Gillibrand pushes women to vote, run for office

Sen. Kirsten E. Gillibrand wants women to get "off the sidelines," to vote and campaign and run for office, to aspire to run companies and to remake a nation where women still get just 78 cents for every dollar a man earns doing the same job.

And the New York Democrat has set up a website, OffTheSidelines.org, filled with tough words from the senator challenging women to get more involved in public life and giving them advice on how to do it.

Then there's the "contribute" button -- where every dollar women contribute goes not to any independent organization called OffTheSidelines.org, but to Gillibrand's 2012 re-election campaign.

That last fact leaves advocates of good government thinking that Gillibrand has taken what her supporters call a noble and necessary cause -- women's rights -- and converted it into yet another political fundraising opportunity.

"It's not actually noble," said Melanie Sloan, founder and executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics, a nonpartisan good-government group based in Washington.

"I think it's totally misleading," Sloan said of OffTheSidelines.org, which never explicitly says dollars donated there go to the Gillibrand re-election campaign. "I think it's technically legal, but I don't think it's OK."

Gillibrand touted OffTheSidelines.org recently on her Facebook feed, a few weeks after establishing the website.

"Women have the power to shape the future, it's just a matter of getting off the sidelines and getting involved," the website's "about us" section said. "That's why Kirsten has launched OffTheSidelines, to make more women aware of the need to be involved in the decisions that affect their lives every day."

Asked whether OffTheSidelines consisted of anything but the website, Gillibrand spokesman Glen L. Caplin said the senator plans to hold OffTheSidelines events statewide.

"Right now it's a website to create awareness," he said of the senator's effort. He said Gillibrand's re-election committee runs the website, a fact that's mentioned at the very bottom of OffTheSidelines' main page.

Moreover, anyone who clicks on the website's "contribute" button is steered to a page that says the following: "Through OffTheSidelines.org, Kirsten is working every day to ensure that women's voices are heard in boardrooms, in the halls of Congress, and in our communities. We need more women off the sidelines, working with her to make a difference. Stand with Kirsten today and join her campaign by making a contribution below. Even as little as $5 can make a big difference."

What follows is a form seeking credit card information -- and, at the bottom of the page, a footnote that begins: "Contributions or gifts to Gillibrand for Senate are not tax deductible as charitable contributions."

And the section urging people to "Get Off the Sidelines" doesn't mention the Gillibrand campaign until after people submit an e-mail address, at which point they are told: "Thank you for signing up with Kirsten Gillibrand for Senate and pledging to get off the sidelines."

To Caplin, that's completely straightforward. "The contribution page and the section seeking e-mail addresses are both very clear," he said. "It is very transparent that it is Gillibrand for Senate."

But that's not how some good-government groups see it.

"Unless you're reading the fine print, anyone donating to this page won't realize that it's going to Gillibrand for Senate," said David Levinthal, a Kenmore West High School and Syracuse University graduate who is communications director at the Center for Responsive Politics. "For some folks, there might be a truth-in-advertising question here."

Gabriela Schneider, communications director for the Sunlight Foundation, said: "It would be good to have more clarity on the home page that 'Off the Sidelines' is part of her campaign. The site fuses her role as a public servant and that of a candidate, but at least her fundraising appeal is out in the open."

The site's lack of clarity is highly unusual for Gillibrand, who, both in the House and the Senate, has put a strong emphasis on transparency. In fact, she was the first member of Congress to publish her public schedule, personal financial-disclosure statement and federal earmark requests online.

Caplin stressed that OffTheSideLines is not meant to be a fundraising venture, but rather an attempt to inspire women to get involved politically.

That's exactly what Gillibrand does on videos on the website. "The women's movement in this country is stalled," she says. "We can and will have at least half the seats in Congress, we can and will have at least 25 governorships, we can and will have as many women executives as assistants."

Gillibrand's effort is not just rhetorical, either.

The website also includes a video from Suffolk County Legislator Sarah Anker, a Democrat who won her seat in March after a campaign where Gillibrand made robo calls and provided other help. "I'm not sure I could have won if it wasn't for Kirsten Gillibrand," Anker says. "She was amazing. She was an inspiration."

Similarly, Rep. Terri A. Sewell, an Alabama Democrat who won election to the House last year, said in an interview that Gillibrand "was one of the first people who really made me believe I could win."

What's more, she said, Gillibrand consistently coached her on some of the finer points of campaigning -- such as how to make "the ask" for campaign contributions.

And Rep. Kathleen C. Hochul, D-Hamburg, said Gillibrand provided a huge boost to her successful campaign in the May special election. Gillibrand was one of the first lawmakers to contribute money to the Hochul campaign, and the senator later sent out a fundraising letter for Hochul and appeared at an Amherst rally on her behalf.

By donating early, "I think she added tremendous legitimacy to our race at a time when very few people took us seriously," Hochul said, adding that she and Gillibrand frequently speak of ways of increasing the number of women in Congress.

But the $1,000 Gillibrand gave to Hochul in March didn't come from the campaign fund that benefits from the OffTheSidelines fundraising effort. It came from the Empire Political Action Committee, which Gillibrand formed, as many lawmakers do, for doling out money to other politicians.

All the money Gillibrand raises through OffTheSidelines goes to her own re-election campaign, and there's no guarantee that any of it will go to any other candidate, Sloan said.

"She's talking about getting women off the sidelines," Sloan said, "but the only woman it helps get off the sidelines is Kirsten Gillibrand."