Maloney Versus Gillibrand. Is There a Difference?
Word was leaked today that U.S. Representative Carolyn Maloney has decided to challenge appointed U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand for the 2010 Democratic nomination to New York State’s junior Senate seat. Given that this contest would be one Democrat against another, people may be tempted to ask: Is there a really much difference between the two?
If you care about ideas and not just personality, yes, there’s a big difference. Kirsten Gillibrand has been accused of being a right wing Democrat, and her legislative record in the Senate so far supports that characterization. Gillibrand has a net legislative score of only 9 on a scale that ranges from -100 to 100. There are just two Senate Democrats who have lower scores than that.
Carolyn Maloney, on the other hand, has a net legislative score of 62 – not perfect, but no member of the House of Representatives has a perfect score. Maloney’s score places her among the 4.8 percent most progressive members of the House.
New York State residents are more progressive than regressive in their political values. On the substance, Carolyn Maloney would be a better representative for New York in the U.S. Senate than Kirsten Gillibrand has been.
This article is from outer space.
Senator Gillibrand is a clear progressive as is reflected in the growing and impressive list of statewide endorsements from public officials, opinion leaders, progressive organizations and unions. She is a worthy successor to Hillary Clinton.
Better you should ask why Maloney is willing to give up her seniority and important committees to undermine a younger, charismatic, effective legislator who is a strong advocate for all New Yorkers??? Is it bitterness and pique at not getting appointed to the Senate position she, Maloney, campaigned so shamelessly to get and failed?
Are you seriously suggesting that we should judge politicians not according to their record of legislative activity, but according to their list of endorsements?
How does getting an endorsement from Democratic Party insiders change the fact that Kirsten Gillibrand has failed to support most of the progressive legislation in Congress, and has helped to promote regressive legislation as well?
The information that this article is based upon is not from outer space. It’s from the Library of Congress.
If Gillibrand is a progressive, I’m the pope.
And, yeah, charismatic my ass. The papers have been filled for months with stories of real New Yorkers disaffected with appointee-Senator Gillibrand’s performance in Washington, DC.
[...] Carolyn Maloney is clearly much more progressive than her appointed incumbent rival for New York’s junior seat in the U.S. Senate, Kirsten [...]