Template:Future election candidate
Kirsten Rutnick Gillibrand of Hudson, New York is an American attorney and politician and the presumptive Democratic candidate for the 20th District of New York (map) seat in the United States House of Representatives in the November 2006 election, a large and oddly-shaped district in upstate New York covering at least parts of Essex, Washington, Warren, Saratoga, Rensselaer, Columbia, Greene, Delaware, Otsego, and Dutchess Counties. An energetic moderate-to-liberal Democrat with broad bi-partisan appeal, Gillibrand's candidacy has sparked renewed optimism in the Democratic Party's chances of winning the traditionally Republican seat. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) has given Gillibrand's candidacy their "Red to Blue" designation, authorizing additional financial and political resources to aid in her campaign, while the pro-choice political action committee EMILY's List has also made her one of their recommended candidates. She will face a challenge in the September Democratic primary by computer software engineer Edwin Pell and political activist Morris N. Guller.
Education and Family
Born in Albany, New York, Gillibrand is a Magna Cum Laude graduate of Dartmouth College and holds a J.D. from UCLA Law School. She is married to Jonathan Gillibrand, an attorney, and together with him has one son, Theodore. Gillibrand is also the granddaughter of the legendary Albany, NY political icon Dorothea "Polly" Noonan.
Career
Gillibrand began her legal career as a law clerk on the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. From there, according to her campaign website, she served as Special Counsel to then Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Andrew Cuomo during the Clinton Administration and played a key role in furthering HUD's Labor Initiative and its New Markets Initiative, working to strengthen 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, one of the premier law firms in the United States, Gillibrand works on a wide range of legal and policy-related issues and understands how to negotiate at the highest levels. Gillibrand also promotes her understanding of the needs of those who have no voice, representing many pro-bono cases for those in need of first-rate legal representation. She notes that 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.
She remains active in a wide range of political and public service 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 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.
Controversy Generated By Her Opponent
In May 2006, a reporter from the Troy (NY) Record published the following on the record comments by Gillibrand's opponent, incumbent Republican Congressman John E. Sweeney...
"You can't take a resume and a pretty face from New York City and say to people this is good for you simply because we can spend a lot of money and raise a lot of money," Mr. Sweeney said.
Aside from the perceived sexism within the comments, Sweeney was taken to task by the local and regional media for incorrectly suggesting that Gillibrand was a New York City native. She is, in fact, a native of Albany, NY. The comments, along with a controversial appearance by Sweeney at a Union College fraternity party in the Spring of 2006, has been seen as giving Gillbrand additional momentum as the fall elections draw closer.