"... Gillibrand has the highest favorability rating among statewide elected officials. ..."

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Gillibrand turns empathy into political stock in trade
Kirsten Gillibrand has made a name for herself in the U.S. Senate taking on causes that matter to average Americans, including family issues and sexual assault on campus and in the military
By Brian Tumulty, September 1, 2014

Former New York Gov. David Paterson first met with Kirsten Gillibrand to discuss her possible appointment to the U.S. Senate the day after "Saturday Night Live" had lampooned him as a bumbling Mr. Magoo type — a dig at his blindness.

Paterson's gubernatorial staff found the skit funny, but the governor found it "insulting with a 70 percent unemployment rate in the blind community."

Paterson asked Gillibrand what she thought.

"She said, 'Governor, you can laugh along, but you have a job, and some of these people will never have a job,'" Paterson recalled in an interview. "She completely got it."

Paterson said Gillibrand's comment wasn't the reason he later appointed her to replace Hillary Rodham Clinton in the Senate, but it helped cement his belief that she sympathizes with the voiceless.

Five-and-a-half years later, Paterson is sure he made the right choice in making the appointment. Gillibrand, he said, demonstrates "an emphasis of fighting for people who don't have a voice, and that's how I was my whole career."

That empathy has been key in helping Gillibrand build a political following.

She's also learned her legislative agenda stands a better chance if backed by average Americans with compelling personal stories.

The most important legislation Gillibrand inherited was the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation bill, which had languished since its introduction in the House in 2004.

Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., who had won passage of emergency aid for Hurricane Katrina victims, advised Gillibrand "to explain to them why you care. Because if you can't explain to them why you care, they will never care."

Gillibrand began working with the first responders to visit various Senate offices, the same technique Democratic Reps. Carolyn Maloney and Jerrold Nadler of Manhattan were using to push equivalent legislation in the House.

The first responders brought Senate staffers to tears with their first-hand accounts of Ground Zero workers becoming sick after volunteering at the site. Positions softened.

Gillibrand worked closely with her New York colleague, Sen. Chuck Schumer, to overcome Republican objections to the bill's financing before it finally passed in December 2009.

"This lesson of being able to understand and feel what another person is going through and then using that emotion to fight harder for someone is something I've learned at this job. You get some training in that as a lawyer because you become an advocate, but it's not as painful, it's not as traumatic," Gillibrand said.

Former Army 1st Lt. Dan Choi describes it as "radically inclusive empathy."

Choi came out as gay on MSNBC's Rachel Maddow show in March 2009 while the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy was still in effect.

A West Point graduate who had served as an Arabic interpreter and negotiator in Iraq, Choi was immediately served with a discharge notification from the Army. He decided to publicly fight it.

A lawyer friend suggested Choi meet with another lawyer and brand-new senator — Gillibrand.

"She changed my life," Choi said. "She reminded me how important my voice can be."

With Gillibrand's help, Choi, then a member of the New York National Guard, was granted a delay in his honorable discharge until the summer of 2010. He became a leading voice in the effort to repeal "don't ask, don't tell."

Choi recalled getting "a lot of feigned empathy," but he said Gillibrand was a good listener who really understood him.

Polls show Gillibrand has the highest favorability rating among statewide elected officials. She was re-elected in 2012 to a full six-year Senate term with a record-setting 72 percent of the vote.

Last year, Gillibrand used her position as chairwoman of the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Personnel to convene a hearing on the continuing problem of sexual assault in the military. Veterans told heart-rending stories of rape before the national media.

Gillibrand has worked with other members of the Armed Services Committee to enact a series of reforms. So far, though, she has failed in her effort to remove the military's chain of command from the process of deciding whether to prosecute sexual assault cases.

Gillibrand also is one of the many members of the New York and New Jersey congressional delegations who successfully fought for emergency federal aid for victims of Superstorm Sandy.

As a feminist, she has emphasized family issues. She lobbied the Consumer Product Safety Commission to enact the December 2010 ban on drop-side baby cribs and led an unsuccessful effort in the Senate to block cuts in food aid for low-income families. She also is fighting an uphill battle to get paid family leave, a proposal with only a slim chance of passage any time soon.

End Rape on Campus and other sexual assault survivor groups worked with Gillibrand and other senators on the Campus Accountability and Safety Act introduced July 30.

"She definitely cares," said Annie Clark, a former University of North Carolina student and co-founder with Andrea Pinto of the group. "It's not just a PR façade. She's invested, not only in her constituents but issues she is passionate about."
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