From Raw Story: http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Patterson_picks_Gillibrand_to_succeed_Clinton_0123.html
And from Jeff Cohen: In a state with as many progressives as New York, are we getting yet another tepid, corporate-friendly Senator...this time APPOINTED, this time a big ally of the NRA??--jc From the Village Voice: Gillibrand has described her own voting record as "one of the most conservative in the state." She opposes any path to citizenship for illegal immigrants, supports renewing the Bush tax cuts for individuals earning up to $1 million annually, and voted for the Bush-backed FISA bill that permits wiretapping of international calls. She was one of four Democratic freshmen in the country, and the only Democrat in the New York delegation, to vote for the Bush administration's bill to extend funding for the Iraq war shortly after she entered congress in 2007. While she now contends that she's always opposed the war and has voted for bills to end it, one upstate paper reported when she first ran for the seat: "She said she supports the war in Iraq." In addition to her vote to extend funding, she also missed a key vote to override a Bush veto of a Democratic bill with Iraq timetables. From the NYTimes: If Mr. Paterson was hoping to quiet the tumult over the selection process by picking Ms. Gillibrand, there were indications that he may not get his wish. Ms. Gillibrand, who has been endorsed by the National Rifle Association, is controversial among some of the party's more liberal leaders downstate. Representative Carolyn McCarthy, a Long Island Democrat and ardent gun control activist, said Thursday that if Ms. Gillibrand got the job, she was prepared to run against her in a primary in 2010. Ms. McCarthy was elected to Congress after her husband was killed in a gunman's rampage on the Long Island Rail Road in 1993. TIME TO ORGANIZE From: Jonathan Tasini [mailto:jtas...@economicfuturegroup.com] To: Interested Parties Re: The Caretaker Appointment to the U.S. Senate David Paterson's choice to fill the U.S. Senate in New York is an affront to the people of New York. New Yorkers do not deserve a caretaker Senator who is anti-immigrant, anti-gay rights, and proudly carries the endorsement of the National Rifle Association, an organization that is uniquely responsible for the death and injury by gun violence of hundreds of thousands of Americans. But, make no mistake about it: the governor's appointment is a caretaker. Rather than wring our hands, New Yorkers need to begin to organize TODAY to elect a Democratic Senator in 2010 who will represent progressive values--values that many of us believe reflect the majority opinion of the state's voters. By progressive, I mean someone who will: articulate a substantially different foreign policy than most "liberal" Democratic politicians support; someone who will aggressively push for single-payer health care; and someone who fights for a different economic strategy that favors people over corporations on the whole range of issues from trade to unionization to the power of corporations. The caretaker appointment will be showered with huge campaign contributions from Wall Street and other establishment, inside-the-Beltway power brokers--many of the same people whose mindset led us into the economic crisis we now face. We can elect a progressive Senator in 2010 if we use the power of grassroots organizing and tap a broad base of donors who yearn for deep, systemic change. The campaign must begin now. Indeed, it has already begun, with scores of New Yorkers signing up even before the appointment was announced. New Yorkers are invited to join the campaign at <http://www.progressivenewyork.org>www.progressivenewyork.org or on Facebook at <http://apps.facebook.com/causes/195469?m=ab07ea1b>http://apps.facebook.com/causes/195469?m=ab07ea1b --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's "News From Underground" newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to newsfromunderground-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the "Unsubscribe or change membership" link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the "Unsubscribe" button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
