Today, New York Governor David Paterson appointed Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand to fill Hillary Clinton's Senate seat. Gillibrand has, from day one of her congressional career, worked to make her office one of the more transparent in the Congress.

Entering Congress in 2007, Gillibrand was at the vanguard of transparency innovation in Congress. She was the first congressional candidate to sign Sunlight's Punch Clock pledge, a promise to post her daily schedule once she had taken office, and to post her schedule (which has been archived at Congresspedia). She was also one of the first to post her earmarks, earmark requests, and personal financial disclosures to her official web site without a requirement to do so. Gillibrand was also a chief proponent of requiring Inspector General reports to be posted online. We truly hope that she carries this spirit of transparency with her to the Senate.

In doing so, she should aim to improve the content of her official schedule. One thing we've noticed is that her schedule has grown sparse, only notes official events, and does not list meetings with anyone from outside of government. In moving to the Senate, Gillibrand should aim for a higher standard of transparency in her schedule.

A shining example for congressional schedules can be found in the schedules of the Montana delegation, Sens. Max Baucus, Jon Tester, and Rep. Denny Rehberg. All three of these lawmakers post detailed schedules that note many meetings with lobbyists, home state residents, industry executives, union members, and others who come to Washington to talk and lobby their elected officials. That is what a truly transparent schedule looks like. Hopefully, as she moves up to the Senate, Rep. Gillibrand will continue to advance transparency and improve her efforts at maintaining a transparent office.

The most recent rumor regarding the replacement for Sen. Hillary Clinton is that Obama friend and only surviving child of President John F. Kennedy Caroline Kennedy is under consideration by Gov. David Paterson. Caroline Kennedy is close to President-Elect Barack Obama and helped run his Vice Presidential search committee along with Eric Holder, who has since been tapped to be the next Attorney General. Kennedy also holds numerous positions related to both politics and her father's legacy. The quick list of her current positions is as follows:

• Director on the Commission on Presidential Debates
• Director on the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund
• President of the Kennedy Library Foundation
• Founder of the Profiles in Courage Award
• Honorary Chairman of the American Ballet Theatre
• Adviser to the Harvard Institute of Politics

Kennedy previously worked as the chief executive for the Office of Strategic Partnerships for the New York City Department of Education from 2002-2004. She is also an author of two books on civil liberties and the editor of four books.

Since Kennedy has never held or ran for elected office, it is difficult to use the network of Sunlight-related databases to research her involvements. The closest we can come is to look at her personal campaign contributions to political candidates. Here they are from 1994-2008:

Patrick Kennedy	$5,250
Hillary Clinton	$5,000
Barack Obama	$4,600
Edward Kennedy	$4,000
EMILY's List	$3,000
Chris Dodd	$2,000
Democratic Senatorial Campaign Cmte	$2,500
John Kerry	$2,000
DNC Services Corp.	$2,000
Bill Clinton	$1,000
Al Gore	$1,000
Ned Lamont	$1,000
Total	$33,350

Despite the obvious partisan tilt of these donations, her biggest booster at the moment appears to be Independent (former Republican) Mayor of New York City Michael Bloomberg.

The Washington Post's Chris Cillizza gives Kennedy a 20-1 shot at being the replacement.

As you may be aware, President-Elect Barack Obama has vacated his Senate seat and Sen. Hillary Clinton will be following his lead shortly. In the wake of their respective departures, the Governors of Illinois and New York will be tasked with replacing them in their seats. In the interest of keeping an eye on this less than democratic process, I'm going to be doing a series of posts looking at the various potential replacements through the Sunlight lens. That will involve looking at campaign contributions, earmarks, votes, personal finances, and all the other kinds of data that provide an insight into who these senatorial aspirants are. But first, let's look at the deciders, Gov. Rod Blagojevich of Illinois and Gov. David Paterson of New York.

Blagojevich is the two-term Democratic Governor of Illinois. If you had to say one thing about him it would be that he is unpopular - super unpopular. At present, Blagojevich's approval rating stands at 4%. I'm not sure of the margin for error in this poll, but it's entirely possible that Blagojevich could have a 0% approval rating. This could lead to some taint on the replacement pick, as no one wants to be seen as having anything whatsoever to do with the Governor. Fueling this super unpopularity is a wide-ranging corruption investigation into bid rigging in Blagojevich's administration.

Blagojevich is facing multiple pressures in his search for a replacement. As President-Elect Obama was the sole African-American in the United States Senate there is pressure from some quarters for Blagojevich to appoint an African-American replacement. Looming larger than the race of the replacement is whether the replacement will serve as a placeholder (as Ted Kaufman will do in Delaware) or will run for a full-term in 2010. This consideration is seen as paramount in Blagojevich's choice. Another point of interest is Blagojevich's desire to run for reelection (don't ask why someone with a 4% approval rating would seek reelection), which may cause him to seek out a loyal supporter.

This is a list of the top ten contributing industries to Blagojevich from 2002-2008. (All data comes from followthemoney.org)

Lawyers & Lobbyists	$5,708,231
General Trade Unions	$4,324,645
Public Sector Unions	$4,303,189
Construction Services	$2,859,157
Party Committees	$2,594,549
Securities & Investment	$1,855,582
Real Estate	$1,819,383
Candidate Committees	$1,696,267
Hospitals & Nursing Homes	$1,463,246
Health Professionals	$1,298,715

Paterson took office as Governor of New York when Elliot Spitzer resigned upon revelations that he had been sleeping with a high-paid prostitute. Paterson's first order of business, which definitely influences his decision on Sen. Clinton's replacement, is his 2010 election race. Paterson isn't facing the kinds of pressures that the wildly unpopular Blagojevich faces, but there are still constituencies to appease and decisions to make. The challenges that Paterson faces include finding someone who can effectively raise a ton of money in two years to run in the 2010 special election, appeasing enough groups to smooth the way for his own election, and deciding whether to choose a rival to clear the Democratic field for the 2010 Governor's race.

Many groups are putting pressure on Paterson to choose someone from their region, race, or sex. The biggest issue at hand may be regional representation. New York regional rivalries divide on the NYC v. Long Island v. Up State axis. This Senate seat also has a history of carpetbagging. It was previously held by the Massachusetts native Robert F. Kennedy and is currently held by Chicagoan Hillary Rodham Clinton.

This is a list of the top ten contributing industries to Paterson from 1998-2008. (All data comes from followthemoney.org)

Real Estate	$596,200
Lawyers & Lobbyists	$418,036
Securities & Investment	$303,850
Public Sector Unions	$298,675
General Trade Unions	$214,725
Candidate Committees	$156,070
Retail Sales	$137,100
Health Professionals	$108,150
Insurance	$108,050
General Contractors	$62,750

Tomorrow, I'll start to take a look at the replacement candidates.