NY Sen. Gillibrand Too Conservative for the Times' Taste
Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand is the new senator from New York, replacing Hillary Clinton, who resigned her Senate seat to become Secretary of State in the Obama administration. But the Times hasn't rolled out the welcome mat. So far the paper has done little but nag Gillibrand for being insufficiently liberal, pushing her to back away from her stands against amnesty for illegal immigrants and her support of gun rights.
A Metro section story by Kirk Semple on Wednesday, "Drawing Fire on Immigration, Gillibrand Reaches Out," argued that Gillibrand must adapt by moving to the left to appease her diverse and apparently angry vast new constituency.
During her one term in the House of Representatives, from a largely rural, traditionally Republican district, Kirsten E. Gillibrand was on safe political ground adopting a tough stance against illegal immigration.
Ms. Gillibrand, a Democrat, opposed any sort of amnesty for illegal immigrants, supported deputizing local law enforcement officers to enforce federal immigration laws, spoke out against Gov. Eliot Spitzer's proposal to allow illegal immigrants to have driver's licenses and sought to make English the official language of the United States.
But since her appointment by Gov. David A. Paterson last week to fill the Senate seat vacated by Hillary Rodham Clinton, Ms. Gillibrand has found herself besieged by immigrant advocates and Democratic colleagues who have cast her as out of step with a majority of the state, with its big cities and sprawling immigrant enclaves.
Caroline Kennedy was considered New York Gov. David Paterson's original choice for the seat. If Kennedy had not bowed out in chaotic fashion, would the Times now be running stories insisting that a Sen. Caroline Kennedy move to the right and broaden her appeal past her insular, Manhattan liberal elite (including Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger)friends? Doubtful.
Semple casually turned the race card:
The flap over Ms. Gillibrand's immigration record underscores the political challenges she faces as she broadens her political constituency from an overwhelmingly white district along New York's eastern fringe to the entire state. Census data show that about 21 percent of the state's population and 36 percent of New York City's residents were born overseas, said Andrew A. Beveridge, a demographer at Queens College.
Gun-control advocates, including Representative Carolyn McCarthy, a Democrat from Nassau County, have also taken sharp issue with Ms. Gillibrand's opposition to some gun control measures, with Ms. McCarthy threatening to run against her.
Is the liberal Carolyn McCarthy somehow more representative of the state of New York than Gillibrand?
Still, Ms. Gillibrand has not backed down from her long-standing opposition to "amnesty" for illegal immigrants, which has left some immigrant advocates wondering whether she would support any law that would establish a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants.
The Times characterized her voting record in the House as more conservative than her colleagues, although Gillibrand's voting record during her year of officewas safely left-of-center, with the American Conservative Union rates it a whopping 8 on a scale of 1 to 100. Despite that, Semple filled his reporting with warning signs:
In the House, where she served from 2007 until this week, Ms. Gillibrand frequently voted more conservatively on immigration issues than a majority of her Democratic colleagues.
In votes that pitted her against a vast majority of her fellow Democrats, she sided in favor of bills that required adult occupants of affordable housing to provide proof of residency and that penalized cities that protected undocumented immigrants, such as New York.
She also diverged from the overwhelming majority of Democratic representatives by voting in favor of bills that increased financing for law enforcement against illegal immigrants and that protected businesses requiring their employees to speak English on the job.
She is a co-sponsor of the SAVE Act, widely disparaged by immigrant advocates, which aims to crack down on illegal immigration with more border guards and surveillance technology, accelerated deportations and a mandatory program requiring employers to verify the immigration status of employees.
Americans for Better Immigration, a lobbying group that pushes for tighter immigration enforcement and a reduction in immigration, has given her a grade of B, placing her among the group's 22 top-rated Democratic House members.
There was more scrutiny of Gillibrand's unwelcome nods to the center in reporter Michael Powell's "Welcomed in Washington, Scrutinized Back Home," who repeats the insinuation that Gillibrand is too conservative to represent the entire state in all its ethnic diversity, lining up criticism from New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, among others.
She possesses a veteran politician's easy style, serving kisses on the cheeks to her colleagues and hugs for her nieces and nephews who came to witness her swearing-in. But the road from representing a rural and distinctly conservative district encircling Albany to taking responsibility for the entire state comes with sizable potholes.
Since Gov. David A. Paterson announced her appointment on Friday, she has been lashed for her positions on guns - very much in favor - and illegal immigration - very much against - with downstate Democrats rumbling about primary challenges.
Antigun activists, not least Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, dislike her 100 percent rating from the National Rifle Association. "I have a strong disagreement with one area of her record as a member of Congress: illegal guns," Mr. Bloomberg said in a release last week. "She has actively opposed the efforts of New York City, and cities around the state and nation, to enact common-sense measures to keep illegal guns out of the hands of criminals."
And she has taken criticism for opposing the Wall Street bailout, the argument going that this is like a Detroit legislator opposing help for the auto industry.
Ms. Gillibrand faces an electoral gantlet more closely resembling that of the Congressional seat she abandoned than the more leisurely six-year terms of the Senate. She has to defend her seat in a 2010 special election, and then again in 2012 as she completes the term of Mrs. Clinton.
