At the three-year anniversary of "Mission Accomplished", it is time to honor our troops, clarify the mission and to offer a real strategy for success.  Our troops have served America with distinction and we are grateful for their service and sacrifice.  Our troops and America deserve more than the current undefined strategy of "staying the course" and partisan political rhetoric that only divides Americans.  The current Administration and its supporters in Congress have avoided the critical discussions of what our goals are in Iraq and the details of an exit strategy.  These Congressional leaders have failed to provide the critical oversight and accountability that the balance of powers provided for in our Constitution demands. Now, more than ever, our nation needs real political leadership that is both tough and smart.

Corning Preserve, Albany - Today the Sierra Club announced their full endorsement of Kirsten Gillibrand's campaign in New York's 20th Congressional District.

"We can not wait for tomorrow for clean water and clean air; our children's future depends on it", said Gillibrand, before an enthusiastic crowd gathered on the banks of the Hudson for the announcement.

The Hudson clean-up has been a prominent regional environmental issue.  "A clean Hudson would be a wonderful hallmark of this region", said Gillibrand. In addition to the Hudson, Gillibrand talked about the need to pursue other advantageous environmental initiatives in the region.  "Our whole corridor could be at the forefront of energy independence programs.  The environment, and new energy efficient technologies like fuel-cells and bio-diesel, should be a priority in our economic development and national security policy."

Kirsten Gillibrand, congressional candidate in NY's 20th district was joined Wednesday night by Democratic Campaign Committee Chairperson and Illinois Congressman Rahm Emanuel, while announcing her most recent Labor Union endorsements

Saratoga Springs, NY -

"Our families are doing their best under significant financial pressure - pressure that has been increased by the high cost of education, healthcare and gasoline.  We can solve these problems by providing the vision and leadership needed to continue to promote of the assets of our district, create jobs, and grow the small businesses that have begun to take root.  We have the technological, agricultural and industrial base to become a world leader in new technologies and alternative energy solutions that could spark significant job growth and economic prosperity," said Gillibrand.

Gillibrand continued, "I appreciate the efforts of our unions to provide clear and unwavering advocacy for working families, but they cannot do it alone.  Our families need a representative that will work hard on their behalf, regardless of the position of the Administration -- a representative who believes America is stronger when we build our manufacturing and agricultural base - a representative who believes in the values of a living wage, access to affordable healthcare, and safety working standards - a representative who is willing to stand-up to the pressure of special interest groups to do what is right."

There was special recognition given to the most recent in a line of Labor Union endorsements for Gillibrand's candidacy, including, the Amalgamated Transit Workers Union; the Communication Workers of America District 1 - Local 1118, the National Federation of Federal Employees and the United Auto Workers - Region 9.

Congressman Rahm Emanuel, Chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, made a special stop to acknowledge that the strength and credibility of the Gillibrand campaign stating:  "Unlike your current congressman, your new congresswoman will not skip critical votes such as the most recent one on minimum wage; her views will be on record as she is committed to cast her votes on behalf of working families." Emanuel continued, "talk is cheap; if you want to know where a politician stands, look at their overall voting record.and I don't mean their record in the last 6 months running up to the election."

07/06/2006
By Joshua Rinaldi , Freeman staff

KINGSTON - Kirsten Gillibrand is a Democrat running in a heavily Republican congressional district, but she believes local trends, frustration with the nation's current GOP leadership and U.S. Rep. John Sweeney's voting record make the four-term incumbent vulnerable in the fall election.

And the National Democratic Committee agrees, identifying New York's 20th Congressional District as one where a Democrat can unseat an incumbent Republican, Gillibrand said during a meeting with the Freeman editorial board on Wednesday.

Gillibrand, 39, noted that Republicans in the district - which includes Northern Dutchess and all of Greene and Columbia counties - have been voting Democratic more and more often in the past several elections, and she said Sweeney doesn't represent the interests of district residents.

"John Sweeney has veered from the priorities of the district," she said, citing his votes against veterans' benefits and minimum wage increases. The representative of the 20th District should be fighting for energy independence, more jobs and a permanent middle-class tax cut, Gillibrand said.

