One of the worst-kept political secrets was Senator Kirsten Gillibrand’s announcement about running for president. Many knew when she promised during her 2018 reelection campaign to serve a full six-year term that this would not be the case. Gillibrand will now be spending more time in Iowa, New Hampshire and other earlier 2019 Democratic Party primary states rather than New York’s 62 counties. She will be working the phones and attending dozens of fundraisers day and night. There will be little time to look after her constituents’ interests in Washington. When the senate is not in session, she will be on the road campaigning. The first Democratic primary presidential debate with 20 to 30 other declared candidates will look like Hollywood Squares on steroids! New Yorkers deserve a full-time senator in Washington.
If she is serious about running, she should resign her senate seat today. Governor Cuomo can appoint a caretaker senator for the remainder of 2019. Senate Majority Leader Andrea Steward-Cousins and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie will be passing an election reform bill which should be signed by Governor Cuomo. It will afford voters a June primary and November 2019 general election. This gives voters the opportunity to elect a full-time senator to serve the remaining five years of her term.
In the interim, Gillibrand has won the “liar, liar, pants on fire” award for her complete dishonesty with New Yorkers. Who wants a liar in the White House?
—Larry Penner
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