Harold Ford

• “I can assure you, voters don't know the junior senator, they can't name a single positive outcome from her, which means one simple thing: She will be labeled for the failures of Washington, the failures of Albany," - Harold Ford on Morning Joe, Mar. 2nd, 2010

• "In Syracuse, my visit there yesterday, in the seven weeks that I paid for myself to get around the state, I was there more times than Kirsten Gillibrand had been there since she's been a U.S. senator," - Harold Ford on Morning Joe, Mar. 2nd, 2010 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rK-Nl2a8rQ4

• “If the unelected senator and tobacco industry apologist has a new strategy based on distorting Harold’s support for abortion rights and gay rights, then she’s not only a puppet of the party bosses, she’s a desperate liar,” Ford spokesman Davidson Goldin said. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0110/31993.html

NY TIMES
January 12, 2010
interview with Harold E. Ford Jr. , by Michael Barbaro,

As it relates to the economy, you have to be far more aggressive than the senator, or the Congress, has been, around job creation. I think tax cuts for employers, particularly small businesses, is critically important right now.
As it relates to big issues: I think there ought to be a huge-tax cut bill for business people, not only in New York but across the country.
The other reality is that Kirsten was appointed to the seat. She is not the incumbent. New Yorkers have never had a chance to vote for her. She has never stood on the ballot before.
If I were the senator of the state, there is no way I could support a bill that would add the kind of burdens that have been projected to add what it does to New York City and New York State. We should not do it to any state.

Q. You raised the issue of independence. It sounds like you are saying Kirsten Gillibrand is not independent enough from leaders in Washington and Albany. Can you explain what you mean?

A. One thing is clear: If I am elected senator from New York, Harry Reid will not instruct me how to vote. He may try, and would be my leader and I would work with him.

But I would be beholden to voters in New York. And you can count, for certain, that I was sure of what I voted for before I voted for it.

I think I read some comments where at least exchanges between some elected officials in the city and Kirsten Gillibrand, she didn’t quite understand what was in the health-care bill. And if you are going to cast a vote in favor of a massive reform bill, you ought to know what is in it.

HUFFINGTON POST
SARA KUGLER | 03/ 2/10 11:00 AM, AP
Ford called Gillibrand various names, including a hypocrite, a liar, an unelected senator and a parakeet who takes positions based on whatever party leaders tell her to do.

NY TIMES – OP ED
By HAROLD FORD Jr.
Published: March 1, 2010

Democratic Party insiders started their own campaign to bully me out of the race — just as they had done with Representatives Carolyn Maloney, Steve Israel and others.

I began to understand why the party bosses felt the need to use such heavy-handed tactics: They’re nervous. New Yorkers are clamoring for change.

the party bosses who tried to intimidate me so that I wouldn’t even think about running against Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, [who had been appointed to the seat by Gov. David A. Paterson,] are the same people responsible for putting Democratic control of the Senate at risk.

too few in the Democratic Party are really willing to break with orthodoxy to meet these challenges.

I believe New Yorkers are hungry for a new direction in government.

Our elected officials have spent too much time this past year supporting a national partisan political agenda — and not enough time looking out for their own constituents.


Ford: I'm gearing up for Senate race
By HAROLD FORD JR.
NY POST
Posted: 3:09 AM, January 12, 2010


New Yorkers deserve a free election.

New Yorkers expect a politics where politicians do what's right based on independent judgment, free of political bosses trying to dictate.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, likely rival Harold Ford escalate at-tax
DAILY NEWS BY DAVID SALTONSTALL NEWS SENIOR CORRESPONDENT
Not to be outdone, the Ford campaign followed with its tax-related broadside, saying Gillibrand needed to release all tax returns dating to her time as a "tobacco lawyer."
The reference is to a multiyear stretch in the 1990s in which Gillibrand defended tobacco giant Philip Morris against charges it had lied about the dangers of smoking.
"How much was the unelected senator paid to help big tobacco cover up the addictiveness of nicotine?" asked Ford spokeswoman Tammy Sun. "Did she file tax returns for her windfall on behalf of big tobacco?"

Politico Blog
By MANU RAJU & GLENN THRUSH | 1/26/10 4:40 AM EDT

,Harold’s support for abortion rights and gay rights, then she’s not only a puppet of the party bosses, she’s a desperate liar,” Ford spokesman Davidson Goldin said.

NY POST
2:00 PM, January 26, 2010 ι MAGGIE HABERMAN

Ford spokesman Davidson Goldin lashed back hard, saying, Ford is someone "who will focus on creating jobs for New Yorkers, so it's no surprise the unelected senator seems so afraid of losing in an actual election.
"It's interesting the unelected senator is spending her time on Twittter rather than fighting to create jobs for New Yorkers," Goldin added.

"She started her career as a tobacco apologist and after being appointed senator in a backoom deal, has spent her time kowtowing to Washington insiders," he said. "She takes positions that hurt the people of New York, whether it's raising our taxes or killing jobs. And her rock bottom approval numbers prove that New Yorkers are well aware of this. Undoubtedly she is too."

MSNBC MORNING JOE INTERVIEW MARCH 02, 2010.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rK-Nl2a8rQ4

Voters don’t know the junior senator, they cant name a single positive outcome from her which means one simple thing, she will be labeled for the failures of Washington, the failures of Albany.

"In Syracuse, my visit there yesterday, in the seven weeks that I paid for myself to get around the state, I was there more times than Kirsten Gillibrand had been there since she's been a U.S. senator," Ford continued.

There’s a lot of work for Democrats to do and even a lot more work for her to do.

Ford suggested that Gillibrand, who was appointed to the seat formerly held by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, didn't spend enough time with upstate voters and that she is out of touch with her constituency.


By Jason Horowitz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, January 15, 2010

"You can judge from the editorials in the city, and just the response in the city and in the state that people don't want party bosses telling anyone that you can't run," Ford said

"People want an independent strong voice representing New York in the Senate."

New Yorkers, he said, deserve a candidate who would fight for their interests, tax breaks and a health-care overhaul beneficial to the state, which he believes is not being done now. "Independence and jobs" were his echoing watchwords. "That's not about publicity," Ford said "That's real."

"Maybe it's the benefit of time. People have had the opportunity to experience some of the policies passed in Washington," said Ford, adding, "and there is dissatisfaction with Senator Gillibrand."

"The only person Chuck Schumer has to blame is himself and his fellow Washington insiders for having the gall to interfere with a free election," said Goldin, Ford's spokesman. "And for blocking an independent Democrat from running."

Ford Still Criticizes Gillibrand From Beyond The Race

A day after Harold Ford Jr. aborted a possible bid for Senate, he insisted on Tuesday that he could have won and expressed doubts about the Democrats' chances in November.