Kirsten Gillibrand, with reservations, for U.S. Senate

Sen. Kirsten E. Gillibrand has been in the U.S. Senate for nearly 16 years. In that time, she has effectively identified herself in the public eye with some important national goals.

Highly publicized for pushing for strong reforms to prevent and punish cases of sexual violence in the military, she proclaimed progress when procedural changes were folded into the wider annual defense bill. President Joe Biden last year ordered the removal of serious criminal cases from military victims' chain of command. Cases are to be put under the authority of trained prosecutors. She vows to monitor its implementation to see whether it works.

Gillibrand, 57, has also helped with the repeated renewals of funds for 9/11 medical victims, a key cause for first responders and others. The aid program would be more humane if, finally, it were permanently funded, but this is how it was crafted long ago. She should keep pushing for the change.

Other reforms Gillibrand urges are incomplete. Controversy and concern have lingered for years over sexual harassment and assault at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point.

Generally, Gillibrand noted to the Newsday editorial board: "Some things take a year or two, some things take five years, some things take a decade."

With senior Sen. Charles Schumer serving as majority leader, one can see where Gillibrand, from a purple area upstate, provides interface and stakes out the role of collaborating on bills across the aisle. So despite today's partisan polarization, she seeks common ground with Republicans like Sens. Josh Hawley, Ted Cruz and Cynthia Lummis. Even modest cases of cooperation can be helpful but Gillibrand often seems to be playing small ball. 

QUESTIONABLE CHOICE

Now, Gillibrand is looking to lead the Senate Democratic fundraising arm next year, a time-consuming deployment in the service of the national party. Her constituents might prefer she expend her considerable savvy and energy on governance and spending time in the state rather than party fundraising. She’s been gaining in Senate seniority and should use it to maximum effect for New Yorkers.

Disappointingly, Gillibrand has not established as consistent and meaningful a presence on Long Island as she has in Washington. We wrote a critical proviso in our 2018 endorsement: "She’s not a fixture at important events and some local elected officials don’t consider her a go-to representative" for federal assistance. The following year, however, she made a short-lived bid for president that went nowhere and further removed her from connecting with constituents.

Gillibrand in this election year has done a few conferences and short visits on the Island, but does not seem to give Suffolk and Nassau county issues any priority. Asked about local appearances, she mentioned in our interview a ride-along she took with a Suffolk police department last year but couldn't remember the department's name, and her takeaways from that experience were unclear. It was the Suffolk County Police Department in Yaphank, where she said she learned about ShotSpotter technology and saw all the screens at central command that depict the location of patrol cars and live feeds of surveillance cameras.

More promising is a Cyber Service Academy scholarship program she helped champion in the annual defense bill that could benefit the students and institutions who choose to sign up. In the House, credit goes to GOP Rep. Andrew Garbarino of Bayport.

GETS REFLECTED CREDIT

As Schumer’s junior partner in the upper chamber, Gillibrand gets reflected credit for his relentless funneling of dollars to New York projects. In July, the two New York senators jointly announced their "earmarks," or member items, roughly worth more than $50 million across Long Island. That total would be a lot less if it wasn't for Schumer and his leadership role.

The varied, combined list of projects included sewer system upgrades in both counties as well as road and library improvements, and renovations to the Smithtown emergency operations center. There’s also a grant for digitization at the Theodore Roosevelt Institute at Long Island University.

In this election, Gillibrand’s Republican challenger is Mike Sapraicone, 68, of Seaford, a retired NYPD detective who founded the very successful Squad Security company. This is his first complete run for public office, an ambitious undertaking.

In an interview, Sapraicone comes off as open-minded and moderate. He says of Schumer: "We may have different political views but he is everywhere. She is not." He adds: "And, you know, as I go around, everybody's saying she's missing in action." Gillibrand, however, insists otherwise, that she’s accessible and present.

On guns, Sapraicone says background checks are crucial. On migrants, he said sensible rules must be imposed. On abortion, he says that, yes, it should be decided by the states but "I’m not happy with the law in New York. I think it’s too liberal." He rightly shies away from single-issue litmus tests at confirmation on future decisions of judicial appointees.

Sapraicone shows common sense, intelligence and an appealing willingness to listen and be flexible. He knows Long Island well, but we doubt he can enter office next year with a studied, independent grasp of the challenges he’d soon face in Washington.

Newsday's editorial board reluctantly endorses Gillibrand.