Tonight, my attention is focused on the central portion of Upstate New York, where two congressional districts stretch from Rochester all the way over to the Adirondack Mountains, and down almost to the border of Pennsylvania. Currently, two Republicans represent these districts, the 25th and the 24th, in the United States House of Representatives. Both Republicans James Walsh and Sherwood Boehlert, voted in favor of the decision to start a war in Iraq – in spite of the fact that many local citizens urged them not to do so.
James Walsh and Sherwood Boehlert like to portray themselves as open minded and independent, but the record is clear: Both Congressman Walsh and Congressman Boehlert have been securely in the back pocket of George W. Bush. By our own count, Sherwood Boehlert has a positive progressive voting record of only 36 percent, and Representative Walsh is even worse, with a positive progressive voting record of only 14 percent. That’s a real shame, because both of these politicians represent areas that have strong progressive populations. Districts 24 and 25 can do better than Boehlert and Walsh.
The sad news is that, with less than a year to go, there is still no Democratic rival to Sherwood Boehlert. On the other hand, I am very pleased to find out that a strong rival to James Walsh has emerged. In 2004, the Democrats didn’t even bother offering a candidate to run against Representative Walsh.
Paloma A. Capanna is just the kind of Democrat that we need to see running for Congress in 2006: Intelligent, skilled, and progressive. Listen to what she has to say about the Iraq War:
“I am opposed to the U.S. military presence in Iraq, and I am calling for the safe withdrawal of our troops. I have held this position since March 2003, when President Bush claimed that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. I am an attorney by training and profession. No credible proof was brought forward to the American people or to the United Nations. I did not believe what the President said, and, as more and more is learned, more and more Americans are joining in this opinion and in the opposition to the war.”
Thanks for running Ms. Capanna. Now if we can just see someone of similar worth step forward in the 24th District…
I would like to congradulate Ms. Paloma A. Capanna for her courage for speaking the truth. For standing up for the American people and for the 24th District in Upstate New York.
Also, here in Congressional District # 20 we have another brave and patriotic young woman running against Rep. John Sweeney. Her name is Ms. Kirsten Gillibrand and she also speaks for the people of this district.
We, here, in Upstate New York are doing our best to Take Back America and with these two upstanding women we can win. If the current trends are any indication of the mood of the country we have a great chance of winning.
http://townmeetingday.blogspot.com/2005/11/tricounty-dfa-update-victory-laps-and.html
J. Clifford, could you run for one of those seats? Just askin’. You’d make a fine representative of our progressive values, and it would be great to see the change in Washington if a bunch of progressives got back into power. Maybe we’d be given a tax break!
Theoretically, I’d love to, but I’ve only lived in the 24th District for about ten months. With the local communities being as they are, I wouldn’t have much credibility. No public office experience, and just now establishing local community contacts.
Plus, I’ve got all my outlandish political opinions here on Irregular Times for everyone to see and pick apart. Too easy a target, I think.
Give me a dozen years, and then maybe it could work. Maybe.
Thanks for the consideration, though.
Kimberly,
I cannot in good conscience recommend a candidate who has a web site that says nothing but the following:
“Contribution to Gillibrand for Congress
Click here to contribute.”
Really, that’s all there is on the Gillibrand for Congress web site.
That’s not a campaign. That’s begging.
Now, there is another Democrat running for this same congressional seat, and he’s got a web site up where he talks at length about the issues he believes in. Morris N. Guller is against the Iraq War and Pro-Choice, for wind farms, and wants to be the first member of Congress to offer a bill to rescind the impeachment of Bill Clinton – among other things.
I see from your DFA web site that Kirsten Gillibrand sent your organization a message in which she didn’t set out one single policy position – but did ask you for money. In my opinion, that’s not the kind of approach we need in 2006.
My judgment is not set in stone. I’d reconsider if Kirsten Gillibrand would get a full web site up and talk about where she stands on the issues. Until she does, I can’t give her any support, or even a link.
