District Attorney Pirro Plans to Challenge Sen. Hillary Clinton

By Linda Orlando

Jeanine Pirro, a state prosecutor in the New York City area, said in a statement released Monday that she is planning to seek the Republican nomination to run for Senator next year. If she succeeds, she will be challenging Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton in her bid for re-election. In her statement, Pirro made no bones about why she feels Clinton should be unseated. "I am running against Hillary Clinton because New York state deserves a senator who will give her all to the people of New York for a full term, who will not miss votes to campaign in [presidential] primaries," Pirro said. She plans to formally announce her candidacy on Wednesday.

Pirro, 53, has been a high-profile district attorney in Westchester County for a number of reasons. She has been widely lauded for her Internet stings of would-be child molesters and her public battle against underage drinking. She has campaigned for support for battered women, outspokenly supported abortion rights, and has appeared on national television shows to comment about high-profile crimes and legislation. In 1997, People magazine listed her among its "most beautiful people" list.

Despite praise from supporters, Pirro has had a tough time of it in the media, primarily because of her husband’s troubles. In fact, she was re-elected to the office of District Attorney in 2001 while her husband was in federal prison for tax fraud. Albert Pirro, a lawyer and lobbyist, has been a distracting issue in most of her campaigns for public office. He is a powerful Republican fundraiser, and in 1986, because he refused to release information about his law practice, his wife had to withdraw her bid for being the Republican candidate for lieutenant governor. But now that her husband’s troubles have quieted down and Pirro has made a name for herself on her own merits, the way is clear for her to challenge Clinton. A statewide poll released last week by the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute showed Clinton in the lead in the run for Senator, by a margin of 63% to 29%. Other people being considered for the GOP nomination include former Yonkers mayor John Spencer, tax attorney William Brenner, and Edward Cox, son-in-law of the late President Nixon.

State GOP Chairman Stephen Minarik has been outspokenly urging Pirro to run against Clinton, hoping that even if she lost the race, Pirro could sufficiently tarnish the reputation of the former first lady that it would lessen her chances of winning if she makes a run for the presidency in 2008. Recent national polls have shown that the public believes Clinton will be the leading contender for the 2008 Democratic nomination, even though Clinton has stated several times that she is not thinking about running for the White House since she is completely focused on being re-elected to her Senate seat. But Pirro sees through the Senator’s thinly veiled denouncements. "When Mrs. Clinton first came to us and said she wanted to be a New Yorker, she asked New York to put out a welcome mat and we did," Pirro said in her statement. "But now she wants us to re-elect her even though she won't promise to serve out her term and wants to use us as a springboard to the presidency. She's asking us to become her doormat. I believe we deserve better."