In New York we have the unusual situation of voting for two senators in the same year.  Chuck Schumer is the incumbent running for reelection and Kirsten Gillibrand was appointed to the Senate to fill Hillary Clinton’s vacant seat when the latter became Secretary of State in the Obama administration.  So in some respects, Ms. Gillibrand is running for the Senate for the first time rather than as an incumbent.

As a Congresswoman in 2007 she was a member of the “Blue Dog” coalition of conservative Democrats.  In the Senate Ms. Gillibrand has been quiet as a church mouse.  Perhaps that is because she doesn’t want people to notice her metamorphosis from a moderate Democrat from upstate New York with a 100% approval rating from the National Rifle Association to another far left Harry Reid “pet”, voting with the Democratic leadership 97% of the time.  Now that she is in the Senate she has been endorsed for election by a leading gun control group which the NRA strongly opposes which prompted this response from the NRA

“She was either being dishonest with her voters in the congressional district or she’s being dishonest to the voters in New York state,” said the NRA’s chief lobbyist, Chris W. Cox. “Either way, the key word is dishonest.”

Gillibrand’s spokesman had no comment.

Ms. Gillibrand voted in favor of giving stockholders a vote on executive compensation in corporations.  Does she favor giving Americans a vote on her and her colleagues’ compensation?  In July 2009, she voted yes on a Congressional pay raise.  So we need to keep those greedy corporate types in check, but she gets to vote herself a raise?  But that’s not all; when as an attorney she represented corporations she had a very different role.  As an attorney representing Philip Morris her job was to keep the Department of Justice from finding out that Philip Morris’ own research showed that tobacco was harmful.

“So when the Justice Department tried to get its hands on that research in 1996 to prove that tobacco industry executives had lied about the dangers of smoking, the company moved to fend off the effort with the help of a highly regarded young lawyer named Kirsten Rutnik [now Gillibrand].” – New York Times, March 26, 2009

Call it inconsistent, but whatever you call it, Ms. Gillibrand doesn’t like to talk about it.

In September of 2009, the Senate voted to block the Department of Housing and Urban Development from giving grants to ACORN, the controversial group that was under investigation for voter fraud and later the subject of some undercover videos showing their willingness to help set up a prostitute and her pimp.  The measure passed by a lopsided 83-7 vote to end the funding.  One of the seven voting to retain funding was Kirsten Gillibrand.

Since joining the Senate she voted for TARP, she voted for the stimulus, and she voted to bail out GM.  It’s time to turn up the lights and find out who Kirsten Gillbrand really is today.  Let the debate begin.

The White House released a list the other day of visitors.  Topping the list, in terms of frequency of visits was Andrew Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).  If the name of that union is not familiar to you, it is often closely linked to ACORN, the discredited group of community organizers.  So how many visits did Mr. Stern make?  Twenty-two (22).  That’s about once every other week, give or take.

Unions Decline

From a peak, as a percentage of employed workers, of 28.3% in 1954 to a level of 11.5% in 2003, the importance of unions in American life is not what it used to be.  In his recent book, What Americans Really want…Really, Frank Luntz asked this question, which of the following institutions are most important for America’s future? He then gave them a list to choose from.  When he combined their first and second choice percentages here is how it came out:

1. Schools – 51%
2. The Church – 26%
3. Federal Government – 24%
4. The Military – 23%
5. Business – 22%
6. Local Government – 13%
7. The Courts – 12%
8. Financial Institutions – 11%
9. Hospitals – 9%
10. The Media – 4%
11. Police – 3%
12. Unions – 3%

So let’s see…unions are at about 1/3 of their peak membership numbers;  Americans think they are unimportant to America’s future and yet, the president of SEIU is at the White House just about every other week, far more than any other visitor.  How is that for being in touch?  It is hope.  It is change.  But it certainly seems like the wrong direction for America.  Do you feel like President Obama is leading America to greatness, or plotting against it?