Sunday, Oct. 23, 2005 10:29 p.m. EDT
Dick Morris: Hillary's 'Paltry' Senate Record


New York Sen. Hillary Clinton has been a great Senator for New York - at least according to her fans in the media, who regularly note how hard she works while insisting she's done much for adopted home state.

Baloney, says Dick Morris and Eileen McGann. In their new book "Condi vs Hillary," they blow the lid off Hillary's pathetic Senate performance - a list of accomplishments that are so meager her supporters ought to be embarrassed.

Morris and McGann note: "Hillary has had a total of twenty bills passed since she entered the Senate. Of those, fifteen have been purely symbolic in nature."

Lest they be dismissed as Hillary-haters who don't want to give the former first lady the credit she deserves, "Condi vs Hillary" itemizes Mrs. Clinton's legislative "achievements" (such as they are).

In five years as the most influential Democrat in the Senate, Hillary has managed to get the following laws and resolutions enacted:

• Establish the Kate Mullany National Historic Site

• Support the goals and ideals of Better Hearing and Speech Month

• Recognize the Ellis Island Medal of Honor

• Name courthouse after Thurgood Marshall

• Name courthouse after James L. Watson

• Name post office after John A. O'Shea

• Designate August 7, 2003, as National Purple Heart Recognition Day

• Support the goals and ideals of National Purple Heart Recognition Day

• Honor the life and legacy of Alexander Hamilton on the bicentennial of his death

• Congratulate the Syracuse University Orange Men's Lacrosse Team on winning the championship.

• Congratulate the Le Moyne College Dolphins Men's Lacrosse Team on winning the championship

• Establish the 225th Anniversary of the American Revolution Commemorative Program

• Name post office after Sergeant Riayan A. Tejeda

• Honor Shirley Chisholm for her service to the nation and express condolences on her death

• Honor John J. Downing, Brian Fahey, and Harry Ford, firefighters who lost their lives on duty.

Only five of Clinton's bills are, according to Morris, "substantive":

• Extend period of unemployment assistance to victims of 9/11

• Pay for city projects in response to 9/11

• Assist landmine victims in other countries

• Assist family caregivers in accessing affordable respite care

• Designate part of the National Forest System in Puerto Rico as protected in the Wilderness Preservation System

Concludes Morris and McGann: "In the face of Hillary Clinton's reputation as an effective U.S. senator, this record of paltry accomplishment is sobering. As much as Alexander Hamilton, Harriet Tubman, and the American Revolution deserve our recognition, one thinks the voters of New York may have expected more of their junior senator."

Not to mention their soon-to-be presidential candidate.