Take Back Congress - New York

Fossella attacks the President's lack of strategy for military victory

2006-10-20T20:16:00.000-04:00

"I have a responsibility to all Americans as we make these difficult decisions. But [the] President has failed the test of leadership since this military action began. In the past, I have supported the President as Commander in Chief in military actions against Afghanistan, Sudan, Iraq and Yugoslavia. But in this matter, he has avoided articulating a strategy that will ensure victory, prevent a nightmarish quagmire or provide permanent security...

The President has a responsibility to articulate America's long-term strategy before placing even one soldier in harm's way. He has asked the Congress and the American people to follow his lead, but he has shrouded in darkness where that road will take us. Leading military and foreign policy experts have questioned why the Administration won't define the mission and what plans are in place for us to withdraw."

Fossella said that after only six weeks of military action, the American people are already seeing the fallout of the Administration's ambiguous strategy and failure to plan for victory.

"...It begs the questions of whether the Administration was caught off guard or of it lacks a clear vision of how we will wage and win this war."

Fossella said Congress has a responsibility to the American people to provide a check on the President's ability to unilaterally escalate the military action.

"It would be unwise for Congress to issue the President a blank check to wage war," Fossella said. "We learned only to well the dangers of gradual escalation. The 1964 Gulf of Tonkin Resolution started a bombing campaign against North Vietnam that resulted in an 11 year quagmire, over 57,000 Americans killed in combat and some 600,000 American ground troops. That resolution became President Johnson's blank check to troop waves of new soldiers into combat. To many Americans, the war ... bears striking similarities to Vietnam. The President must have a frank discussion with the American people as to what our military's mission is, when victory will be achieved and how it will be achieved."

This of course is from April 30, 1999, when Rep. Fossella attacked then President Clinton on the NATO led war in Serbia. If only Clinton were still President so that Fossella could realize what a colossal failure this administration is and how disastrous of a situation they have gotten us into. The absolute hypocrisy to attack the 'ambiguous strategy' of 1999 and have no criticism of the war in Iraq today is is disgusting at the very least. This after numerous military leaders in our forces and our allied forces have vociferously condemned the President's failure to have a plan and successfully protect our forces. Fossella is a failure who can't even pass floor resolutions about a postal stamp, so I expect international policy and military related legislation is too complicated for him to understand.

Cross-posted at NY-13

Watch the Video James Walsh Wanted to Be Censored!

2006-09-13T22:34:00.000-04:00

James Walsh has a terrible record on Iraq. Congressman Walsh has been a big bush loyalist from the start on the Iraq issue. Before the war, I personally went with a delegation of MoveOn activists to Walsh's office in Syracuse to ask him to not to vote in favor of allowing George W. Bush to start a war in Iraq. Walsh not only rejected the request, he wouldn't even meet with us. He didn't think it was important enough.

Representative Walsh's irrational support for the Iraq War has continued from that time on. Walsh continues to follow the tired old PR talking points from the White House, and he won't stand up to President Bush and demand answers for the repeated failures in Iraq and Afghanistan.

So, this week, an independent group got the money together to produce an ad for TV calling on James Walsh to end his shameful record on Iraq and start doing his job of congressional oversight. And what did James Walsh do? He had the ad censored.

No kidding. Congressman Walsh actually called up the people at Syracuse ABC affiliate WSYR and told them to take the anti-Walsh advertisement off the air. And what did the people at WSYR do? They did what Walsh told them to do. They took the advertisement off their station, just because Walsh didn't agree with what the advertisement said.

They ought to be ashamed of themselves. The United States of America is not supposed to be the kind of country where politicians can bully the press into censoring messages that embarrass the government.

Well, Congressman Walsh, I've found out that that video is now online. I'm posting it here to teach you this simple lesson: The more you try to censor the voice of dissent, the stronger that voice will become. While you're at it, pass the message on to your friend, Mr. Bush.

Revisiting Fossella's Illegal Activities

2006-09-05T20:18:00.000-04:00

Back on August 13th, the NY Daily News ran a follow up on Rep. Vito Fossella's illegal/inappropriate usage of tax payer created photographs in campaign materials.

U.S. Rep. Vito Fossella has a new explanation for why his photos with constituents - and Elmo from "Sesame Street" - were improperly used in congressional mailings and campaign literature.