I’m going to email you to request contact information for Kirsten Gillibrand, so that she can explain to me what her positions are, and why people ought to vote for her instead of Morris Guller. So far, though, it doesn’t look good for her.
J.Clifford,
Your point is well taken. I agree that someone running for office must be precise and explain their views on crucial subjects pertaining to the people they expect to represent. Thank you for opening my eyes and I have learned a very important lesson. When potential candidates attempt to run for office they must spell out their views so everyone will know where they stand.
I did visit the web site for Mr. Morris N. Guller and it is quite impressive and he expounds upon his positions very clearly.
Ms. Kirsten Gillibrand must do more than ask for donations at the current web site that is listed. This, potentially, will turn most people away.
I am not personally involved with anyone from the Gillibrand for Congress camp.
I just thought it would be of interest to inform others about a potential candiate for the 20th District of New York. Thank you for sharing Mr. Morris N. Guller with me.
P.S. Maybe you could take it a little easy on someone new to this arena.
Thanks,
K. Kennedy
Hello Kimberly;
Thanks for your message. Please go right away to our local DFA blog at http://townmeetingday.blogspot.com ! You will see great deal of information on Kirsten and her campaign. She was officially endorsed by the Saratoga County Committee this week. Her main emphasis is traveling around the district meeting voters face to face and learning their concerns. At this point their views, not hers, are what really matter.
You probably are not aware that according to an article a week ago in the Glens Falls Post Star, Morris Guller pleaded guilty to a charge of insider trading in 1989. So I am sorry to tell you, that whatever website he may or may not have, his campaign was effectively over, once that was revealed, given the enormous gravity of that criminal charge.
I would imagine (although I don’t know) that the Gillibrand campaign will be getting a website up and running very shortly; it is, after all, nearly a year to the election.
My best,
Larry Dudley
On Nov 18, 2005, at 11:25 PM, kimberly kennedy wrote:
Dear Larry,
I have recently been trying to find any information about, Ms. Kirsten Gillibrand, and where she stands on specific issues of importance for the people that live in our district. Sorry to say there is very little info out there regarding her views. This is disturbing to me and I am sure to many others who are wanting to support her in her efforts.
I think the web information directing you to a site for donations could be a major turn off for some people.
I think it is CRITICAL and urgent that Ms. Gillbrand and her campaign devote a specific amount of the funds raised to a Gillibrand for Congress web site.
I have heard from a few people how turned off that they were when direct to the donation only page for Gillibrand For Congress.
Here is the example of the person who is running against Ms. Gillibrand.
http://www.gullerforcongress.org/issues.html
My eyes were opened when I posted a comment about Gillibrand for Congress and received a well put reply. This person replied that how could they endorse a person running for Congress who sent you to a donation page. The comment was rather scathing and made me think about what they were saying.
As I do not know how to personally reach Kirsten Gillibrand For Congress via e-mail I was hoping that you might know how to reach her to relay this message.
Thanks,
Kim Kennedy
Kim,
Wow, that’s really interesting! You are clearly someone who does her homework. This is illuminating to me as a reader of this thread of comments.
I don’t think J. Clifford meant to be scathing, and I didn’t read it as such. But that may be me. It may be a cultural thing: we’re pretty lob-it-back-and-forth here. Are we meanies? I hope not: we don’t mean to be.
At any rate, you’ve uncovered some interesting information. Thanks for posting it here.
Larry’s “their views are more important than her views” position is interesting and sounds like campaign spin for “we haven’t figured out our platform yet for certain. Can you wait a bit?” Kind of a Wesley Clark on the local scale
Larry advised,
“Please go right away to our local DFA blog at http://townmeetingday.blogspot.com ! You will see great deal of information on Kirsten and her campaign. She was officially endorsed by the Saratoga County Committee this week. Her main emphasis is traveling around the district meeting voters face to face and learning their concerns. At this point their views, not hers, are what really matter.”
