Thread: Update: Sen. Gillibrand's mtg. w/Latinos on immigration

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New NY senator meets with Hispanics on immigration

By RICHARD PYLE | Associated Press Writer
February 1, 2009

NEW YORK - New York's new senator, Kirsten Gillibrand, who has drawn fire from Hispanics over her views on immigration and gun control, says she's willing to listen and perhaps even change her positions on some subjects _ but isn't ready to make any commitments.

"We need to recognize the heritage that the immigrant community has provided to this country and put policies in place that will reflect that core value," Gillibrand, who recently assumed Hillary Clinton's old Senate seat, said after a two-hour meeting on Sunday with a dozen or so Hispanic members of the state Assembly and the City Council.

Gillibrand, an upstate Democrat and longtime supporter of the National Rifle Association, was chosen late last month by Gov. David Paterson to replace Clinton after she became U.S. secretary of state. Her appointment came shortly after front-runner Caroline Kennedy abruptly withdrew from consideration for the position.

The Hispanics at Sunday's meeting asked Gillibrand to support their concerns about federal laws and policies, including the deputizing of local law enforcement officers for deportation raids; the so-called Dream Act, which would allow children of illegal immigrant to qualify for college aid; the defining of English as an official language, and the facilitating of paths to citizenship for the nation's estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants.

Gillibrand, twice elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from the district that includes Albany, told reporters afterward she welcomed the meeting and predicted it would start a "fruitful relationship" on issues of immigration, health care, education and gun violence.

Asked whether she had changed any views as a result of the meeting, Gillibrand said, "I think that on some issues my position will change _ and on others they will become broader."

She did not specify what those issues might be but signaled she was reluctant to modify her views on at least two _ referring to English as "a unifying language that offers extraordinary opportunity to advance in this country" and drawing a sharp distinction between a need to curb gun violence in urban areas and "hunters' rights" to own guns.

"That is a different issue that will stand as it is," Gillibrand said of the gun debate.

While some of the Hispanic officials said they were prepared to give Gillibrand the "benefit of the doubt" and others called the meeting "a first step in the right direction," her statement didn't satisfy any of those present.

Joel Rivera, the Bronx-based majority leader of the heavily Democratic City Council, said Gillibrand "did not commit to stand with us."

"We've been given a lot of rhetoric," he said. "We are sick and tired of having to wait."

Rivera, a principal organizer of the meeting, said the Hispanic group asked Gillibrand to press President Barack Obama for an executive order ending federal policies that lead to "the separation of families."

A key element of that issue is the law allowing the deputizing of local law enforcers as immigration officers in raids that lead to deportation of illegal residents.

Councilwoman Melissa Mark-Viverito, a Manhattan Democrat, said the Hispanics were calling on Gillibrand to be "a champion on the issue of immigration."

"Her (House) voting record really is of great dismay to many of us who consider that immigration reform is and needs to be at the top of the agenda with regards to the federal government," she said.

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/ ... 2277.story

Hmmm... after our county sheriff applied for 287g a local Hispanic activist group demanded to meet with him. They had a letter of their demands. He said no.

Politicians don't have to meet with every group that demands to see them...

Will Gillibrand meet with members of ALIPAC (or other anti-invasion groups) to hear our concerns? When there are so many of us, why can't we also demand our public officials meet with us? I don't believe it is lack of numbers or interest. Is it lack of getting organized?

Asked whether she had changed any views as a result of the meeting, Gillibrand said, "I think that on some issues my position will change _ and on others they will become broader."

I hope she sticks up for American workers and continues to support enforcement, and oppose any and all forms of amnesty. In the meantime, we should contact her to let our voices be heard, especially our NY members.

Kirsten Gillibrand hopes to break a trend

BY JAMES T. MADORE | james.madore@newsday.com
10:50 PM EST, January 31, 2009

ALBANY - Kirsten Gillibrand hopes to break the cycle of politicians appointed to the U.S. Senate by governors and then rejected by voters.

To do so, experts said, the Democrat from upstate Hudson must discard her opposition to gun control and illegal immigration, both supported by large segments of her party. She also has to become known and seen to be working on behalf of Long Island, New York City and its other suburbs, home to nearly 60 percent of the population, they said.

