Gillibrand: Ford "May Be Right For Tennessee," Not New York

After letting her powerful Democratic friends try to scare former Tennessee Congressman Harold Ford Jr. out of running for office in New York, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand lashed out against her potential rival for the first time yesterday — mainly because he wrote her a letter. Gillibrand took Ford to task for a note he penned urging Senators to oppose the health care reform bill to "protect hardworking New Yorkers from paying the additional fees and taxes."

"If Harold Ford wants to move from Tennessee and run in New York, he is welcome to do so," Gillibrand said. "His record of being anti-choice, anti-marriage equality and now opposed to President Obama's health care legislation may be right for Tennessee" but not New York, she told the Daily News. Ford's letter positions himself alongside Governor Paterson and Mayor Bloomberg, who oppose the current bill because it could cost the state as much as $1 billion, according to the Post.

Gillibrand — who was put in office by Gov. Paterson after Hillary Clinton was named Secretary of State — said the letter proves Ford is out of touch. "I don't believe New Yorkers will stand for a senator that says they will oppose President Obama, just like the insurance companies want," she told the Times. Ford's spokesman emphasized the former Tennessee lawmaker's claim that he is really pro-choice (despite video of Ford saying he's pro-life) and a supporter of gay marriage (even though he voted twice to ban it). "It's sad to see the unelected senator resort to the politics-as-usual of distorting records," he said. The likely rivals crossed paths at a vigil for Haitian earthquake victims organized by Rev. Al Sharpton, with whom Ford is expected to travel to Haiti to help in relief efforts.

Gillibrand's statements come a day after a bizarre interview with Ford in which he revealed he had only visited Staten Island by helicopter and noted that when he said he was pro-life, he was really referring to veterans benefits and equal pay for National Guardsmen. The Daily Beast said the Q and A wasn't just a bad moment for politician's nascent campaign, but it also presented "a dystopic vision of the political future, a future in which the American overclass dispatches its young into the provinces armed with so much money that it doesn't matter that they know nothing about the place they're supposed to represent."

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By Ben Muessig in News on January 14, 2010 12:10 PM

Comments [rss]

Noreaster76

Glad to read the negative comments regarding Ford on this thread. This guy gives me the heebie-jeebies.

S_R

City to Ford: Drop Dead.

NannyState

Win!

Andrew

What's wrong with people from New York? Why do out of state carpetbaggers like Ford and Clinton before him have any chance at all? Why not vote for people who actually lived in the state long enough to know something about it?

kane

Exhibit A: Those in power in Albany.

FelixtheCat & Christine Quinn'

actually this article confirms part of the above comment. Ford get out of NY!!!

http://www.memphisflyer.com/memphis/jake-fords-attacks-on-family-both-physical-and-verbal/Content?oid=1130419

FelixtheCat & Christine Quinn'

Interesting comment in the NY Joke Post. I wondered if its true, didn't have time to google the fact. But it has names and dates

:

HAROLD FORD JR.

"His aunt, current state senator Ophelia, was videotaped falling off a hotel barstool in 2007 (she claimed it was her anemia); she was also accused of assaulting a cab driver and poll workers were indicted for stuffing ballot boxes in her favor in 2006. Congressman Emmit Ford, an uncle, resigned in 1981 after being convicted of insurance fraud; another uncle, state senator John Ford, was acquitted on charges of shooting at a truck driver out of his car but is currently serving time for taking bribes while in office. His father, Harold Sr., was acquitted on charges of federal bank fraud in 1993; his brother Isaac was arrested on a DUI in 2007, and his brother Jake copped to a DUI while running for Harold Jr.’s seat in Congress, to Harold Jr.’s great dismay."

Mr Mel

Nominating Ford would be a big mistake. He may draw here in the city but the rest of the state is needed as well. Remembering Hillary's

Senatorial campaign, she headed right for the Boonies and captured the femme vote and whupped Lazio (Rudy's replacement). Ford is even less known than Fazio.

S.D.

Silly question: Does anyone support him in this?

Teh last thing on his website is from August 31st, 2009...

hunter.blatherer

(sigh)...these people...

kswissreject

As much as I don't like Gillibrand, Ford seems even worse. Completely out of touch with reality.

books

I like that quote

"a dystopic vision of the political future, a future in which the American overclass dispatches its young into the provinces armed with so much money that it doesn't matter that they know nothing about the place they're supposed to represent"