You know, I went to that web site, and all I saw about Kirsten Gillibrand was that she had been endorsed by some people, and that she was eager to run, and that she wanted money. That’s not enough for me, thanks. That’s not the fault of the DFA – it’s the fault of Kirsten Gillibrand’s campaign, because it doesn’t appear that they shared any more information than that.
I’d think that a person would know where they stand on the issues before they decide to run for Congress. If that person is not running on the issues, then what is that person running for? Hm….
It is not dishonorable for a candidate simply to put up a one page web site explaining that the full site is coming soon – or to not put up any site at all until it is ready. But, to put up a site with nothing more than a link to make donations with demonstrates to me that the Gillibrand campaign is thinking about money first – and that’s not just wrong for the people of the 20th District, it’s wrong for the campaign. The number one least effective way to raise funds is to only talk about the need to raise funds. People need to be convinced before they’re squeezed for cash.
I contacted the DFA people, and Larry sent me the same charge about Morris Guller. Personally, I want to hear the other side of the story, but I’ll go looking for that article from the newspaper as well. Larry said that he was forwarding my email to the Gillibrand campaign. In that email, I requested the chance to talk to Gillibrand personally, so that she could explain her positions on important issues.
At the same time, I left a phone message with someone who works on the campaign.
A day later, I’ve still not been contacted by the campaign. Furthermore, the web site hasn’t been changed one bit. This concerns me. They have no real web site, and they’re getting prominent bad press here. You’d think that they would want to snuff this fire out as soon as possible.
Give me a call, Kirsten, or leave a message here. I’d love to know more about why you think your campaign is worth people giving up their hard-earned cash to you. I want to know about what issue positions you’re willing to commit to. I’d love to hear something other than just the trashing of another Democratic candidate.
Please get in touch.
Update: The Gillibrand campaign has now changed a bit of the configuration of the web site.
Now, the site reads:
“Gillibrand for Congress
Our site is still under construction and will be coming soon.
If you’d like to join our mailling list, we’ll be sure you’re among the first to know when we launch.
Join Our Mailing List Make an Online Contribution”
Well, at least there’s some attempt to communicate – at least a wait and see message.
Still, it really shouldn’t take very long for a viable congressional campaign to get more complete policy information together and presentable – a few days, tops. The positions for a truly progressive congressional candidate are pretty simple this year, after all.
Crossing my fingers to see some actual substance on this web site before Thanksgiving.
Still haven’t heard a peep back from the Gillibrand for Congress campaign, though. They ought to consider that this thread of comments will be Google searchable within the next day or two.
Second update: I have now been contacted by the Gillibrand campaign, and I’ll be talking to Kirsten Gillibrand myself within the next week. I promise to bring you some solid information about the Gillibrand campaign – and its policy positions – as well as an update of the status of the Guller campaign.
Here is some information about Kirsten Gillibrand that you may be intersted in. I went to met her tonight and asked her about the web site. She said that it is still under construction and will be up very soon.
Gillibrand For Congress
Accountability , Responsibility, And Trust For New York’s 20th District
“Kirsten Gillibrand is committed to making government more accountable and responsive to the needs and concerns of its citizens. Kirsten will be a tireless and effective advocate for the people of the 20th Congressional District. She i truly a rising stare among a new generation of leadership in New York Stats.” New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer
Kirsten Gillibrand is running for Congress to help bring accountability, responsibility, and trust back to our national government. Gillibrand is an accomplished civic leader and attorney in both the public and private sectors. As a wife ad mother with deep roots in the region, she understands what New York’s 20th District needs to meet the challenges our communities are facing and is committed to fighting for what matters to our families.
Gillibrand is dedicated to keeping America safe, cutting taxes for middle class families and investing in economic development to bring jobs and investment back to the 20th District. She knows that the 20th District has lacked the strong leadership to fight for investments in our education, healthcare, and economic security, for the most vulnerable in our society – our elderly and our children. She will also be a tireless advocate for our troops, who put their lives on the line for us everyday.