Gillibrand, 42, was starting her third year in the House when Gov. David A. Paterson selected her on Jan. 23 to succeed Hillary Rodham Clinton. Only twice before had a New York governor filled a Senate vacancy. In both cases the Republican appointees, John Foster Dulles in 1949 and Charles Goodell in 1970, were defeated when they ran for election.

"She has to reposition herself geographically and ideologically," said pollster Lee M. Miringoff of Marist College. "Being pro-gun and anti-immigrant is not the way to go."

Gillibrand kicked off a statewide "listening tour" in Harlem and Queens a week ago. She is expected in Brooklyn today to discuss immigration with Hispanic leaders.

"This senator will work hard to talk to those constituencies," said Gillibrand aide Rachel McEneny, referring to activists for gun control and immigrant rights. "I think they're going to be very pleased with her response and acceptability."

In appointing Gillibrand, Paterson noted it had been 39 years since someone with deep upstate roots served in the Senate. That was Goodell, of Jamestown, who lost his election bid to Conservative Party candidate James Buckley of Manhattan. "That will not happen this time," Paterson said.

Here are five challenges Gillibrand faces in next year's elections.

Gilli–who?

Gillibrand isn't well known beyond Albany, where she has ties to legendary Mayor Erastus Corning 2nd, and her sprawling 10-county House district.

Sixty-three percent of voters statewide either had never heard of her or didn't have a strong opinion when polled last week by Quinnipiac University. However, she has plenty of time to raise her profile; there are 21 months before the November 2010 general elections.

"She would have a problem if the election was in a month," said Stanley B. Klein, a political scientist at the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University. "Senators get press, and I'm sure [Sen. Charles] Schumer will give her the lead on legislative activities where she can get positive news."

Democratic strife

Much of the focus on Gillibrand has been her conservative stand on immigration, guns and the Wall Street bailout.

Her opposition to curbing the flow of illegal guns has drawn fire from Mayor Michael Bloomberg and others. Hispanic officials have criticized her rejection of amnesty for illegal immigrants and support for a guest worker program and more border security.

Assemb. Peter Rivera (D-Bronx) said Gillibrand's position "borders on xenophobia ... it is clear to me that Gillibrand will face a primary and create splits among New York Democrats that will only serve to damage our party."

While acknowledging Rivera's concerns, state Democratic chief June O'Neill said the party would rally to Gillibrand long before 2010. Women's groups, Clintonites and gays have already jumped to her defense.

Primary challenge

Sixty-three percent of Democrats back having a primary for Gillibrand's post, according to a Siena Research Institute poll released Thursday. Support was highest on Long Island and in other New York City suburbs.

Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-Mineola) is outraged by Gillibrand's elevation, vowing to aid a primary challenger. "I've spent 15 years trying to prevent gun violence in this country ... if no one goes and primaries her, I will primary her," said McCarthy, whose husband was killed and son injured in the 1993 Long Island Rail Road massacre.



Since her appointment, Gillibrand has lauded McCarthy and promised to work to keep guns out of criminals' hands while defending the rights of hunters.

Others potential challengers include Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer and Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-Manhattan).

Fundraising

Gillibrand's prowess at raising cash will be tested, having to run in 2010 for the remainder of Clinton's term and then in 2012 for a six-year term. Each will require about $30 million.

"She'll pull it off because she's a hard worker, she has the fire in the belly," said Helen R. Desfosses, a public-administration professor at the University at Albany.

Desfosses recalled how Gillibrand upset Republican Rep. John Sweeney in 2006. She prevailed in a conservative district by raising about $2.5 million, aggressive door-to-door campaigning and the last-minute disclosure of spouse abuse allegations against Sweeney.

In November, Gillibrand was re-elected to the House with 62 percent of the vote. She had raised $4.6 million, or three times the average for House incumbents of both parties.

GOP weighs options

Republicans are itching for a fight, having been shut out of state government for the first time in 43 years. But whether they'll go after Gillibrand remains uncertain.

"Republicans' best bet is to go against Paterson," said Klein, a GOP committeeman from Dix Hills. "Besides, the governor's office has thousands of patronage jobs, Gillibrand's doesn't."

Gillibrand's moderate views make her attractive to Republican voters. She has more support from them than Democrats, according to the polls.

When it appeared Caroline Kennedy would be New York's next junior senator, Rep. Peter King (R- Seaford) announced his candidacy. The appointment of Gillibrand has given him pause.

"I'm still looking at it very seriously," he said. "It would be a different kind of campaign because she's more qualified than Caroline Kennedy."

