Who is Kirsten Gillibrand ?

Written by Janet

Three years ago she was an unknown corporate lawyer.  On Friday, she became a New York senator.

Gillibrand was appointed to the U.S. Senate by Gov. David Paterson, a pick that elevates the two-term Democrat to the national political stage. She succeeds Hillary Clinton, who resigned after her appointment this week as Secretary of State in the Obama administration.

Gillibrand, 42, is an Albany native, with a political pedigree.  Her grandmother was Democratic icon Dorothea “Polly” Noonan —graduated from Dartmouth College and the UCLA Law School.

Gillibrand had a stint at a New York city law firm, and as special counsel to former U.S. Housing Secretary Andrew Cuomo (currently the New York attorney general), Gillibrand became a partner at Boies, Schiller & Flexner’s Albany office.

She is a longtime democratic activist with a focus on bringing young women into the party, she decided after years of organizing it was time to run for office herself.   She has a tough interior – or, as she once put it, a woman with years of experience as an advocate in the courtroom and a “big mouth” she’s not afraid to use.  She calls herself a fighter, and believes that the people aren’t being represented. 

A key theme of her 2006 campaign was freedom from special interests, particularly lobbyists. That includes her connected lobbyist father, Douglas Rutnik. 

After Gillibrand defeated John Sweeney — a three-term incumbent in a district dominated by Republicans — she was named to the House Agriculture Committee and the Armed Services Committee, prestigious appointments for a freshman member.

In November, Gillibrand defeated Sandy Treadwell, who padded his campaign with millions of his own dollars. It was an extraordinarily expensive race: Gillibrand spent $3.5 million and Treadwell spent $5.5 million, most of which he contributed himself.

There are 455,048 registered voters in the 10-county 20th Congressional District: 42 percent of them are Republican, 26 percent are Democrats. 

Gillibrand also is proud of the Suzanne Lyall Campus Safety Act, which makes it easier for investigators to work on college campuses after a violent crime has occurred. Gillibrand notes that Sweeney, her Republican predecessor, introduced the bill, named after the University at Albany student who disappeared in 1998, but couldn’t get it passed. The act was signed into law in August.

She also states she gathers ideas for legislation at her “Congress on Your Corner” events at grocery stores, bookstores and coffee shops. She’s held more than 50 of them. An idea to make it automatic for the Veterans Administration to give soldiers a handbook detailing the benefits they are entitled to when they leave active duty came from one of these events.

Gillibrand is the first upstater to represent New York in the senate since Charles E. Goodell of Jamestown was appointed to the post after Robert F. Kennedy’s assassination in 1968.

Gillibrand, who gave birth to her second child in May, was the sixth woman to give birth while serving in Congress. She lives in rural upstate New York with her husband, Jonathan, a venture capitalist.

• Posted in: Politics
• Tagged: Gillibrand, Politics, replacement, senate