Governor Paterson announced over the weekend the appointment of Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand to fill Hillary Clinton’s junior Senate seat. It is our hope that, upon taking office, Gillibrand brings increased transparency and accountability to her office, while keeping higher education and the needs of her constituents as top priorities.

The events leading up to Paterson’s decision were far from visible — little notice was given as to what the governor was looking for in a candidate, or who he even considered. For many, Gillibrand, who is right-leaning, was a surprising choice. As Rep. Peter T. King, a Long Island Republican, said in an interview, “The people of New York are entitled to know, since this whole process was such a circus atmosphere from the start, why [Paterson] decided on her, a one-term member of Congress whose views seem to be out of step with the Democratic Party in New York.”

The controversy surrounding her appointment is certainly not a positive start to Gillibrand’s Senate term. While it is well known that Gillibrand is an NRA-endorsed, anti-gun control representative from a hunting family, it is hard to gauge how she will perform in Clinton’s seat. In the few days since her appointment, she has radically shifted her views on issues such as same-sex marriage and even gun control in urban areas, admitting that downstate gun control issues vary drastically from those upstate. She has said little about higher education, mentioning only that she will try to bring as much of Obama’s multi-billion dollar stimulus plan to the state of New York as possible. We hope that she solidifies her beliefs and priorities in order to ensure efficiency during her term, rather than wasting time deciding how she feels on pressing issues.

While she may still be pegging down her views, Gillibrand has indicated during her short time as a Representative that she will bring transparency to her Senate seat. Gillibrand published her daily schedule on her website so that donors and constituents could see who she was meeting with, including specific lobbyists and industry leaders. Gillibrand also published a detailed report of all the earmark requests that she made as a Representative, and was only the second Congress member to do so.

In this report, she indicated that she decreased earmark requests by 60 percent in 2008. While we applaud her attempt to decrease pork barreling and unnecessary government spending, we can’t help but wonder if she will help New York to get its piece of the pie. Considering that overall earmark requests have increased by 1,200 percent over the past 12 years, we hope that Gillibrand works hard to make sure that, of the government money spent, New Yorkers get their fair share, particularly at a time when so much funding has been cut for community programs.

Gillibrand has made strong strides as a House member to increase government transparency and accountability. We hope that she continues this trend in the Senate in ways beyond her own office — but without forgetting the dire needs of her constituents in this depressed financial environment.