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/polit ... 7042.story

Well since she has met with the Brown Supremacists will she now meet with the KKK and listen to their concerns? Or does she think brown racism is OK?

Editorial
Listening to Ms. Gillibrand


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Published: January 30, 2009

Kirsten Gillibrand, New York’s new United States senator, continues her tour of the state this weekend, far beyond the farms, forests and racetracks of her old turf, the 20th Congressional District, which includes the Albany area. As she goes around listening to New York, it is just as critical for New York to listen intently to her.

What we have seen so far adds up to the same riddle she posed when Gov. David Paterson picked her: Can she represent a constituency beyond the narrow politics of her district, where she has been a bullet-headed opponent of gun control, proudly basking in the extremist affections of the National Rifle Association?

It’s not that Ms. Gillibrand is never willing to step out on a limb as a Democrat from a rural, Republican district. She has been a stout defender of women’s rights. And there was the speed, startling to say the least, with which she came around to embrace gay marriage.

Gay marriage is a nonstarter even among liberal Democrats like Hillary Rodham Clinton and Charles Schumer, but it is firmly supported by the one person whose vote Ms. Gillibrand needed to win her Senate seat: Governor Paterson.

Hmmm. There’s flexibility, and then there is rootlessness. We doubt New Yorkers want to send someone to Washington carrying a bag of random principles determined mostly by constituents’ angry phone calls and her patron’s personal priorities.

Ms. Gillibrand has pledged herself to studying the issues to better represent all of New York. She should start with immigration. New York is huge; it contains multitudes, including millions of newcomers who perpetually renew it. It is Hempstead and Elmira, Watertown and Montauk. And it is New York City: the glory of the No. 7 subway, the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island and its 21st-century counterpart, Kennedy International Airport.

Ms. Gillibrand’s House votes on immigration amounted to a repudiation of New York’s special gift to America. She allied herself solidly with expulsionist Republicans, who reject assimilation in favor of locking down the border, deporting 12 million illegal immigrants and enshrining English as America’s one true tongue. She has favored enforcement rigidity over common sense; she was one of the first to denounce former Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s well-meaning effort to make sure illegal immigrants drive with licenses and insurance.

Ms. Gillibrand has not shown that she understands the ineffectiveness and moral bankruptcy of enforcement-only schemes. To take one example: The SAVE Act, which she co-sponsored, was all about border fencing and requiring everyone in America to prove legal status before being allowed to work. Nothing in it required or allowed immigrants to come forward and legalize. It was meant to seem tough, but was actually a weak reassertion of the status quo, in which undocumented immigrants are denied hope of legal status while the government tries to make them so miserable that they go home. That is a recipe for creating and exploiting a cheap, docile underclass.

Ms. Gillibrand does understand that the country needs to increase and streamline legal immigration. But defending immigration should be an absolute minimum qualification for a political leader from this state. New Yorkers should expect much more.
More Articles in Opinion » A version of this article appeared in print on January 31, 2009, on page A24 of the New York edition.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/31/opinion/31sat1.html

We will see if Kirsten Gillibrand sticks to her ideologies. It's one thing to change one's opinions, it's another to cave in under pressure. I'd love to know what she really thought about the meeting today but of course we'll never know. She should stick to her principles, core beliefs and not become another shallow special interest led politician. Please be strong Senator Gillibrand and stand up for what you believe is right....people can respect that. Hard to respect most politicians today.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/02/nyreg ... d=rss-page

Gillibrand Hints at a Change of Mind on Immigration

Kirsten E. Gillibrand, New York’s new senator, suggested to Latino elected officials on Sunday that she would take the lead on some immigration issues — and perhaps quickly drop some positions that they considered objectionable.


In particular, she promised to take a lead in promoting a Congressional bill to roll back a federal provision that discourages states from charging in-state tuition to the children of illegal immigrants who attend state-supported universities. The bill also would permit illegal immigrants who have grown up in the United States and are attending college to apply for legal status.

And despite her vote in Congress when she was a representative from upstate New York, Ms. Gillibrand said she no longer supported cracking down on so-called sanctuary cities like New York that fail to enforce all immigration laws.

She said she no longer favored the legislation, which would have led to financial penalties for the city. “In a lot of these issues, it’s a case of learning more and expanding my view,â€

Here she goes... wait for it... wait for it...