In particular, she said, gasoline prices must be a priority because of how many commuters and farmers live in the district. In the short term, Gillibrand recommends eliminating the federal tax on gas to help ease the price burden at the pump, and she said Congress could make up the lost revenue by ending subsidies for oil companies. Long-term solutions should include energy independence and alternative fuels, she said.

She also said congressional oversight is needed to ensure there is no price-fixing in the gas business.

A partner in law firm of Boies, Schiller & Flexner and a former special counsel to the U.S. secretary of housing and urban development during the Clinton administration, Gillibrand said many of her ideas can come to fruition in a Democratic or a Republican Congress because they are important to members of both parties.

"If you have vision and you are willing to fight for things, you can be successful regardless of what party is in control," she said.

Gillibrand conceded that one thing she'll need to unseat Sweeney is a sizable campaign warchest because incumbents have better name recognition and it takes a large advertising budget to overcome that. "That's the only way to get people to decide if they want to fire the incumbent and hire you," Gillibrand said. "They have to know who you are."

At the same time, though, candidates must not become slaves to political action committees or special interest groups, she said.

Gillibrand and Sweeney both live in Saratoga County.

July 03, 2006

 
Saratoga Springs, NY - Kirsten Gillibrand, congressional candidate in NY's 20th Congressional District, met with area veterans today at the Veterans Memorial in Congress Park.

"This is a question of priorities; this Congress and Administration have decided to do the absolute minimum for our nation's veterans.  More can be done.   Supporting our brave men and women of uniform and their families is a duty we should be honored to uphold, rather than an option to finance when convenient.  For too long, our policies aimed at helping veterans have lacked consistency and follow through, that is why I support reforming the G.I. Bill of Rights."

June 22, 2006

As Congress debates this week how to proceed in the war, Kirsten Gillibrand invites incumbent Rep. John Sweeney to debate their competing visions. Gillibrand has posted her position on Iraq on her website here.

Last week Sweeney joined with his Republican House colleagues in support of President Bush's "Stay the Course" strategy in Iraq.

With Congress debating how to proceed in Iraq this week, Democratic candidate for Congress Kirsten Gillibrand today challenged Rep. John Sweeney to debate their competing visions on the war.

Below is the full text of Gillibrand's invitation to Sweeney:

By DEVLIN BARRETT; 5/30/2006
 
Moderate Republicans are off and running in the summer horse racing town of Saratoga Springs and other upstate New York cities, struggling to save their jobs and a dying political breed.
 
In a party dominated by conservatives, the last of the Northeast GOP moderates face several daunting election-year trends, including a strong top of the Democratic ticket in statewide races and growing discontent with President Bush, the Iraq war and the Republican-controlled Congress.
 
New York has always preferred its Republicans in the mold of the late Gov. Nelson Rockefeller - socially liberal and fiscally conservative.
 
"We don't send right-wingers to Congress," said Republican Rep. Sherwood Boehlert (news, bio, voting record), whose retirement after 12 terms creates a competitive open seat in central New York.
 
Rockefeller's tenure as governor ended in 1973, his brief, Watergate-generated time as Gerald Ford's vice president in 1977, and while the notion of "Rockefeller Republicans" lived on, the number of GOP moderates has dwindled some 30 years later.

Kevin Goodwin, The Saratogain, 3/17/2006

SARATOGA SPRINGS -- Kirsten Gillibrand, candidate for New York's 20th Congressional District seat, spoke on the steps of City Hall Thursday afternoon, shortly after Congress raised the nation's debt limit to $9 trillion.

"We need fiscal discipline," she said.

Gillibrand, who is running against U.S. Rep. John Sweeney, R-Clifton Park, said that if she is elected, she will not vote for or accept a pay raise while in Congress, especially while the country has a massive budget deficit.

"We have many other priorities," she said.  "We Should be focused on getting tax cuts for working-class families."