Throughout her career, Gillebrand has demonstrated her commitment to public service. During the Clinton Administration, she served as Special Counsel to the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Andrew Cuomo. Gillibrand played a key role in furthering HUD’s Labor Initiative and its New Markets Initiative, working on strengthening Davis-Bacon Act enforcement and drafting new markets legislation for public and private investment in building infrastructure in lower income areas.
Currently a partner at Boies, Schiller & Flexner, on of the premier law firms in the United States, Gillibrand works on a wide rand of legal and policy-related issues and understands how to negotiate at the highest levels. Gillibrand also understands the needs of those who have no voice, representing many pro-bono cases for those in need of first-rate legal representation. She has represented abused women and their children as well as tenants seeking safe housing after lead paint and unsafe conditions were found in their homes.
A native of Albany, Gillibrand lives with her husband, Jonathan, and their two -year-old son, Theodore, in Hudson, New York. A magna cum laude graduate from Dartmouth College, Gillibrand went on to receive her doctor of jurisprudence at the University of California at Los Angeles Law School, and served as a law clerk on the Second Circuit Court Of Appeals
Gillibrand remains active in a wide range of political and service-oriented efforts, serving as Chair of the Women’s Leadership Forum Network, and on the Boards of the Eleanor Roosevelt Legacy Committee, and the Commission on the Greenway Heritage Conservancy for the Hudson River Valley. She also Serves on the Advisory Board for the Brennan Center for Justice, which recently led the call for reform of new York State Government.
Contact us at (518)751-2555 or Campaign@gillibrand2006.com
http://www.gillibrand2006.com
Paid for by Gillibrand for Congress
Article in the Post-Star Saturday, October 22,2005 Getting off to a green start
Thank you all for the kind remarks concerning my campaign web site and my position on the issues.
There is one correction I would like to make concerning a comment made by Larry Dudly. The guilty plea to insider trading is true, however, it was not revealed or uncovered. On my web site you will find a section called Skeletons, Confessions and Past Indiscretions. I gave this information to the Post Star, 38 other publications, the DCCC, and everyone involved in my campaign. I know that it is important for people to know everything around a candidate before they decide to give him their support. It’s all out there – one year before the election – so there will be no surprises. Mr. Dudly is correct to bring this to your attention. It was a terrible mistake on my part and even though it happened almost twenty years ago you are entitled to know.
But please also know that my campaign is not over. I have had positive feedback to my campaign and I look forward to representing you in the U.S. House of Representatives. I am happy to speak with you either by e-mail or phone. My address and phone number are listed on my web site.
And Kirsten Gillibrand, according to folks I deeply respect and love and from my own interactions with her, is a fine young lady. She has delivered some very impressive speeches and has taken firm stands on prevelent issues of the day. Her web site should be up and running very shortly.
She and I have both agreeded to point out the flaws with Congressman Sweeney during the coming months and not spend time and energy attacking each other. There is, however, only one real prize – your vote – and I want it so “may the best individual win”.
Thank you again and I look forward to meeting you all in the coming year.
All my Best,
Morris Guller
Lexington, New York
Mr. Guller,
I’m glad to see that you and Ms. Gillibrand are taking a non-destructive approach to the primary campaign. It seems that some activists in your district are not taking the same approach. It’s all the more important, then, that a vigorous discussion of the issues, in-depth, be begin.
Kimberly,
I view the kind of letter you provide from the Gillibrand campaign as part of the problem. As someone who used to serve as a member of the New York State Democratic Committee, I’ve seen a lot of these sorts of letters, suggestive of issue statements without getting specific.
Supporting the troops is not a policy. Neither is fighting for health, Social Security, and education. Neither is economic development. Responsibility, accountability and trust are not policies. These are all platitudes.
The only real policy statement in this letter is that Gillibrand is for middle class tax cuts. But, she has some explaining to do in terms of how those tax cuts will be paid for, given the significant budget problems that the Republicans have created.
