Gillibrand may see female challenger
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand delivers her victory speech at a Democratic election night candidates party. (Nov. 2, 2010) Credit: AP File
New York Republicans may have a female candidate to consider fielding against the only woman in statewide elected office.
Wendy Long, a conservative-oriented attorney whose involvements over the years included high-profile opposition to the 2009 confirmation of Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court, emerged last week among the names in the still-fluid GOP selection of an opponent for Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand.
As of Monday , Nassau Comptroller George Maragos remains the sole declared candidate for the nomination. Marc Cenedella, chief executive of job-search Web company The Ladders, decided not to run. Daniel Rubino, a GOP financial businessman from Westchester (and contributor to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo) is believed in party circles to be forgoing a candidacy due to a family illness.
If Long, 51, makes the race -- and state Conservative Party chairman Michael Long (no relation) believes she'd do so only if "all the stars line up" -- comparisons to Gillibrand, 45, will be interesting. Both attended college at Dartmouth and went on to highly rated law schools and prestigious law firms -- Long at Kirkland & Ellis, Gillibrand at Boies, Schiller & Flexner, and earlier, Davis Polk & Wardwell -- where coincidentally Wendy Long's husband, Arthur S. Long, is a partner.
Wendy Long, of Manhattan, a trustee of Mount St. Mary College in Newburgh, served as counsel to the Judicial Confirmation Network, a conservative judicial watchdog. Earlier she clerked for U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Ralph Winter and for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and was press secretary for two GOP senators, William Armstrong of Colorado and Gordon Humphrey of New Hampshire.
She has had reportedly cordial meetings with Michael Long and with state GOP chairman Edward Cox. Her decision depends partly on fundraising and family considerations, sources said. She wasn't available for comment. And one Republican staffer added: "There may be a couple more candidates to come forward."
'INCREDIBLE' RESISTANCE: At Newsday on Thursday, Cuomo argued emphatically for his move to offer optional 401(k) plans and a thinner pension tier to future public employees, saying: "I don't see any legitimate rationale for an elected official in this state to be against pension reform -- other than they are putting their interests to support the unions above the interest to support the people." And yet, "the opposition is incredible, on both sides of the aisle . . . in both houses. The unions are incredibly powerful in Albany."