Although the photos used in both instances appear to be exactly the same, the Staten Island Republican now says they are actually different snapshots.

Fossella's campaign responded claiming that identical photographs used in both tax payer funded Congressional mailings and in re-election campaign literature in reality are two different photographs taken seconds apart. In an attempt to legitimize his claims he submitted a report by Ronald Sartini a susposive photography expert from Brooklyn. The campaign refused to acknowledge if Sartini was paid for his report or if he was paid did that money come from his Congressional accounts or his re-election campaign coffers.

Fossella made his unusual claim in response to an investigation being conducted by the House Commission on Congressional Mailing Standards, which is looking into possible violation of rules that prohibit a member of Congress from using his office to benefit his reelection campaign.

Essentially Fossella claims that one of his staff members, Craig Donner, took several photographs seconds apart. Mr. Donnor claimed to have used his own (not a campaign owned) Sony DSC-P100 camera.

Greg Smith, the reporter covering this story seems to embarass Fossella's flimsy string of excuses in just one sentence;

But Donner did not respond to written questions about how he was able to take campaign and congressional photos within seconds of each other without violating the rule barring staffers from doing campaign work.

Let's just be clear about what happened here. Rep. Vito Fossella's campaign potentially acted illegally in using tax payer funded photography in both his official and re-election communications. Further he did act illegally in allowing his paid Congressional staffer to violate these rules by working simulaneously on both campaigns, while being a tax payer paid Congressional staffer.

Personally I find it ridiculous that an elected member of Congress is reduced to this kind of avoidance and lack of accountability. If he wants to clear up this issue in an acceptable manner that does not include covering his ears and saying la, la, la, la when these accusations arise, he can turn over the memory stick from his staffers Sony camera. Doing so would address four indisputable issues, as you can see in two sample screen shots I uploaded from my own camera and iphoto:

1. the file names of the two differing photos used in each instance
2. the shutter speed of the camera to show that they it was possible to take identical photos seconds apart
3. the camera name which will show it was in fact a Sony DSC-P100
4. the exact time down to the second each photo was taken (image 2)

[note there is an hour difference on my camera setting, however the dates are the same and the time is essentially the same with exception to the hour differntial]

These are simple and quick solutions to this potential illegal activity by a sitting member of Congress. He can clear up at least part of the issue, the potentially illegal use of the same photograph in Congressional mailings and campaign election mailings. But should he avoid it, like many other things (debates!) he has not escaped the fact that his campaign broke the law by allowing a Congressional staffer to be working on his re-election campaign while being paid by tax dollars in his Congressional staff role.

Cross posted at NY13.blogspot.com

Recapturing the Northeast

2006-08-15T09:00:00.000-04:00

A Washington-Post ABC News poll this month found Bush's approval rating at 28 percent in the Northeast -- 12 points below his national average. The Republican Congress fared no better.

Republican losses in the region could echo well beyond the 2006 campaign. Because much of the region is tilting Democratic, history suggests Republicans would find it hard to recapture seats once lost.

via Raw Story (via the Washington Post)

Changing the Course of Our Nation With Bob Johnson and the Democratic Party

2006-08-12T01:13:00.000-04:00

It didn't take long for the Republicans and the Connecticut for Lieberman Party to exploit the news of the terror plot in London.

“If we just pick up like Ned Lamont wants us to do, get out by a date certain, it will be taken as a tremendous victory by the same people who wanted to blow up these planes in this plot hatched in England,” Mr. Lieberman said at a campaign event at lunchtime in Waterbury, Conn. “It will strengthen them and they will strike again.”
- Joementum in the New York Times

-----

"I'd rather be talking about this than all of the other things that Congress hasn't done well," one Republican congressional aide told AFP on condition of anonymity because of possible reprisals.

"Weeks before September 11th, this is going to play big," said another White House official, who also spoke on condition of not being named, adding that some Democratic candidates won't "look as appealing" under the circumstances.
- AFP

What they are unwilling - or unable - to understand is that Americans are sick of the War in Iraq and they want a New Direction for America.

Future leaders of the Democratic Party, Bob Johnson and Ned Lamont, understand that we need real solutions, not Republican rhetoric.

This crisis actually shows that the Republican policies have not made us any safer. The terrorists apparently received training in Pakistan, which continues to be a terrorist safe haven. Since we took our eye off the ball in Afghanistan to go on the ridiculous Iraq misadventure the region has been sliding back toward anarchy.

