What is a populist? For me, it is someone like Kirsten Gillibrand, the Congresswoman-elect in NY-20.
Someone who keeps saying "I represent you" when she speaks to her constituents.
Someone willing to put her appointment calendar online for all to see and lets the chips fall where they may if her future challenger tries to use her meetings as political fodder.
Someone who is already looking for ways to best represent the people in her district, including meeting with prospective Republican challengers who hold state elective office.
More after the jump:
Last night, I was lucky enough to attend a holiday celebration in Saratoga Springs in honor of Gillibrand.
Being a party gal and bad blogger, I didn’t even think to take a pen and paper to take notes. So these are my impressions of what she said, not direct quotes.
First, about 100 people gathered in the beautiful home of our host, David. Most of Saratoga’s Democratic political luminaries were there, but also several friends from the campaign trail, and maybe even some Republicans who supported her under deep cover.
Gillibrand's entrance was rock-star-like. The room hushed, and stayed hushed, while she spoke a few steps up the central staircase.
She spoke with enthusiasm and energy about being named to the Armed Services Committee, and discussed which other committees she would like to serve on (she gets one more).
She said she wants to be on Agriculture, to help represent the farmers in upstate New York. She noted that dairy farmers are getting paid less than it actually costs to produce milk.
As it so happens, I know a dairy farmer and know from personal experience this is true. The family lives off the income and benefits of the mom, who works in the local school district. They keep the farm for tradition, not income.
She said there is no Democrat from New York on that committee, and she would like to change that.
Gillibrand said her second choice is Government Reform, having spent a number of years investigating corporate ethics violations.
She was quite animated when she told us that the Defense Department doesn’t get audited, so nobody knows what they are spending their money on.
(Paraphrasing now) She said: "These documents are all classified. But as a member of the Armed Services, I will get to see them."
She spoke of the waste and unaccounted-for billions of dollars due to no-bid contracts for Iraq – the use of private contractors at $150,000 each to do the same work as troops getting paid $30,000; the waste in privatizing things people in our armed services used to do, like cook meals for soldiers or provide security for congressional visitors.
Gillibrand explained her choice to caucus with the Blue Dogs, saying it was a way to network with senior members of Congress. The only thing she had to believe in was fiscal discipline.
Under no circumstances, she said to the applause of those in the house, does joining the Blue Dogs mean she will stop being pro-choice or pro-labor.
She took questions, people took pictures, and after milling around for a while and without fanfare, she and her husband slipped out into the cold night air.
I left one happy camper. This is what it feels like to win a campaign you put time and energy into.
But there is one thing that if even more important than winning. It is the feeling you helped get a real populist into power.
Kirsten Gillibrand is a real gem. As of today, I am working for her re-election.