We progressives have been betrayed too many times by weak Democrats in Congress who have lacked the spine to stand up to the Bush Administration to just vote for a candidate because he or she is a Democrat. We need specific information about policies that our candidates will support and oppose.
It’s less than a year to Election Day. Candidates ought to know what they stand for by now. Thanks, to Mr. Guller, for having that information available.
I was unable to get in contact with Ms. Gillibrand yesterday, but will try again today.
Hi Folks,
I just discovered this site and think it is great to see such an active discussion going on. I think we have an excellent opportunity here in upstate New York to capture a handful of currently republican congressional districts and hopefully send progressive Democrats to represent us in Congress.
I have been aggressively pushing Ms. Gillibrand to get her web site up and running. She hired a former Dean staffer to work on it and reports to me that she hopes to have the real thing up and running in the next week. Hopefully we’ll have more to present to folks then just a sign up and contribute link.
One of the things I think Kirsten is doing right is getting out to the towns in this 10 county district and introducing herself. While there isn’t much by way of positions statements on-line to show folks she is not shy about saying where she stands when you meet her in person. One very refreshing thing is that she is also very interested in listening to what we the residents and constituents of the district have to say. I am personally very excited about her campaign. I see that Kimberly has posted the brief bio statement she has provided.
I am very excited to see a good crop of candidates ready to challenge the various Republican congressmen in upstate. Now if we can get a similarly quality crop of people to challenge a variety of upstate Republican State Senators we’ll really be in good shape.
Peace,
Andrew
Since last month I have been keeping up with the news on Kirsten, as we attended the same high school in the Albany area. Kirsten and I were friends in high school, more so after we were members of a small group to tour the still pre-Capitalist Russia in the spring of 1983. After high school, I was again able to visit Kirsten at one point in college (while she was at Dartmouth), and we have kept in touch at random points in the past several years as well as many people manage to do when they gradually acquire jobs, kids, geographical distance, etc.
That said, when I first heard that Kirsten was running for Congress, my husband and I donated the same night – a donation which, fo rus, equals about half of our youngest child’s preschool tuition. We do not even live in New York and are not NY voters – however, I am a New York native – Long Island, NYC and high school in the Albany district – and I know how much Kirsten loves her home region. She has traveled extensively; her husband could have taken her elsewhere, and yet she has returned home with such a purpose that I find myself proud to merely have gone to school with her, so much more so to remember Kirsten as a friend.
I have never known her to be anything but charming and kind as a person – and possessing exceptional intelligence and judgment as a student. High school is a place where we often remember ourselves to be less than we are today … Kirsten was always someone that the younger kids looked up to – and she was without exception an example to everyone.
I can only say I’ve been extremely excited to see what she’s doing with her talents. She could have stayed down in Manhattan and have zoomed through a much smoother route to further success. I have been floored with admiration for what she’s doing now.
Kirsten loves where she grew up. I wish for her only the best.
Look, Ms. Blaeser – you may well be right. Kirsten Gillibrand may well be a terrific person. She may have lots of great personality characteristics, as you say.
However, that’s not the point. A campaign for Congress cannot be about personality devoid of policies. Yet, so far, that’s exactly the kind of campaign that Kirsten Gillibrand is running. Now, I’ve spoken to Ms. Gillibrand over the phone about this issue myself, and I don’t believe that she means ill in the way that she’s running her campaign, but she’s doing herself and her prospective constituents a serious disservice by refusing to talk specifics about the issues until January.
Ms. Gillibrand may say that she’s not officially campaigning yet, and so doesn’t have to talk about the issues, but that’s nonsense. She’s gathering endorsements, and making proud public statements about them, and visiting Democratic political groups, and sending out campaign letters, and soliciting donations for her campaign. She’s got a campaign bank account, for crying out loud. That’s as official as it gets.
The minute a person acknowledges publicly that he or she is running for Congress, the campaign has officially begun. From that moment on, the public views the candidate as a potential member of Congress, and the candidate has the duty to answer substantive questions about the kinds of policy decisions congressional representatives have to make.
