( - promoted by phillip anderson)
Kirsten Gillibrand made her first public appearance as U.S. Senator in the Albany area Saturday, when she joined NY-21 Rep. Paul Tonko in endorsing Scott Murphy, the Democratic candidate in the March 31 special election for NY-20, Gillibrand's former district.
The event, held in a labor union (Amalgamated Transit Union Local Division 1321) office, attracted about 60 supporters and a full-court press from the press.
"Let's talk about Scott Murphy," Gillibrand began. "Scott will be an excellent Member of Congress representing the 20th Congressional District. And the reason why I know this is because of who he is."
Details below, including links to two new stories about Gillibrand in NYC. |
Gillibrand explained that Murphy's background as an entrepreneur and venture capitalist would be a real asset in Congress, especially in a time of economic crisis:
The reason Scott why will be successful (in Congress) is because he's an entrepreneur, he's someone who actually knows how to create jobs, how to help small businesses grow, what kind of tax cuts will make a difference for our middle-class families and our small businesses.
He knows exactly the formula for how we get the economy going again.
Gillibrand also noted that Murphy knows more about dairy farming than she did when she started out three years ago, since his wife's family owns a large dairy farm in Washington County.
That matters in this district, that matters in upstate New York, because agribusiness is one of the greatest focuses of our economy.
Scott has such a wonderful background, because he understands the rural economy, he understands agriculture.
Tonko, in his remarks preceding Gillibrand's, noted that the country voted for change in November by electing Barack Obama and adding substantially to Democratic majorities in the House and Senate, and that the stimulus bill was the first part of that change.
We now have an opportunity to add to that opportunity to make change, by electing someone who's made it his job to create jobs in the private sector.
After thanking his endorsers, Murphy said he was heartened by the passage of the stimulus bill (which he supported and his Republican opponent did not) that will mean an estimated 8,000 new or saved jobs in the 20th.
I'm a fiscal conservative and I'm a businessman, so I very much worry about spending money, and $1 trillion is real money. I share the concerns of many people in our district about the cost of this package.
When I get to Washington, I'm going to jump in immediately and work with Sen. Gillibrand to make sure that money is spent wisely, to make sure that we get our fair share here, and to make sure that government is open and accountable in showing us what that money was used for.
We're not going to let this get used like the bailout money -- we're going to make sure it's used for the things it's supposed to go for, to create jobs and to provide tax relief for working class, middle class families.
OT, somewhat, for those who are interested in how Gillibrand is relating with her new larger constituency, and I know there are more than a few here, there were two relevant stories in the media this weekend.
One, in The New York Times, deals with how Gillibrand's Chinese language skills, learned as she earned an Asian studies degree at Dartmouth, made a positive impression in Chinatown.
The other, a partial transcript of Mark Green's 7 Days radio show at Huffington Post, contains an interview with Gillibrand, followed by a panel with Katrina vanden Heuvel, editor of The Nation, and Arianna Huffington.
About Gillibrand, vanden Heuvel noted that before she and a small group of New York progressives met recently with Gillibrand, she got in touch with:
one of the leading progressives in New York and he said she had called him the day before and said, "I know I have to keep the left happy."
You can listen to the whole thing here. |
