Sen. Gillibrand Pledges To Sponsor DADT Repeal, Says "I Stand With Dan Choi"

Sen. Kristin Gillibrand (D-NY) has published an opinion piece on Huffington Post in which she declares, "I stand with Lt. Dan Choi." Gillibrand goes on to pledge to cosponsor a repeal of DADT.

I am firmly committed to repealing Don't Ask Don't Tell. To that end, I am working closely with Congressman Murphy and Senator Kennedy's offices to develop support for repeal legislation and will be among the original co-sponsors of the bill when it's introduced. In the weeks and months ahead, I plan to work with Lt. Choi to repair the damage that has been done to his career and spare thousands of innocent, brave men and women, from the same injustice.

RELATED: Gillibrand's Senate seat will be challenged in 2010 by my House member, the fabulous Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D), who represents NYC's Upper East Side.

Manhattan Rep. Carolyn Maloney is thumbing her nose at the Democratic establishment, telling fellow pols she'll take on Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand at the polls next year. The upper East Side Dem would be running head-long into an organized party effort - captained behind the scenes by Sen. Chuck Schumer - to clear the primary field for Gillibrand. Maloney is expected to make an official decision about her candidacy by July 4, but she's already alerting colleagues that she'll challenge Gov. Paterson's pick to replace Hillary Clinton.

When Gov. Paterson picked the relatively unknown Gillibrand to replace Hillary Clinton, some considered her to be a mere placeholder until the Dems could find a suitably powerful figure to run for the seat in 2010. That talk seems to have died down.