I cannot fathom how a person could decide to run for Congress and not know what their positions on the important issues of the day are – and know how to intelligently talk about them.
Campaign maneuverings aside, the constituents of the 20th District deserve detailed information from Ms. Gillibrand. Saying that she’s eager to run, and is listening to people is not enough. Getting testimonials from people who say that she’s a nice person is not sufficient reason for Democrats to shell out hard-earned money.
We need to know specifically where Ms. Gillibrand stands. Was she against the war in Iraq before it began, and where does she stand on the war now? Is she in favor of renewing the Patriot Act? What does she plan to do about torture in American prisons? How about the restoration of civil liberties lost under the Bush Administration? Ideas on overcoming deficit spending would be appreciated. How does she plan to work in the House of Representatives to help the 20th District, and what does she regard as the ethical boundaries between such help and pork barrel? Where does she stand on global warming and alternative energy? Is she pro-choice or pro-life? Does she support the Death Penalty? Would she support indpendent investigations of President Bush that could lead to impeachment? What committees does she want to serve on?
Is she a progressive, or is she a Joe Lieberman type who will roll over and play nice for President Bush?
I’d love to support Ms. Gillibrand. Maybe I will after she gives us this kind of information. For now, I have absolutely nothing of relevance to go on. Saying that she’s nice and earnest doesn’t even begin to get her up to the bar of credibility.
There’s less than a year to go in this campaign. It’s time for Kirsten Gillibrand to hit the ground running hard. NOW! If she’s not ready, well then, she’s not ready.
Kirsten Gillibrand is a hack. Looking out for the samll guy? Her firm represented Enron for crying out loud. Being an equity partner in the firm means she authorizes this stuff, so don’t go around saying it her firm not her, she is the firm! 15,000 employees lost $1.3 billion out of their 401(k) savings and she is the one representing them. This makes me sick.
Kirsten Gillibrand also was counsel to Philip Morris in tobacco settlement case. Her old man$212-million counterterrorism deal. use to work for Lockheed Martin as a lobbyist. Now wonder they just received a $212-million counterterrorism deal from the MTA. I wonder if it was linked
http://www.newsday.com/news/columnists/ny-nysub254397263aug25,0,5921300.column
Malone, if she was an equity partner you might have a point. As it stands currently, and at the time of the Enron scandal, when she wasn’t even working for BSF, she is NOT an equity partner. Why don’t you save the partisan vitriol for another discussion.
Bottom line: BSF defended Enron, she is employed by BSF. She also served as counsel to Phillip Morris during the big tobacco settlement. Representing big business at the peril of the little. In this case many different ways.
As to “why don’t you save the partisan vitriol for another discussion.” Isn’t this forum exactly for this type of thing, one only looks at the other posts for the same message on the other side. I’m not spreading lies here, just reporting facts. Unless you are not into free speech.
You’ve obviously done your research. That being said, you mis-stated the fact that she was an equity partner, with the following: “Being an equity partner in the firm means she authorizes this stuff, so don’t go around saying it her firm not her, she is the firm! 15,000 employees lost $1.3 billion out of their 401(k) savings and she is the one representing them. This makes me sick. ” Was that on purpose and in the interest of just “reporting the facts”? or maybe a little mudslinging? Looks to me like the latter. And Yes, i’m into free speech, especially when it’s true.
I’ll take your point it at face value. I’m not sure how they do it at Davis Wright, but we are getting into the minutia here for the general population during an election. Must be from giving all that money to Barbara Boxer.
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I want to congratulate Ms. Capanna for taking on the challenge to unseat Walsh in the 25th district and make some positive change. How can anyone in theirir right mind derail a vote to release HEAP money when people in his own district are running out of money to pay for heat!!
When you cannot think for yourself and do what is right, and instead choose to be a puppet of your party, then you are no longer representing the people that voted for you and it is time to move on.
Move on Mr. Walsh and welcome Ms. Capanna!!