After five years of Bush's Terror War the same region of the world continues to produce 9/11 style plots. Maybe if Reagan and the Republicans hadn't trained and funded the Mujaheddin to fight the Soviets in Afghanistan we wouldn't have Al Queda today. Regardless, it is clear that the current Bush Republican foreign policy of "Lie and Die" creates terrorists faster than we can possibly kill them.

The Republicans and the Connecticut for Lieberman Party claim to be about values, but it is Democrats like Bob Johnson who understand what real American values are.

Democrats are standing up for our values. I'm running for Congress in New York's 23rd district because I believe in Democratic values. I believe that an individual life has value, and that people have dignity beyond their economic worth. I believe that hard-working Americans shouldn't have to go without proper health care. In fact, I don't believe any American should go without health care and that a hospital has an obligation to treat whoever passes through its doors. I believe that going to war is a profound moral decision, a decision in which the entire country needs to be involved and listened to. I believe that Americans have a right to feel secure when they talk on the phone. I believe that government should be open, accountable, and effective. I believe that science has a positive role to play and should not be stifled by government ideology. I believe that we have an obligation to the next generation and that he who has the most toys does not win the game. I believe that we are not in this alone, but together and that helping others requires sacrifice and not just lip service. My values command me to love and help my neighbor and not denigrate them. I believe in paying my debts and staying within my means. These are Democratic values. They are American values.
- Bob Johnson, future US Congressman, on Daily Kos

Bob Johnson will be traveling the around the district with renowned actor Viggo Mortensen (Lord of the Rings, History of Violence, Hildago) discussing how we need to change the course in America, I suggest everyone who can to join him.

The Democratic Party of today is strong and we understand that America's future depends on finding new dynamic solutions based in reality. The Republicans and the Connecticut for Lieberman Party foolishly cling to the mistakes of the past - like the War in Iraq - they feel reality has a liberal bias.

Today, America is no safer, Israel is no safer, Iran is more dangerous, Osama bin Laden is still at large, and our brave troops are stuck in the middle of a bloody civil war. I believe that those leaders who got us into this mess should be held accountable.
Looking forward, I salute the patriotism and wisdom of Congressman Murtha and others who emphasize that “stay the course” is not a winning strategy for Iraq or America. Our best chance of success requires that the Iraqis take control of their own destiny. America should make clear that we have no designs upon their oil and no plans for permanent bases. While we will continue to provide logistical and training support as long as we are asked, our frontline military troops should begin to be redeployed and our troops should start heading home.
- Ned Lamont, future US Senator

Vito Fossella and Bush are Best Friends

2006-08-11T11:29:00.000-04:00

"More sobering for the GOP are the number of voters who backed Bush in 2004 who are ready to vote Democratic in the fall's congressional elections 19 percent. These one-time Bush voters are more likely to be female, self-described moderates, low- to middle-income and from the NORTHEAST and Midwest.

SNIP

The number of voters who say their congressional vote this fall will be in part to express opposition to the president jumped from 20 percent last month to 29 percent, driven by double-digit increases among males, minorities, moderate and conservative Democrats and NORTHEASTERNERS." [emphasis mine]

via ABC News

Maybe this is why Rep. Vito Fossella is scared to even admit he is a Republican.

Working Families Party Hustles for Michael Arcuri

2006-08-09T07:43:00.000-04:00

From Take Back New York's 24th

Hats off to the Working Families Party - those folks are working like hell to get Michael Arcuri elected. Anyone who ever said that the progressives don't amount to much in this District ought to be eating their hat right now.

As Carrie Berman from the Working Families Party Take Back Back Congress - New York campaign is wrapping up a series of meetings around the district this week, the Working Families Party is also putting advertisements up on radio stations that slam the Republican Party's crass poison pill attack on minimum wage legislation.

The text of the message is below. You can also hear an MP3 of the radio ad on the Working Families web site.

"There they go again... Instead of just raising the minimum wage, the Republicans in Congress are playing more political games. Last week they said they’d raise the minimum wage but here’s the catch: it has to be coupled with a big inheritance tax cut for the very rich. Make that the very, very, very rich. Because only the 8,000 wealthiest families in America qualify.

