Democrats senator and firm women’s rights advocate Kirsten Gillibrand has called on her fellow senator, Al Franken, to resign.
This news just broke over Facebook:
Big: @SenGillibrand says "Senator Franken should step aside" in Facebook post https://t.co/biy2JJUkys
— Benjy Sarlin (@BenjySarlin) December 6, 2017
"While Senator Franken is entitled to have the Ethics Committee conclude its review, I believe it would be better for our country if he sent a clear message that any kind of mistreatment of women in our society isn’t acceptable by stepping aside to let someone else serve." https://t.co/4bysdL9LFo
— Gabriel Debenedetti (@gdebenedetti) December 6, 2017
This news comes as a shock, as it was only yesterday that Gillibrand refused to say if Franken should resign.
This, despite saying she believes Franken’s accusers.
“I believe the women,” Gillibrand declared, just one day prior to another accusation of forcible kissing has come to light. “I believe that what they said happened happened.”
“All of it is unacceptable,” she added, and “we should not have people in Congress that act this way.”
Still, on the matter of Franken’s resignation specifically, when pressed for a yes or no, Gillibrand said: “I’m so angry and frustrated, and I’m not going to say that today.”
What?!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkHcbDq627c
‘We shouldn’t have people like this in Congress’ but I’m not ready to say a person like this in Congress should resign?
The waffling over an ally in Congress is no surprise for Gillibrand. While she portrays herself as a champion of sexual harassment victims, she is no more so than Elizabeth Warren is of Cherokee heritage. At least she made up for it with her call on Franken to resign.
It is long past time to end the culture of secrecy that protects predators and keeps victims of sexual harassment from coming forward. https://t.co/WKOwzTkMVE
— Kirsten Gillibrand (@SenGillibrand) December 5, 2017
The problem with that is, Gillibrand famously remained silent in New York State as then-Democrat Assembly Leader Sheldon Silver was paying off victims of harassment using taxpayer money.
New York Democrats had a slush fund to pay off harassment claims long before Congress had theirs discovered this year.
“Kirsten Gillibrand is promoting Albany’s culture of corruption, and putting her political and personal interests ahead of young professional women,” her opponent, Wendy Long, accused in 2012.
In 2014, reports surfaced that Silver had forked over $100,000 to a pair of victims of former Democrat Assemblyman Vito Lopez, which then ballooned into $700,000 of legal fees to fight the women who said his actions were tantamount to “encouraging” the behavior.
Gillibrand never uttered a word of complaint in Silver’s direction. In fact, she repeatedly called Silver ‘the perfect person to represent New York.’
“How can Kirsten Gillibrand hold herself out as an advocate for women, but stand silently by as hush money is used to silence victims of sexual assault?” Long asked.
Gillibrand on Franken to @anniekarni:
“reckoning”
“accountability now”
“wrong”
“that kind of behavior can’t be tolerated anywhere”But won’t say he should resign.
“I’m not going to say that today.”
— Shane Goldmacher (@ShaneGoldmacher) December 5, 2017
It’s simple – One set of rules for Democrats accused of sexual misconduct, another set for Republicans.
Gillibrand made the right call, but is still a partisan hack, willing to look away from victims of sexual harassment if it will further her political aspirations in 2020.
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