The best part of Vito Lopez’s announcement this morning that he’s endorsing Senator Kirsten Gillibrand is that he cast it as a result of how she “worked hard over the past year” to win over New Yorkers.
But it was not that long ago when Lopez was playing host to Gillibrand’s would-be challengers. On June 8, 2009, he was speaking positively about Rep. Carolyn Maloney and trashing Gillibrand. On January 22, Lopez lunched with Harold Ford, and said Gillibrand was basically unknown.
“If the next 10 people walk down the street, if you ask them who’s Kristen Gillibrand, and two of those people tell you that they do know, I would be somewhat surprised,” Lopez said after lunching with Ford.
On June 8, 2009 Lopez complained, “I have not met with and have some concerns about Kirsten Gillibrand,” and seemed unimpressed with her rapid shift to the left.
I asked Gillibrand’s spokesman, Glen Caplin, if she was going to appear with Lopez. The answer: at some point.
There is nothing “planned right now, but Sen. Gillibrand will continue working with Assemblyman Lopez and will campaign a lot in Brooklyn in the months ahead,” Caplin told me.