While Congressional salaries keep going up and up, it’s been nine years since Washington increased the minimum wage. And the Republicans still refuse to raise it unless heiresses like Paris Hilton get a tax cut.

That’s just not right.

This November, vote your values. Vote for Democrat Mike Arcuri on the Working Families Party line. Arcuri supports raising the minimum wage. Health care we can afford. And Social Security we can count on. "

Why is Democrat Bob Johnson on the No-Fly List?

2006-08-05T09:36:00.000-04:00

Up in the North Country, Democrat Dr. Bob Johnson is fighting a hard scrabble, grassroots campaign against incumbent right wing Republican John McHugh. 23rd District bloggers like Bob Aubin have been helping in Johnson's struggle, pointing out John McHugh's weaknesses - McHugh's support for special tax loopholes for people like Paris Hilton, heirs of multi-million dollar fortunes.

A mystery has recently arisen in the race that is putting a crimp in Dr. Bob's mobility. Someone, it seems, has placed Bob Johnson's name on the anti-terrorist No Fly List.

Who did it? Why would somebody put the name of a respected physician and candidate for Congress on a list of possible terrorists?

This much we know: Congressman John McHugh may not have personally put Bob Johnson's name on that No Fly List, but McHugh has been a big suppporter of the bureaucracy that makes these kind of Homeland Security screwups all too common. The system is broken, and John McHugh's right wing agenda is part of what's making it broken.

We can do better. Bob Johnson can do better.

New York - Republican's Waterloo in 2006

2006-07-22T04:30:00.000-04:00

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:

Governor - John Faso (R): 20%, Eliot Spitzer (D): 69%
Senator - John Spencer (R): 34%, Hillary Clinton (D): 61%
Iraq - Candidate Pro-Iraq War: 21%, Candidate Anti-Iraq War: 48%
Bush Job Approval - 26%

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.

Bob Johnson second quarter fundraising numbers

2006-07-17T21:31:00.000-04:00

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.

Vito in Vail

2006-07-14T22:51:00.000-04:00

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?

Ray Meier Will Not Hold Bush to Account

2006-07-12T07:50:00.000-04:00

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.

Fossella scared to discuss Iraq

2006-07-11T22:54:00.000-04:00

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...

2006-07-11T05:30:00.000-04:00

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

Why is Mike Arcuri's Campaign Calendar Empty?

2006-06-05T07:23:00.000-04:00

Remember, back when the Democratic voters of the 24th District still had the chance for a choice - to pick their own candidate on primary election day? Remember what all the Oneida County Democrats kept telling us about how a primary would be bad for the chances of the eventual Democratic nominee, and so all the other candidates should just step out of the way and let Michael Arcuri run?

If only Mike Arcuri didn't have to fend off Democratic challengers, they told us, he could run a strong campaign for the seat, focuising his fire on the Republicans. A primary battle would bog Arcuri down, they said. Being free of primary challengers, they said, Arcuri could put on his jogging shorts and run full force, unencumbered by democratic competition, campaigning hard from now right up until Election Day in November.

Well, look around you. Michael Arcuri doesn't have any Democratic competition any more. So, have the predictions of the Oneida County Democrats come true?

Sadly, no. The Arcuri for Congress campaign doesn't seem to be running a campaign so much as it is sitting on one. Arcuri hasn't put on his jogging shorts. He's still wearing his campaign pajamas, sleeping in, getting some rest, going back to his day job as District Attorney.

Take a look at the campaign calendar on the Arcuri for Congress web site. It tells the whole story. Nothing for the rest of May. Nothing for June. Nothing for July. For the rest of the campaign, no events, no speeches, no rallies. Nothing.

Now, I'm sure some smart alec from the Arcuri for Congress campaign would come up with the following retort: "Well, that's just the campaign on the web site. The real Arcuri for Congress campaign calendar that we keep locked up and secret in our offices is chock full of events!"

If that's the Arcuri campaign's excuse for an empty calendar, it's a pathetic excuse. First, it shows that Michael Arcuri is not particularly interested in reaching out to voters. Even without any Democratic challengers, Arcuri is withholding information about his campaign from the voters, as if the more that voters hear about what Arcuri is doing, the less likely they would be to vote for him. Is this the kind of Congressman Michael Arcuri would be, communicating with constituents only when he absolutely had no choice but to do so?

