In the Friday's Buffalo News, they published an article talking in short about the relative lack of name recognition for Senator Gillibrand after her first year in office. "Relative" being the key word, since her approval rating is up in the 46% range, gradually improving over 2009's 20s and 30s, but the ~28% of New Yorkers who are undecided or have no opinion means that Gillibrand is still taking flak for "not connecting with voters."
Unfortunately, several of the claims in the article were either wrong or very misleading--things that the Buffalo News could have pretty easily clarified if they had asked the Senator's office. A set of corrections, followed by commentary:
Since taking office, though, Gillibrand simply hasn’t earned the kind of loyalty that could help her defend against a strong challenge.
For example, Buffalo’s mayor is in good touch with Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., and he used to meet or talk frequently with Clinton when she represented the state.
But a year after Gov. David A. Paterson appointed Gillibrand, she still has not paid a visit to the mayor in his office. And Brown doesn’t seem happy about it.
Which might be relevant if any Senator ever visited the Mayor in his office. That's not how it works--United State Senator from New York outranks Mayor of Buffalo, so the Mayor comes to the Senator if he wants to talk. That's the way it is with Schumer, that's the way it was with Clinton. And it's the way it is with Gillibrand, who has indeed met with Mayor Brown, more than once.
"We need elected representatives who are going to give us their focus and their attention," said Brown, who met with Gillibrand and her staff before two events last year but who was disappointed that she later canceled a scheduled meeting in Washington. "I think it is important for the people of Buffalo to feel they are not taken for granted," he said.
And I'm sure that your lunch buddy, Wall Street banker Edsel Ford, will have a great deal of concern for the people of Buffalo during his daily breakfasts at the Regency Hotel, before heading off to his job making more money in a day than most of the people of Buffalo do in a month.
Erie County Executive Chris Collins, a Republican, has never had a meeting with Gillibrand, either, said Collins’ spokesman, Grant Loomis.
And Loomis would then be either lying or misinformed, since yes, Gillibrand has met with Chris Collins. Why do I say that? Because we have the video from late January or early February 2009 of Collins talking about his meeting with Gillibrand, praising her knowledge of upstate issues, her interest in economic development, and in general talking in extremely glowing terms.
We can specifically date this video since Collins refers to his 2009 "State of the County" address as "coming up on Thursday," February 5th 2009. Gillibrand took office on January 27th, meaning that Collins got to meet with her some time within the first ten days after her being sworn in. A fairly wide-ranging meeting by the sound of it too, discussing a ton of different issues.
And other Democrats from elsewhere in the state said Gillibrand hasn’t taken the time to stroke the political potentates who like to be stroked.
God forbid we have a non-politician as an elected representative.
"She seems to have spent more time fundraising and getting acclimated to the Senate" than in building deep roots across the state, said New York political consultant Hank Sheinkopf. "As a result, she didn’t connect, she didn’t make an impression . . . There’s nothing she’s identified with as being her issue."
Considering that upon her appointment she got issued primary challenges from virtually every Democrat in the state of New York, it really surprises you that she dedicated some time to fundraising? Particularly given the fact that she has to win four elections in the four years after her appointment in order to keep her seat, two primaries and two generals?
Asked about such complaints, Gillibrand said in an interview: "It just takes time. Most people who are well known around the state have been in public service for a very long time. A year is a relatively short time, even though I have traveled to every one of the 62 counties, even though I’ve been in the western counties several times."
On her trips — including a summer vacation with her family in Western New York — Gillibrand has put a priority on meeting average voters, she said.
Something I can personally attest to, having escorted her through the Wyoming County Fair, watching her talk the ear off a guy who asked a detailed question before climbing into the stalls to get a better look at the cows.
Erie County Democratic Chairman Len Lenihan, a Gillibrand supporter, cited another reason why she has not created the strongest of impressions: a frantic Senate schedule filled with issues like the economy, health care and Afghanistan that has kept lawmakers in Washington more than usual.
"She’s largely been in Washington, given the enormity of what’s been going on there," Lenihan said. "She has had limited time to develop those relationships. But I do think, as time goes on, she’ll have more time and develop those connections."
Lenihan is smack on target here, and it's what any political observer should recognize--Gillibrand got appointed at just about the busiest time the Senate has had in years as a major new agenda got kicked off.
Combine that with suddenly running for a completely new and unfamiliar election, and having two young kids, and the surprise shouldn't be that she hasn't introduced herself to every voter; people should be surprised that she's as massively on top of the important things as she is. Witness the next part of the article:
No doubt about it: Gillibrand has been busy in Washington — and not just on the other issues that dominated the debate in the past year.
She’s been active on the Agriculture Committee and played a key role in winning $350 million in aid to the state’s dairy farmers.
From her seat on the Environment and Public Works Committee, she got amendments passed cracking down on coal emissions and allowing cities to set pollution emissions limits for taxis.
And she’s introduced legislation aimed at curbing childhood obesity and updating food safety laws.
Asked about what she’s done for Western New York, Gillibrand grabbed a 30-page year-in-review authored by her staff, and started picking items off that list, which includes fighting tire-dumping from Chinese companies and pressuring the Environmental Protection Agency to crack down on Tonawanda Coke’s benzene emissions.
Reading that, that sounds exactly like Gillibrand. I'll never forget the first time I met her, when someone mentioned the problem with low prices for dairy products affecting the rural counties, and she gave us about a fifteen minute comprehensive course in the problems with dairy pricing compressed into maybe two minutes. "Policy wonk" is probably a light way to describe it. Gillibrand enjoys this stuff... which is one of many reasons that among New Yorkers who know about her, Gillibrand has a two to one approval to disapproval rating.