Take Back Congress - New York

Saturday, July 22, 2006

New York - Republican's Waterloo in 2006

As the Spitzer tidal wave combines with the "Throw the Republi-bums Out" mood of the nation, New York is shaping up to be the critical battleground in election 2006.

Unfortunately NY state isn't yet getting the national attention it deserves in my opinion. I don't think people outside of New York quite get how high of a Democratic wave is approaching on the New York horizon.

Take a look at the numbers from the most recent WNBC/Marist Poll:
In NY-23 Bob Johnson has been reaching out to the online community. With the right amount of attention and money this race could very well shift into the realm of possibility.

Bob Johnson's opponent, Neo-Con Republican John McHugh, voted with Bush on the Stem Cell research bill and this should be a factor in the election as well. Unlike McHugh, many Republicans in Congress joined with almost all the Democrats to get this bill passed. In a stunning display of ignorance, Bush used his first and only veto in five years as President against a bill sixty percent of Americans support! This completely unacceptable vote by McHugh and arrogant veto by Bush will deny hope to millions of Americans looking for help with life-threatening diseases and injuries.

In an effort to boost the rising blue tide the
Working Families Party is pledging to double contributions made to the Working Families Party's Take Back Congress -- New York Federal Committee.

Every $1 you give will translate into $2, so your $20.06 donation - for victory in 2006! - becomes $40 and a $50 donation from you becomes $100 that we can spend to elect Democratic-Working Families Congressional nominees in target districts.

Donate now to Take Back Congress and your donation will be effectively doubled.

Donate now: http://www.workingfamiliesparty.org/support/


Polls show Republican incumbents across the country and here in New York are losing support. Eliot Spitzer and Hillary Rodham Clinton are headed to overwhelming victories that will give the Congressional candidates on the ballot with them a boost on election day. But the election is less than 120 days away, and you can be sure that Karl Rove and the Republican incumbents will not leave quietly. They will do whatever they can - including some nasty, dirty campaigning - to hold on.

Some relevant history. In 2002, votes on the WFP ballot line were the margin of victory when Tim Bishop beat Republican Congressman Felix Grucci in Suffolk. In 2004, we did it again with Brian Higgins in Buffalo. In 2006, Bush is more unpopular than he's ever been - and more Republican-held seats are facing serious challengers. This is the chance we've been waiting for.

The past six years of George W. Bush have been bad, even disastrous, for our country and the world. Bush is in office until 2008, but we don't want him to have two more years to inflict more damage. We need to Take Back Congress and put an early end to the Bush Presidency.

Let's seize this opportunity - make a donation today.

Donate now: http://www.workingfamiliesparty.org/support/

Thank you,
Steve Perez
Working Families Party Online Organizer

Also
National Journal has bumped up the ranking for some of the New York House races.

Monday, July 17, 2006

Bob Johnson second quarter fundraising numbers

This post is part of a larger effort by local bloggers across the state to cover New York's Congressional races and the release of the second quarter fundraising numbers today.

Working Families Party endorsed Democrat Bob Johnson has a steep hill to climb to unseat right-wing Republican John McHugh, as was evidenced by the second quarter fundraising totals released today. That said, the campaign for the largest congressional district east of the Missippi is starting to heat up.

The biggest obstacle Bob faces is the fact that few people are really paying attention to McHugh and his record. Bob Johnson shares the values of most New Yorkers, John McHugh does not. McHugh is given a pass by many because of token throw-away votes on pro-labor positions that unfortunately lacked support in Congress, and his long incumbency (though some - myself included - consider that more of a liability).
McHugh voted with President Bush 82% of the time, voted the GOP party line 91% of the time, and he voted with disgraced former House leader Tom DeLay 88% of the time (through 3/31/2006).


Bob Johnson has raised $69,157 for the year with $9,030 cash on hand while his Bush-Republican opponent McHugh has raised $333,746, mostly from out-of-state PAC's, and has $385,381 on hand. McHugh has only raised a tiny portion of his campaign spoils from individuals ($68,200). The fact that he has spent little of his overall funds is not really surprising as McHugh prefers to use tax-payer funded mailings to do his campaigning, so he can use his campaign funds to boost his Republican cronies - including $1,000 to Cheney's buddy Ray Meier.

McHugh acts as a conduit from the PAC's to the Congressional Republicans, something some of those PAC's should consider carefully when they contribute to him from now on - he has contributed
$25,000.00 to the National Republican Congressional Committee!

