporation: 2008 election cycle Career totals
Top contributors by industry: 2008 election cycle Career totals

Committees and Affiliations

  • House Committee on Agriculture
    • Subcommittee on Conservation, Credit, Energy, and Research
    • Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry
    • Subcommittee on Horticulture and Organic Agriculture
  • House Committee on Armed Services
    • Subcommittee on Seapower and Expeditionary Forces
    • Subcommittee on Terrorism, Unconventional Threats and Capabilities

More Background Data

Background information on John Sweeney, whom Kirsten Gillibrand challenged in the 2006 congressional elections:

Contact

DC office
  • 478 Russell Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510
    Ph: 202-224-4451 Fax: 202-225-1168
    Webform email
District offices
  • 446 Warren Street, Hudson, New York 12534
    Ph: 518-828-3109 Fax: (none entered)
  • 333 Glen Street, Suite 302, Glens Falls, New York 12801
    Ph: 518-743-0964 Fax: (none entered)
  • 487 Broadway Street, Saratoga Springs, New York 12866
    Ph: 518-581-8247 Fax: (none entered)
On the Web
Campaign office

Articles and Resources

References

  1. ↑ "Gillibrand sworn in as N.Y. senator," The Washington Times, January 27, 2009
  2. ↑ "Representative Kirsten E. Gillibrand (NY)" Project Vote Smart, retrieved January 23, 2008
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 "Kirsten Gillibrand for Congress - On the Issues" KirstenGillibrand.com, retrieved January 23, 2009
  4. ↑ "SUNLIGHT UPS THE ANTE ON MAKING CONGRESSIONAL SCHEDULES PUBLIC," Sunlight Foundation Blog, November 14, 2006
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Aaron Blake, "Gillibrand pick starts political dominoes," The Hill, January 23, 2009
  6. ↑ The Woman Who Might Take Hillary's Senate Seat The Daily Beast, November 26, 2008
  7. ↑ Danny Hakim and Nicholas Confessore, "Paterson Picks Gillibrand for Senate Seat," The New York Times, January 23, 2009
  8. ↑ "Short Mechanical Note on Gillibrand," CongressMatters.com, January 26, 20098
  9. ↑ Class I - Senators Whose Term of Service Expire in 2013, Senate.gov, retrieved January 23, 2009

External resources

Related Sourcewatch resources

Local blogs and discussion sites


Semantic data (Edit data)

Retrieved from "http://www.opencongress.org/wiki/Kirsten_Gillibrand"
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