By MAURY THOMPSON [email protected]: <mailto:[email protected]>

Published on 4/19/2006

Local News

THE POST-STAR

Middle class families are being hit with a "hidden tax" that was intended as a way to close tax loopholes for the wealthy, Democratic congressional candidate Kirsten Gillibrand said Tuesday.

Gillibrand called for adjusting the parameters for the federal Alternative Minimum Tax to account for inflation.

Initiated in the early 1970s, the Alternative Minimum Tax was intended to make sure the wealthy paid at least some federal income tax, she said.

Because income levels in general have risen to keep pace with inflation, more and more middle class families with children are now required to pay the Alternative Minimum Tax, Gillibrand said in a telephone interview after she announced her proposal at a press conference in Albany.

"I am very concerned that we make an adjustment, and we need to do it right away," she said.

Unless current parameters are changed, half of all households in the New York will be subject to the Alternative Minimum Tax within five years, she said.

Gillibrand is seeking the Democratic nomination to challenge incumbent U.S. Rep. John Sweeney, R-Clifton Park.

Gillibrand must not be aware that Sweeney has already supported legislation addressing the Alternative Minimum Tax issue, said his spokeswoman Melissa Carlson.

That overwhelmingly passed the House of Representatives in December, and he now is attempting to attach stand-alone legislation to a package of tax bills now being considered by a joint House and Senate conference committee, she said.

"This is yet another example of her lack of understanding of the legislative process ...," Carlson said. "Sweeney already knows that New York ranks second in the nation in taxpayers affected by this crushing, unfair tax and he has a record of working to address it."

Gillibrand merely stated she would make middle class tax cuts a priority, and was not directly criticizing Sweeney, said her campaign chairman, Bill Hyers.

"They're (Republicans) egos are getting a little out of control here if they think every press conference has to be about them," he said.

5/15/06

New York Times

By Raymond Hernandez
 

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Only a few years ago, John E. Sweeney was a rising star in New York Republican circles, a streetwise political operative who helped engineer the 1994 victory of a little-known state senator, George E. Pataki, over Gov. Mario M. Cuomo before going on to take a seat in Congress. There, his combative brand of politics made him a favorite of national Republican leaders, including President Bush.

But these days, with Congressional elections just six months away, Mr. Sweeney finds himself in the political battle of his life, as he faces his first significant electoral challenge since taking office in 1998, from a political novice who has not only turned out to be a surprisingly strong campaigner and fund-raiser but who also has assembled a seasoned campaign team closely tied to the vaunted Clinton operation.

The threat that independent analysts say Mr. Sweeney faces is one of the more intriguing and unexpected developments of this electoral season, since the congressman represents the solidly Republican 20th Congressional District and has emerged in recent years as one of the more prominent politicians in the state. Well liked even among his Democratic colleagues, the gregarious Mr. Sweeney has long been considered a potential candidate for higher office.

But now he finds himself battered by headlines about his own actions, including his recent attendance at a college fraternity party. He also faces the woes afflicting other Republicans around the country, who - as members of the party controlling the White House and Congress - are potentially vulnerable at a time when polls indicate that Americans are in a dark mood about the future of the nation.

Added to the mix is Mr. Sweeney's Democratic challenger, Kirsten Gillibrand, a lawyer and a tough and disciplined opponent. She has been barnstorming the district, which encompasses all or parts of 10 counties, carrying the same message that she delivered here one day last week during a campaign stop at Skidmore College: that Mr. Sweeney and his Republican allies in Washington are out of touch with average Americans, who are increasingly concerned about fuel costs, college tuition, the war in Iraq and the federal deficit.

And, Ms. Gillibrand said, Americans do not like the fact that Republicans have a lock on Congress and the White House.

"That makes people uncomfortable, regardless of party affiliation," she said during her visit to Skidmore, where she presented a plan to make college tuition more affordable.

"They understand that absolute power corrupts."

In her comments, Ms. Gillibrand is adhering to a strategy that has been mapped out by national Democratic leaders hoping to reclaim control of Congress: to turn the election into a referendum on the party in power.