More data on the district:
  • Status: Republican incumbent John McHugh seeking his 7th Term
  • Voter registration: Republican - 183,916 (44.30%), Democratic - 121,566 (29.28%), Other -109,691 (26.42%)
  • 2004 Presidential vote: BUSH 51.03% , KERRY 46.86%
  • 2004 House vote: John McHugh (R) 71% def. Bob Johnson(D) 29%
  • 2006 fundraising totals: Johnson $69,157, McHugh $333,746
  • 2006 cash on hand: Johnson $9,030, McHugh $385,381


For analysis of the top Congressional races around the state see:

CD13 NY13 with bonus coverage of CD26
CD19 Daniel Millstone at Daily Gotham
CD20 Democracy in Albany
CD23 Bob Aubin
CD24 WFP Blog
CD25 Walsh Watch
CD26 Work Related
CD29 Rochester Turning

UPDATE (9PM): There is a great post on Daily KOS about the NY Congressional Races. with detailed analysis.

Friday, July 14, 2006

Vito in Vail

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Staten Islanders,

Vail is amazing! I have been trying to figure out what to do with my tax breaks the President has been so gracious with, so I decided to take the family on vacation. Fortunately my campaign had a little extra cash so as long as they pretend to be working for the campaign I can write it off. Bobby Ney is a hoot when you get a little tequila in him and put him on some skis. And you should see our lodge, it is bigger than any house you guys can afford back home. But don't worry it is full of lobbyists, so I am keeping myself busy. It is hardly a vacation with all the talk of Indian tribes. Wish you were here...

V.


ps; my lawyer wanted to make sure I let you guys know that Jack Abramoff just happened to be vacationing here at the same time, it is just a coincidence alright. And yeah that hat freaks me out too. How does he ski in it?

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Ray Meier Will Not Hold Bush to Account

Republican Ray Meier will never vote to impeach George W. Bush. Michael Arcuri might, if the circumstances are right.

The case for the impeachment of President George W. Bush recently got a lot stronger. The New York Times has obtained a letter that Congressman Peter Hoekstra, a Republican from Michigan who is the chair of the Intelligence Committee in the United States House of Representatives, sent to President Bush a few weeks ago. In that letter, Representative Hoekstra wrote:

"I have learned of some alleged intelligence community activities about which our committee has not been briefed. If these allegations are true, they may represent a breach of responsibility by the administration, a violation of the law, and, just as importantly, a direct affront to me and the members of this committee who have so ardently supported efforts to collect information on our enemies."


There you have it. Peter Hoekstra, a Republican member of Congress, is accusing President Bush of "a violation of the law". This is no minor crime either. It is against the law for the President not to keep Congress informed of domestic surveillance programs of this type, and, according to Peter Hoekstra, there more secret programs in addition to the several we have already learned about that involve massive spying efforts against the American people, without the search warrants that are legally required by the Bill of Rights in the Constitution.

When specific information about these programs to spy against Americans is made public, it will make the case for impeachment that much stronger. We don't know whether a Congressman Arcuri would vote for impeachment, but we know for certain that Congressman Meier would not. Meier is a follow-along Republican, and won't challenge the crimes of his party's President, no matter how serious they are.

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Fossella scared to discuss Iraq

Rep. Fossella, our favorite Independent from Staten Island appears to not believe that our foreign policy or on going war in Iraq is a policy worthy issue, or so that is what you may gather if you try to find his thoughts on it. His campaign site has a total of three references to Iraq.

One is a news article discussing mail subsidies for families to send mail to soldiers stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

One is a piece by Fossella criticizing Lebanon for their role in fighting terrorism.

And the third is a piece on legislation Fossella sponsored 'to ensure that federal and local officials don't send mixed signals to the public during terror emergencies'.

It is staggering to try to understand how incompetent Rep. Fossella is in regards to taking a stance on a war he openly voted to allow our President to enter into. It is not as if Fossella promotes a stay the course attitude akin to most Republican responses. Instead it is such a non-issue to him that it doesn't even garner recognition in his campaign to his constituents. Maybe if he ignores it, it will go away.

2,500 American deaths in Iraq, and Rep. Fossella manages to muster up THREE mentions of the war. If only one of them was a plan to support our troops with something more than mail.

Dear John...

I recently got a slick little taxpayer-funded mailing from John McHugh trumpeting his votes to extend the Republican tax giveaway to the rich. Obviously McHugh is getting a little worried about his strong Democratic and Working Families challenger Bob Johnson, and McHugh should be, but why didn't John want to promote his other votes in the congress?

McHugh recently voted to support an open ended policy in Iraq, while also voting against expanding healthcare for our troops and voting in favor of awarding contracts to Haliburton after they where shown to be fleecing the military for millions.

While gas prices spiral out of control John McHugh voted to give the oil industry billions and voted against cracking down on their price gouging. This just goes to show the $13,035 they gave him has been a smart investment for them.

The time has come for the voters of the 23rd Congressional district to give our "representative" a "Dear John" letter, and get a REAL representative that shares our values, Bob Johnson.

For more on McHugh's mis-representation of New York check out: http://www.dccc.org/gopauctionhouse/members/JohnMcHughNY-23.html

For more on our next Congressman Bob Johnson check out:
http://www.johnsonforcongress.org