This Daily News Blog was interesting and we wanted to share it with our readers. Our community better count, if not we make it count. What should be some of the issues that you thinmk our Latino elected officials should address with Gillibrand?

By Elizabeth Benjamin

Daily News’ The Daily Politics Blog (January 29, 2009)

After backing down on their threat to go nuclear on Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand in exchange for her promise to sit down and chat about immigration, Latino lawmakers have secured a date for their meeting with the new senator

According to an yet-to-be-released advisory for the event, Gillibrand and elected officials from both the Council and the Legislature are scheduled to have a face-to-face this Sunday at 1 Metro Tech Center in downtown Brooklyn. (That’s one of the boroughs she didn’t hit during last week’s two-day downstate listening tour).

The release describes this meeting as “highly coveted and very important.” The conversation will, of course, focus on her record as a congresswoman on immigration issues and what he future plans are for helping immigrations “get on the path toward US citizenship.”

“She’s saying the right things, but she has a poor past,” said one of the lawmakers who plans to attend Sunday’s meeting. “If she sits down with us and says, ‘I promise you I’m going to work with you and I’m going to correct my positions,’ we’re going to hold her accountable.”

“The jury is definitely still out on her,” the lawmaker continued. “We’re not going to endorse a challenger if what she’s saying is real. But actions speak louder than words.”

So far, Gillibrand has refused to budge from her opposition to amnesty, which she has rationalized by arguing that it would never pass. That line of reasoning is unlikely to fly with immigrant advocates and the Hispanic community.n

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