In the meantime, Mr. Sweeney, while acknowledging concern about the political climate for his party, predicted that voters would be more likely to judge him and his colleagues on what they have delivered for their districts than on what happens in Washington.

"These are absolutely going to be local races," he said, noting that he has been a strong advocate for his district's interests, even when that meant defying the White House and Congressional leaders.

Still, the combination of several unflattering reports about Mr. Sweeney and the national mood has created a climate so volatile that some leading New York Republicans are concerned that Democrats suddenly have a much better shot than they should at picking up a district Republicans have long had a lock on.

From the Times Union May 11

SARATOGA SPRINGS -- Kirsten Gillibrand went back to college Wednesday to discuss her proposal to let middle-class parents deduct up to $10,000 a year in college tuition.

Standing outside the entrance to Skidmore College, surrounded by students and parents, Gillibrand criticized the Bush administration for cutting federal tuition assistance. Gillibrand, a Democrat, is seeking to replace U.S. Rep. John Sweeney, R-Clifton Park, in the 20th Congressional District.

Legislation that passed Congress fails to ban lobbyist- sponsored trips, meals or gifts

HUDSON, N.Y. --- Kirsten Gillibrand, candidate for New York's 20th Congressional District, continued to stress her ethics reform package as Congress failed to take real action.

"Real ethics reform is needed, and my Ethics IOU is a strong personal pledge to clean up Congress.  It is apparent to me that we will need new ideas and real change in Washington if there is going to be any meaningful reform," said Gillibrand

The current legislation that passed the House will not permanently ban trips sponsored by lobbyists and does not forbid lobbyists from buying meals or giving gifts to our federal lawmakers. In March, Gillibrand proposed a comprehensive ethics package that included: banning trips and gifts from lobbyists; closing the revolving door between lobbyists and lawmakers and their staffs; a call for an independent ethics commission to investigate allegations of corruption and fraud; and disclosure of any meetings with lobbyists.

Democrats focus House hopes in Northeast

By Andrea Stone, USA TODAY

Posted 4/23/2006 8:38 PM ET 

The district U.S. Rep. John Sweeney represents, sprawling from the Adirondack Mountains to the New York City suburbs, has always been Republican territory. Voters there twice chose George W. Bush for president but never backed Franklin Roosevelt, a local Hyde Park boy.

For Democratic challenger Kirsten Gillibrand, however, the Upstate New York district is a land of opportunity and a key to her party's strategy for gaining control of the House of Representatives.

"There's a shift happening right now in the district and the region," says Gillibrand, 39, a lawyer and a former Clinton administration housing official. "People want new leaders who are accountable."

Gillibrand is among more than a dozen Democratic candidates in New York, Connecticut and Pennsylvania who hope to turn the region's pockets of red — House districts held by Republicans — to blue. The region, where John Kerry beat Bush handily in 2004, is fertile ground for Democrats to pick up many of the 15 seats they need to regain House control.

By Laura Litvan

April 21 (Bloomberg) -- The Democrats' prospects for winning control of the U.S. House of Representatives in November may rest with two high-powered New York politicians who aren't even running for seats: Hillary Rodham Clinton and Eliot Spitzer.

Clinton, who's likely to win easy re-election to the Senate, and Spitzer, the state attorney general who is leading in polls to become the next governor, might help the Democrats pick up as many as six New York congressional seats -- more than one-third of the 15 they need nationally to gain a House majority.

NY 20: Dem's Solid Receipts Indicate Race Is Not Over

By Fields Donegan, CQ Staff

The Republican leanings of the 20th Congressional District in eastern upstate New York have made four-term Republican Rep. John E. Sweeney an easy winner in his past elections.

But Democratic strategists have been touting lawyer Kirsten Gillibrand as a strong challenger to Sweeney, and they now have tangible evidence - in the form of her latest campaign finance report to the Federal Election Commission.

Gillibrand's strong early fundraising - which ranked her 14th among all House challenger candidates as of March 31 - has prompted CQPolitics.com to change its rating on the race to Republican Favored from Safe Republican.