Ealier this week, Amy Siskind and Marcia Pappas, President of NOW-NYS wrote an op-ed at The Huffington Post, Harold Ford: Get Your Sexism Out of NY.  In the op-ed, Siskind and Pappas discuss their earlier experience with David Goldin, current spokesperson for Harold Ford – former public relations person for Sen Hiram Monserrate.

The op-ed was mentioned in a Daily Kos piece yesterday, NY-Sen: Ford’s flack problems — fibs and the LIEberman connection. Here’s the piece in full on David Goldin:

Harold Ford of Tennessee, Merrill Lynch, the DLC, NBC and the Park Avenue Regency has, allegedly, only hired flacks so far in his Bloomberg-sponsored and funded campaign to unseat the excellent Senator Kirsten Gillibrand.

Davidson Goldin is the basic campaign flack, hurling insults at Gillibrand at every opportunity, and Tammy Sun will be filling in for him for two weeks while he’s honeymooning, and may work for the campaign once it staffs up.

Goldin has been a nasty attack-dog flack from Day 1, and a fibber several times. He also flacked for state Sen. Hiram Monserrate, who will soon be booted from the Senate for a vicious assault on a woman friend.

Sun was press secretary for Joe LIEberman in his 2006 general election campaign, when LIEberman well earned having the first three letters of his name capitalized.

Details, below.

• devtob’s diary

Goldin has been dissing Gillibrand for almost four weeks to the eager-for-a-bloody-primary NYC media.

Here’s a representative sample of his work:

(After Gillibrand complained about Ford calling her a “parakeet,” Goldin said): “Of course the unelected senator is on the attack: Her approval numbers are rock bottom, unemployment is rising and the economy around the state isn’t improving. As an appointed senator, she caters to Washington insiders instead of putting us in New York first.”

Goldin never lets the facts get in the way of a good campaign shot — for example, Gillibrand’s 42 percent approval in the latest Quinnipiac poll is her highest as Senator, and the economy in New York has been improving, somewhat, in part due to Gillibrand’s support of Obama’s stimulus programs.

And the “Washington insider” diss is just weird, since Ford has been a Washington insider all of his life and Merrill Lynch is currently paying him untold millions for his Washington connections.

After Ford met with leaders of NARAL-NYS Tuesday, Goldin leaked that Gillibrand had sought “permission” from NARAL to support the Senate HCR bill:

Goldin took issue with (NARAL-NYS executive director Kelli) Conlin calling out Ford on piecemeal points, but giving Gillibrand a pass on voting for the Senate version of the health reform bill, which contained a provision aimed at appeasing Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson that curtailed federal dollars being spent on abortions. The measure has been criticized by many activisits.

Goldin said Conlin indicated in the meeting with Ford that she didn’t have an issue with Gillibrand on it because the senator called first for “permission” before voting. A NARAL spokeswoman took issue with the word “permission” but acknowledged there had been discussions between Gillibrand and NARAL about the bill before she voted.

Gillibrand’s office also disputed the “permission” characterization.

Of course, Gillibrand discussed the HCR bill with NARAL, and many others interested in seeing the best Senate bill possible. But Goldin’s lie that she sought “permission” was purposely intended to make Gillibrand seem weak and not the kind of “independent” Senator that Ford claims he would be.

Two veteran NYC feminist activists, Marcia Pappas of NOW-NYS and Amy Siskind of The New Agenda, recalled their unpleasant interactions with Goldin when he was flacking for Monserrate, who was found guilty of misdemeanor assault for slashing the face of his girlfriend with a broken glass.

In a piece entitled “Harold Ford: Get your sexism out of NY” for the Huffington Post, Pappas and Siskind wrote that Goldin tried repeatedly to intimidate them to stop criticizing Monserrate.

We know David Goldin. He tried to intimidate and silence both of us and our organizations in a domestic violence case last year through repeated phone call and accusatory emails.

Mr. Goldin formerly represented Hiram Monserrate, the New York State senator who was convicted of slashing his girlfriend’s face with a broken glass. As reported in an Albany-based newspaper, when The New Agenda and NOW-NYS spoke out last year, Mr. Goldin tried to intimidate and silence us through repeated phone calls and accusatory emails. Later, when I, Ms. Siskind, wrote about the Monserrate Case for The Daily Beast, Mr. Goldin went so far as to repeatedly contact the editors there — of course the piece stands. (So Arianna, if your phone hasn’t rung yet, get ready!)

A few months later, even Sen. Monserrate tried to distance himself from Mr. Ford’s spokesperson David Goldin. Sen Monserrate’s attorney told an Albany reporter: DolceGoldin was relieved in April of this year.

We are disappointed that Mr. Ford chose to hire David Goldin as his main spokesperson. Since he did, we are not surprised by the tactics being employed.

For a laugh, check out TBogg’s take on Goldin, entitled “Liar Harold Ford represented by guy who represents famous lying people”.

After Goldin got all huffy about a video that documented Ford’s inconsistency on reproductive rights, TBogg lowered the boom from 3,000 miles away:

Yeah. Who are you gonna believe? Actual video or a something something something blah blah blah bullshit bullshit bullshit that his spokesman said? Tough call. I know.

Davidson Goldin has experience in these kind of matters having started his spin career by representing James Frey who told a million little lies which is, like, five less lies than Ford will tell in one day before he has even had his pedicure, so Goldin can probably do this in his sleep.

But he’ll still bill hourly.

Sun hasn’t fibbed for Ford yet, but who can forget the whoppers her then-boss LIEberman told, or had told, in 2006 — the primary day “hacking” of his campaign website, the Bush “hug” that was really a kiss, the infamous “No one wants to end the war in Iraq more than I do,” and relevant today, this one:

What I’m saying to the people of Connecticut, I can do more for you and your families, to get something done to make health care affordable, to get universal health insurance.

Sun evidently did not resign in protest of LIEberman’s serial lying, and even got to practice some lines/lies that she can recycle for Ford, like this from the New Haven Independent:

“Supporters of the Nedster may be focused on political gamesmanship and party politics, but Joe Lieberman is more concerned about what is best for the people of Connecticut. He believes they deserve better, which is why he’s running as an Independent Democrat on a message of unity and purpose.”

Working for Ford will be a reunion of sorts for Sun. Before flacking for LIEberman, she worked at the DLC where she met its now-chairman, Harold Ford of Tennessee, Merrill Lynch, the DLC, NBC and the Park Avenue Regency.

P.S. The late Dave Weintraub (davefromqueens) had a run-in with Sun at a Stamford train station event with LIEberman and Bloomberg. He wrote it up at My Left Nutmeg, and Scarce posted a YouTube by connecticutbob about the Newtown Labor Day parade in the comments. The Sunster is in there. Another commenter contributed: “Tammy, the DLC personified.”