Items tagged with 'Chris Gibson'
Chris Gibson at Bethlehem Public Library
Former Congressman Chris Gibson will be at the Bethlehem Public Library March 3 to talk about his book Rally Point. The talk is free and open to the public.
Book publisher blurbage:
... RALLY POINT: Five Tasks to Unite the Country and Revitalize the American Dream looks past the 2016 election, past the finger pointing and conventional political thinking, to focus on clear, primary principles that conservatives must debate and defend to protect the future of America. ...
Drawn from a deep appreciation of history and American exceptionalism, Gibson provides incisive and frank analysis of the current political environment, including President Trump, and provides a roadmap based on time-tested Founding principles to help unite our country and revitalize the American Dream.
As you know, Gibson represented the Congressional District in this area that's now held by John Faso after the Gibson chose not to run again. He was at one point ranked the most "liberal" Republican in the House. There was some thinking that he could have been a formidable challenger to Andrew Cuomo for governor, but he ultimately chose not to run in this year's election.
Gibson has said he had an unfavorable view of Donald Trump leading up to the presidential election -- but voted for him anyway because Hillary Clinton "would have been more of the same -- peace through weakness, economic decline and corruption." [TU]
The talk at the Bethlehem Public Library is Saturday, March 3 at 2:30 pm.
Chris Gibson is not running for governor
In a bit of a surprise, Chris Gibson announced today that he will not be running for governor of New York in 2018. From a statement emailed to the media Monday afternoon:
"The last year has also brought into greater clarity what our next steps should be as a family. Mary Jo and I have three teenagers who are in their last years at home. In addition, I was just offered and accepted a position with Williams College as a Visiting Lecturer on Leadership beginning in February 2017, and anticipate accepting other academic positions shortly. Ultimately, for our family, the opportunity to spend increased time together balanced with a return to academia was one we could not pass up.
"Therefore, I will not be running for Governor in 2018. At the conclusion of my term in the U.S. House of Representatives, I will be leaving politics and starting this new direction with my family. In the near-term, I will be closing my exploratory committee. For our donors to that committee, we'll be refunding contributions we've received.
As you know, Gibson is a Republican and currently represents the NY-19 in Congress (he lives in Kinderhook) -- that's the district that starts in Rensselaer County wraps around the southern end of the Capital Region core around to Montgomery County. He announced a year ago that he would leave Congress when this current term ends. And he had been publicly touring on the idea of maybe/probably challenging Andrew Cuomo during the next cycle.
Chris Gibson ranked as most "liberal" Republican in the House
The National Journal does an annual vote rating of Congress members (methodology), then it ranks the representatives and senators on "liberal" and "conservative" scales. And this year, in National Journal's estimate, Chris Gibson ranked as the most liberal House Republican -- with a voting record more liberal than that of 10 House Democrats.
From an accompanying article about Gibson:
Gibson placed the furthest left of all House Republicans in National Journal's 2012 ideological vote ratings. Whether that means he is the most liberal, the most moderate, or perhaps just the least conservative member of the GOP conference is in the eye of the beholder. The way Gibson sees it, he landed near the middle of both ratings in his first term because he balances a pro-growth and an anti-debt agenda, all while representing a district (New York's 19th) that Obama carried twice.
"This is the kind of representation that gets things done, that creates jobs," Gibson said. "We can bring people together in an era rife with partisanship and divide."
After the jump, a quick scan of the ratings for other regional Congress members, and little more about the NY 20th, which Gibson represented until the most recent redistricting. (We'll just say it now... yes, there's a graph.)
Hey, that's Chris Gibson and... Alec Baldwin
Jack Donaghy has just told Chris Gibson a terrible secret about the Trivection oven.
Among Alec Baldwin's stops this week in DC while lobbying for National Endowment for the Arts funding: Chris Gibson.
The Congressman's office says Baldwin wanted to thank Gibson for his support of arts funding. Baldwin has been working with a group called Americans for the Arts to rally support for the NEA. At the National Press Club yesterday he called Gibson a "hero" of the arts on Capitol Hill. [NPC] [TU CapCon]
Last year Gibson was one of only a handful of House Republicans to vote against a cut to NEA funding. The measure still passed by eight votes. From a political perspective, Gibson's support makes sense. It'd be he hard to represent the Hudson Valley and somehow be seen as anti-arts. And his new district -- NY-19, if he's re-elected -- covers even more of the Hudson Valley and Catskills. [Americans for the Arts]
Gibson's office says the Congressman invited Baldwin to the district to co-host an arts event. Alec Baldwin in Kinderhook would have a certain State and Main quality...
(Press release post-jump.)
photo: Chris Gibson's office
New Congressional districts for the Capital Region
Here's the map of new Congressional districts for New York State approved by a panel of federal judges (large format). The state is down two districts, from 29 to 27, after the most recent census.
Under the new lines, the Capital Region is now spread over three districts: NY 19 (currently Chris Gibson), NY 20 (currently Paul Tonko), and NY 21 (currently Bill Owens). There's some significant reorganization, especially in the core of the area -- the cities of Albany, Saratoga Springs, Schenectady, and Troy are now in the same district (they had been split between districts represented by Tonko and Gibson).
The New York Times has posted a very good interactive map comparing the new and old districts.
All the new maps from the federal judges are embedded after the jump.
Speed reading what local Congressional reps said about the debt ceiling deal
Yes, No, Yes, No
The federal debt-ceiling drama ended today after the Senate passed the bill raising the ceiling, and Barack Obama signed it late this afternoon. [NYT] [NYT]
No one seems happy about the deal -- a fact reflected in the votes and comments from local Congressional reps, who split on how they voted...
