Today, New York Governor David Paterson is expected to announce that U.S. Representative Kirsten Gillibrand, who has only one term in the House of Representatives under her belt, will be appointed replace Hillary Clinton as New York’s junior U.S. senator. Given that David Paterson himself was not elected to the seat of Governor, the choice is certain to bring some controversy.

Paterson has added to this controversy, however, with the particular choice of the inexperienced, and rightward-tilting, Gillibrand. Gillibrand has been a supporter of George W. Bush’s program to spying against Americans without a search warrant, voting to give telecommunications corporations retroactive immunity for their violation of the law in helping Bush to eavesdrop on the private communications of law-abiding American citizens. Gillibrand also supported Sarah Palin’s offshore drilling agenda, voting for legislation that opened up almost every mile of America’s shorelines to offshore drilling at a time when gasoline prices were already in decline.

Gillibrand has questionable political roots, having gained her seat in Congress largely through the influence of her father, Douglas Rutnick, who is a lobbyist who has worked for military contractors. Gillibrand accordingly has aligned herself with the pro-weapons gun nuts in Congress, earning the highest possible rating from the National Rifle Association.

Opposition to Gillibrand has been quick to surface among New Yorkers. U.S. Representative Carolyn McCarthy publicly declared of Gillibrand that, “She would not be my choice,” and announced her intention to challenge Gillibrand in the Democratic primary election in 2010. Political writer Allison Kilkenny decried Gillibrand as part of New York State’s “politically incestual community”.

It’s also been noted that Gillibrand has used anti-gay bigotry as a tool for gaining political support, having “voted against the repealing of “Don’ Ask, Don’t Tell” legislation, opposed legislation that would grant equal tax treatment for employer-provided health coverage for domestic partners, opposed legislation to grant same-sex partners of U.S. citizens and permanent residents the same immigration benefits of married couples”.

All in all, it seems that David Paterson could have found a much better candidate to replace Hillary Clinton than Kirsten Gillibrand. Expect opposition to Gillibrand to grow among New York Democrats.