Kirsten Gillirbrand defended the Tobacco Industry as a young lawyer.

[Dawson Leery]

https://www.prwatch.org/news/2009/03/8298/secret-affair-senator-kirsten-gillibrand-and-philip-morris


"The best-kept secret in the halls of Congress -- until today -- may have been the extent to which New York's new senator, Kirsten Gillibrand, helped cigarette maker Philip Morris during her former employment as an attorney with the global law firm Davis, Polk & Wardwell. Information about her relationship with the cigarette maker wasn't included in her official biography or her campaign materials, but on Friday, March 27, 2009, the New York Times published an article describing in detail how Gillibrand, under her maiden name Kirsten Rutnik, was involved at high levels in the legal affairs of Philip Morris."

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/27/nyregion/27gillibrand.html

[leftstreet]

1. But no one anonymously accused Big Tabacco of groping n/t

[guillaumeb]

7. No, they just kill 400,000 a year or so.

But no groping.

[Honeycombe8]

28. Oh, but yes they did. Philip Morris...sex discrimination/harassment...

women lost their jobs.

[brooklynite]

2. I assume this is meant to suggest that she can't make a judgement on sexual harassment charges?

[Dawson Leery]

6. She is NOT the progressive she claims to be.

She is certainly at the bottom of my list for 2020.

[brush]

35. She was a blue dog congressperson before she ran for the senate. Apparently she had a progressive...

metamorphosis as she accepted money and endorsements from Bill and Hillary Clinton when she ran for Hillary's senate seat.

IMO she bears watching, she's went after Bill Clinton recently and how has taken down another fellow Democra

[Cattledog]

8. No, just another corporate politician. $ talks.

[guillaumeb]

10. She accepted money to cover for a corporate killer.

400,000 deaths every year.

[woolldog]

16. She's a corporate dem, bought and paid for.

And a hypocrite.

[vi5]

17. Anyone can make a judgment on anything....

..the question as to whether or not the world needs to hear one's feelings and opinions on that matter is another story altogether. And the question as to whether espousing those opinions does more harm or good is a separate matter.

In the interest of full disclosure I only know that Gillibrand called for Franken's resignation. I do not however know if this is because she was asked or if she felt that her opinion on the matter needed to be announced or sent out in a press release or press conference. At least for me that's a pretty big distinction as to whether someone is expressing and honest opinion when asked about a specific current event, or whether one wants to just have their name in the news and to be commended by the very serious beltway media.

Same goes for everyone else who chimed in on this. Booker, Harris, etc.

[brooklynite]

19. She is believed to have organized the movement of women to speak out yesterday.

[vi5]

23. So that answers my question.

Nobody specifically asked her opinion on this, it was something she felt that the world needed to know.

She is absolutely entitled to do that, but conversely we can all interpret that choice however we want to.

[Honeycombe8]

31. Well, attorneys represent a variety of clients. BUT to defend a sex discriminator, on the one hand..

and then later oust a fellow Senator for doing somethings not proven, and denied...well, it's a little hypocritical, don't you think? Not that it was wrong to work for a company that had been found guilty of sex discrimination/harassment more than once. But once you've done that, it's a little disingenuous to turn around and say that people should be held accountable for unproven charges and kicked out of their elected positions for it, without proof.

Lawyers, especially, need to be cognizant of how their past representations have an effect on their current positions.

I don't think she represented PM in those discrimination/harassment lawsuits. But she represented the company for other things.

[NightWatcher]

3. My grandfather died from lung cancer. I demand this DINO resign!

If it's good for the goose, it's good for the gander.

[Cattledog]

4. I hope people keep digging. Karma.

[jrthin]

18. Me too.

[Dawson Leery]

25. Tobacco has done much more harm to the world than Al Franken ever did.

[guillaumeb]

5. For her work in covering for the tobacco companies,

Gillibrand should immediately resign. We do not need any such corporate apologist for companies that sell a product that kills 400,000 people a year.

Recommended.

[Kirk Lover]

9. THIS NEEDS TO STOP NOW.

[lostnfound]

30. Maybe we need zero tolerance for tobacco industry defenders. Evil way to make a living.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

11. That doesn't particularly bother me. She had a job in a huge law firm

and was probably assigned one of the onerous tasks new associates get stuck with: Document review and other discovery prep. I doubt that as a young lawyer she would have been responsible for managing that kind of litigation (I once worked for a large law firm and until you're a partner you don't have a damn thing to say about which clients you work for or how the litigation is handled). You do it for a client you may or may not like because it's your job. I am far more concerned with her role in bringing down Al Franken, which pisses me off greatly.

[bench scientist]

21. Yes, this exactly. She was an associate at a big firm, not a solo practitioner representing them.

[BannonsLiver]

12. My grandmother died from lung cancer. I call on Gillibrand to resign. Now.

[BootinUp]

13. Yeah, color me not surprised. Nt

[jalan48]

14. She wants to be President. Fighting for women sounds a whole lot better than fighting for

big tobacco. We're supposed to pretend because she a woman she's more moral or ethical? That myth has just been shattered.

[Dawson Leery]

15. +1,000,000

[Cattledog]

20. She will never be President.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

24. For lots of reasons. One of them is that she has all the charisma of a dishrag.

Another, better reason might be that she helped orchestrate the needless sacrifice of one of our best senators.

[Cattledog]

32. Oh my God that is great!

[FSogol]

22. High Horses! Get yer High Horses Here....

[padah513]

26. We lost one of the good ones today

But let's not start doing the republicans work for them. Franken is gone but somebody will come along pick up his mantle and carry it forward. Now more than ever we need to GOTV and Alabama is next in line. We can take it.

[JustAnotherGen]

29. Jones is going to lose

Moore has not 'admitted' or 'apologized' for anything and even if he did - the white Republican women are leadership are courting - don't care.

I can't wait to see our democratic senators have to kiss Moore's ass. They are. Every. Single. Day.

[Honeycombe8]

34. Yep. That's the sum total of it. nt

[bagelsforbreakfast]

27. Resign! WNO needs a merchant of death as a dem senator. my mom died of cancer! Nm

[Meowmee]

33. It was not a secret to me

And it was one of the reasons I didn’t like her. But I voted for her anyway. No more.