Lay out the Congressional air mattress
Chris Gibson is officially on the job as a Congressman after the 112th Congress convened Wednesday. And his congressional office space is now his second home -- both figuratively and literally.
Gibson is one of the apparently large handful of Congressional reps who have decided to not get a place to stay in DC -- so they're sleeping in their offices. Gibson will reportedly be bedding down on an air mattress (let's hope he at least sprung for an Aerobed) and showering in the Congressional gym. [WSJ] [State of Politics]
The Congressman has said that renting a place in DC was an unnecessary expense. And as he told YNN last month:
Look, it's going to better accommodations than I had over in Iraq. I can tell you that much. Really when I'm there, I'm really focused on work. They aren't 9 to 5 hours, it's up to 18 hours a day. [WNYT] [YNN]
By the way: the salary for House members is is $174,000 a year. Gibson has stopped taking his military pension while he's on the Congressional payroll so as not to be a double dipper. [Wikipedia] [Journal Register]
Bill Clinton in Saratoga
New York Now Matt sent along this photoset from Bill Clinton appearance this morning at the Hall of Springs in Saratoga.
Clinton was in town to campaign for Scott Murphy. Said Clinton of the race between Murphy and Republican Chris Gibson: "It's not about right and left, it's about tomorrow versus yesterday." (You can probably guess which candidate he thinks represents tomorrow.) [TU CapCon]
While Clinton and Murphy were in Saratoga, Gibson was on TALK 1300 also striking a non-idealogical tone: "Here's the thing though: Let's not worry about who gets the credit ... At the end of the day when we get the economy moving again, that's what matters." [Post-Star]
Sometimes it seems like we don't really have good choices in our elections. But both Murphy and Gibson seem like smart, engaged people. Sure, they have different viewpoints -- but neither is a bozo. That's saying something.
Here's the video of their debate two weeks ago.
As late as the end of September, Murphy had a big lead in the polls. But the latest Siena poll reported Gibson up by 9. FiveThirtyEight is projecting a 4.5 point win for Gibson.
(Thanks, Matt!)
photo: Matt Ryan
Siena poll: Gibson now leads Murphy
The Siena poll out today reports that Chris Gibson now leads Scott Murphy 51-42 for the NY 20th Congressional District. Gibson also leads 49-42 among independents.
That's quite a swing from a little more than a month ago, when the Siena poll had Murphy up 54-37 (and up 58-30 among independents). Murphy has also lost what was a strong lead in the northern part of the district (he's from Glens Falls, Gibson is from Kinderhook). And his favorability rating has taken a dive -- it was 56-27 a month ago, now it's 45-45.
Interestingly, Barack Obama's favorabilty rating in the district has also fallen over the that time (51 then, 41 now) -- but Kirsten Gillibrand's has not.
The poll was conducted October 23-25 -- that's after last week's debate, in which Gibson came across as confident and likable. [WMHT video]
Bill Clinton is coming to Saratoga Springs Monday to campaign for Murphy. And you can bet both campaigns will be running a whole bunch of ads between now and election day. [Post-Star]
This poll was of "likely" voters and its margin of error was +/- 3.8.
Murphy photo via campaign site
Gibson photo via campaign Facebook page
Congressional debates tonight
Because we know that you arrange your social schedule around such events, here's tonight's lineup:
US Senate: Kirsten Gillibrand and Joe DioGuardi
7 pm on YNN
The Siena poll out this week reported that Gillibrand has large lead, but there should still be some good back-and-forth here. KG is a very capable debater and DioGuardi went after her in a debate last Friday.
NY 20th: Scott Murphy and Chris Gibson
8 pm on WMHT
We're looking forward to this debate because both candidates are accomplished people who seem to be serious about the issues confronting the country -- though they differ greatly on how they think we should take on those challenges. Their debate earlier this week did get a little heated when the flip-flopping allegations came out. Still, there should be some substantial back-and-forth here. And the race is relatively close.
Siena poll: Murphy leads Gibson
Scott Murphy, Chris Gibson
A Siena poll out today reports that Scott Murphy leads Chris Gibson 54-37 for the 20th Congressional District (margin of error +/- 4). Among independents, Murphy's up 58-30. And in Rensselaer and Saratoga counties, he's up 58-36.
When asked which candidate would do a better job representing the district in Congress on a range of issues, Murphy led in each category. The closest was the war in Afghanistan, at 39-31 (Gibson recently retired from the Army -- he was a colonel.) Here's the full breakdown of results.
The poll found that Gibson is trailing close behind Murphy in the southern part of the district. That's not surprising -- Gibson's from Kinderhook. If you drive around Columbia County now, you'll see a bunch of his signs. And he still has about a month-and-a-half to up his name recognition in other parts of the district.
Update: The Gibson campaign sent out a press release this afternoon in an attempt to cast doubt on the Siena poll. The campaign's pollster says the Siena results are "not consistent with other polling in the district" -- and cites results from a poll conducted at the beginning of August by a conservative think tank that reported Murphy was ahead 45-40 (just outside the margin of error).
The release also takes a shot at the Siena poll, noting that its "too close to call" description of the Lazio-Paladino primary "was off by an astounding 24 points."
By the way: When people were asked which issue was most important to them right, 41 percent of respondents said jobs. No other issue was even close.
Murphy photo via campaign site
Gibson photo via campaign Facebook page
... said KGB about Drawing: What's something that brought you joy this year?