on january 23, 2009, paterson chose gillibrand—a moderate upstate congresswoman from then-largely conservative district—to fill clinton's vacated seat. the reaction from the kennedy family was reportedly "furious", according to "the new york post" and the "daily news". although gillibrand's appointment was praised by some (including schumer, new york's senior senator; president obama; and clinton herself,) others criticized paterson's choice, calling gillibrand "inexperienced", "sharp-elbowed", "too conservative", and "unliked". others, including liberal "the new york times" editorialist maureen dowd and "new york magazine" writer chris smith, criticized paterson's "peculiar" and "dithering" handling of the senate appointment and suggested it was a cynical way of rallying upstate support for re-election. paterson later admitted that he personally ordered his staff to contest caroline kennedy's version of events in the hours after she withdrew from consideration to be united states senator.