(Headline USA) Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., reportedly nominated one of her top campaign donors to a lifetime judgeship, in a quaint example of a gift that keeps giving in the best leftist tradition of political hackery.
Gillibrand threw her support behind Jennifer Rearden in January for a lifetime post as a Manhattan federal judge. But records show Rearden has donated more than $30,000 to Gillibrand in recent years, including right after Gillibrand recommended her to President Joe Biden for the position, according to the New York Post.
Federal Election Commission filings show Rearden gave Gillibrand and her political action committee $11,900 after telling the senator she wanted the job, and hosted “several” fundraisers for her at her law firm’s Midtown office.
“In May 2016, I expressed an interest in serving as a U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of New York to Senator Kirsten Gillibrand,” Rearden admitted in a Senate questionnaire. “From that time through November 2019, I periodically had contact with Senator Gillibrand and her office.
“I have co-hosted several fundraisers for Senator Kirsten Gillibrand at the offices of GIbson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP in New York,” Rearden continued in the disclosure questionnaire.
“My responsibilities principally consisted of arranging for the use of Gibson Dunn space, inviting Gibson Dunn attorneys (and sometimes others), and asking invitees to make a donation.”
Rearden sent a $5,400 check to Gillibrand in January 2017, and another one for $1,500 in January 2019. She gave another $5,000 to Gillibrand’s political action committee, Off the Sidelines, in March 2018. Gillibrand was the only politician Rearden donated to from 2016 to the present day, according to the FEC.
Rearden has also come under fire for her membership at a Connecticut country club with a racist and sexist past. The elite club charges $117,000 for new members, and restricted women from entering a male-only dining area as recently as 1997. The club also allegedly favored white members above minority members.
