WPIX 11 is reporting there will be a press conference at noon to announce Governor David Paterson's choice to fill the Senate seat replacing Hillary Clinton and his choice, sources say for that replacement will be Congresswoman Kirsten Gillibrand.
While some insist Gillibrand is the Governor's choice, another New York Congressman cautioned that "It's not a done deal." He claims there is some political in-fighting and ongoing conversations with the Governor. There appears to be some challenge to Gillibrand's voting record. Reached for comment, the Dean of New York's Congressional delegation, Charlie Rangel, would say nothing more than that he's been invited to join the governor for an announcement in Albany.
Gillibrand represents a district of New York that leans Republican, the 20th congressional district, which, if the sources are correct, may upset some progressives.
You can see Gillibrand's stances on the issues at the website for the district.
It looks solid, but as one source noted, "in politics you never know," but based on the information they have heard and shared with PIX News, Governor Paterson is poised to name Kirsten Gillibrand as New York's next Senator at a news conference at noon Friday and PIX News will carry it live on the air and on the web.
Although reports say it is not a "done deal" NYT has confirmed the story.
The New York Post reports that some members of the state's Democratic congressional delegation are howling at the prospect of Gillibrand's being appointed, with "at least five" of them already called Paterson to protest the possibility of Gillibrand's selection.
Gillibrand has won two successive elections in one of the heaviest GOP districts in the state, first upsetting incumbent Rep. John Sweeney and, in November, defeating former state GOP chairman and multimillionaire Alexander Treadwell, in one of the most expensive races in the nation.
Liberal Democrats have been wary of her because she ran for re-election with the backing of the National Rifle Association, opposed the federal TARP program to rescue banks, and has been less than enthusiastic about gay marriage.
Congressional Democrats are not the only ones howling over this pick, as evidenced by some far far left progressive blogs.
Pandagon:
Fail. We can’t have an unreliable Dem vote in the U.S. Senate, but that’s what the Empire State has now.
AmericaBlog:
The overall issue is that, for a NY Democrat, she's pretty darn Republican.
Those are just a couple examples of how progressives are reacting to this pick.
I would hate to be answering Paterson's phone lines about now....heh
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