So much for waiting till Saturday, or even Friday for that matter. Sources are confirming that Congresswoman Kristen Gillibrand will be appointed to fill the Junior Senator position for New York. She had been a top choice of the Governor lately and in the running for quite some time. The Empire State will now have a Senator from both upstate and downstate, unless you considered Chappaqua upstate.
From WPIX:
Now this second-term upstate and not-so-liberal Democratic Congresswoman will be representing all of New York. It does not matter that she is a woman, nor that her current district stretches north of Albany. What matters is...will she represent all of New York. Many on the left are worried about her positions on gun rights and whatnot. Yet from what the initial research shows, meaning a quick look at Progressive Punch, is not that shabby, with an 87.56 score. Sure, 165 members do better than her there, but she is still coming from an upstate NY district, one that was held by John Sweeney, yes, that John Sweeney.
PIX NEWS is being told that Congresswoman Kirsten Gillibrand is the reported choice of Governor David Paterson to fill the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Hillary Clinton. Two Congressional sources say members of the New York delegation have been invited to join Governor Paterson for the announcement in Albany at noon tomorrow.
Two members of that delegation, agreeing to speak without attribution, confirmed to reporter Marvin Scott that the Governor has telephoned New York's Democratic members of Congress for their views after Caroline Kennedy withdrew herself from consideration. One of the contenders, longterm Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney canceled a scheduled appearance on "PIX News Closeup" tomorrow because of a "conflict," which she did not disclose. She too will be in Albany. According to the sources, Gillibrand, now in her second congressional term, was favored by Secretary of State Clinton herself. Paterson has been under pressure to select a woman.
Of course, this doesn't change my view that Paterson should have gone with a caretaker. And due to that bad decision, his appointee is already looking at primary challenges, even before being formally announced as the newest Senator. So if Gillibrand continues to be a blue dog in the Senate, as my Senator, she can rest assure that I will help in anyway possible to put a better Democrat in that seat next year.
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