WASHINGTON DISPATCHES

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand may face a serious primary challenge from Harold Ford Jr. during the special Senate election in 2010. Ford has charged the freshman senator with changing her views to suit party leaders.

Gillibrand, who was appointed by Governor Paterson to Secretary of State Clinton’s vacated seat, has toured the state rapidly in her first year as senator. Though she bragged upon her 2006 election to the House that she was the “most conservative Democrat” in the New York delegation, her appointment to Senate has caused her to reconsider and abandon her former gun-rights advocacy.

Gillibrand has been called out by fellow Democrat Harold Ford Jr., who narrowly lost a Tennessee Senate campaign in 2006 to Bob Corker. Ford, who went on to lead the centrist Democratic Leadership Council, has criticized Gillibrand as a “parrot” for Democratic party leadership. Ford wrote an op-ed in the New York Times, telling Democrats that Scott Brown’s victory in Massachusetts should serve as a warning. “With one out of five Americans unemployed or underemployed, President Obama and the Democratic party need to shift attention away from health care and toward a bold effort to create jobs, improve the economy and rein in the size of government,” wrote Ford.

But Ford has made a series of small gaffes while exploring his candidacy. Asked by the media whether he had been to Staten Island, Ford replied, “I landed there in the helicopter, so I can say yes.” During a radio interview, Ford told a Jewish interlocutor “I’m a little country. I apologize … Y’all talk funny.” Though Ford has criticized Gillibrand for changing her views, Ford has also gone from being pro-life to pro-choice. Ford also campaigned in Tennessee as an opponent of same-sex marriage, which he now supports.

Schumer & His Potential Opponents

This week Chuck Schumer unveiled legislation that would tighten visa access for citizens of 14 countries, considered terrorist threats. “These tourist visas, when they fall into the wrong hands, provide terrorists with open-ended invitations to enter our country,” Schumer said in a statement.

Schumer’s proposals would also grant the State Department access to the largest Terrorist Watch databases and block visas to anyone who appears on that list. At least seven of the 9/11 hijackers entered the United States on the type of visas Schumer has vowed to eliminate.

Schumer faces potential challengers from left and right in his 2010 re-election bid. Randy Credico, a political comedian, has already declared his intention to challenge Schumer in a primary. The long-shot Credico is a comedian who once appeared on The Tonight Show, and has made opposition to the Rockefeller drug-sentencing laws the center of his political life. Credico recently increased his visibility by appearing during a session of the New York State Senate dressed as Greek philosopher Diogenes. Credico announced, “I am here looking for an honest politician,” while carrying a lantern, in imitation of the ancient philosopher. Credico supports the legalization of marijuana, and an immediate pullout of American forces from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Schumer may also face television commentator and financial guru Larry Kudlow. Kudlow, who has not denied speculation he may seek the Republican nomination, served as deputy budget director during the Reagan administration and had a long career on Wall Street that included stops at Bear Stearns. Kudlow is well-known as a champion of supplyside economics. Born to a Jewish family, Kudlow converted to Catholicism. He serves on boards at Fordham and Pepperdine Universities. He strongly opposes estate and capital gains taxes, which have direct bearing on New York’s troubled financial industry.

Hall Calls For Halt on MTA Tax

After securing $110 million in federal funds for the MTA, Congressman John Hall, along with several Hudson Valley Democrats, has called for a reduction in the payroll tax levied on small business to fund the ailing MTA.

In a letter, U.S. Representatives Hall, Nita Lowey, Maurice Hinchey, Eliot Engel, and Scott Murphy, announced that small businesses, unlike the larger businesses based in New York City, and even the residents of the region, benefit the least from the MTA service. These small businesses are the region’s economic engine, and they should not be hit with a regressive tax, particularly in this time of economic crisis.”

Hall’s office has criticized the mobility tax for penalizing small businesses and middle-class taxpayers, though he has not called for its complete elimination, or joined in other regional efforts to demand a forensic audit of the MTA.

This column will appear twice a month.