A truly active campaign will have a public calendar full of events. They won't keep it secret. They'll work to share the calendar with voters, so that people can know when the candidate will be appearing, to find out more, and so that they can begin to volunteer to help the candidate.

Besides, I just don't believe that Michael Arcuri has a calendar full of campaign events, just kept in secret somewhere. If the Arcuri for Congress campaign calendar is really active and full, then how come it's been three full weeks since there has been "breaking news" on Mike Arcuri's campaign web site? How come it's been 19 days since the Arcuri campaign even put up a press release online?

Where is the vigorous campaign we were promised?

Where is the tough campaign they said we'd get if all the other Democrats just surrendered and let Arcuri be the candidate?

It's starting to look like the presence of Democratic rivals was just an excuse for plain old laziness.

Memo to the Arcuri campaign: Wake UP! This is a district where Republicans outnumber Democrats. If you don't get up off your butts and start running hard and strong now, Arcuri will lose.

Then who will you blame? Without any rival Democrats to slow you down, whose fault will you say it was? Will you blame the newspapers for not running the press releases you didn't send about the activities that you didn't have?

A photograph of your candidate in jogging shorts is not enough. If you have to win, you have to run. Start. Now.

-------

From Take Back New York's 24th

Shortchanging Our Security

2006-05-26T15:25:00.000-04:00

Yesterday the House voted on the bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security. Jimbo had a field day voting to shortchange the security of the American people every opportunity he had. Here's a few of the things he opposed:

$15 million for an increase in training and technical assistance.
$40 million for Emergency Management Training Grants.
$50 million to beef up security on innercity subways.
$5 million to increase Immigration and Customs enforcement (Jimbo was one of only 70 some congressman to oppose this one).
$36 million for Domestic Nuclear Detection (!!!).

Jimbo, just how out of touch are you?!

Crossposted at The Walsh Watch.

Jimbo Gets Rolled

2006-05-22T14:40:00.000-04:00

Recently Jimbo has been spouting off about how important and powerful he is:

I'm a senior member. I chair a subcommittee on appropriations. I have the ability to affect legislation and policy.

So the question is, why did a two-term Congressman roll the all powerful 9 term subcommittee chair?:

The conservatives, led by Representative Jeb Hensarling, Republican of Texas, used parliamentary procedures to delete about 20 projects worth $507 million from the $94 billion spending bill for the 2007 fiscal year, which will begin Oct. 1.

This was Jimbo's bill from Jimbo's subcommittee and Jimbo was in charge of getting it past. After getting embarrassed, the all powerful Whiney Walsh went on to ask for some cheese with this statement:

Representative James T. Walsh, a New York Republican and chairman of the subcommittee that wrote the bill, criticized Mr. Hensarling, saying, "He does not understand that we are at war."

The sad thing is, Jimbo would be even less powerful come 2007 when Democrats control the House.

McHugh Caught Red Handed

2006-05-11T01:22:00.000-04:00

CROSS-POSTED @ BOBAUBIN.com

According to MoveOn.org soon after the Republican's Part D Disaster medicare drug bill passed with John McHugh's vote, McHugh got an $8800 check from the drug companies. We are going to issue a new big check to Rep. McHugh, in public, so everyone will know about the $8800 the McHUGH DRUG DEAL. Jim King and some other members of North Country DFA are working in concert with MoveOn.org on this project.

Caught Redhanded Check Delivery
Federal Building front lawn Brinkerhoff & Margaret Streets
Thursday, 11 May 2006, 12:00 PM

To sign up for this event, click here:
http://political.moveon.org/event/medicare/8525

Les Roberts to Speak Tonight in Trumansburg

2006-04-28T06:19:00.000-04:00

Tonight, at 7:00 PM at the Fire Hall on Main Street in Trumansburg, Democratic congressional candidate Les Roberts will be giving a talk about his experience working on the ground in Iraq. The title of the talk will be: Civilian Casualties: The Untold Story.

The event is a follow-up to Les Roberts' appearance on the Al Franken show this week. It is sponsored by the organization Back to Democracy and will include the opportunity to ask Les Roberts questions about his work in Iraq, his other work with the U.S. government and non-profits, and about his campaign for Congress.

The talk is free and open to the public, so anyone from within the 24th District or from elsewhere who is curious about the Les Roberts campaign is welcome to attend. That includes the people who read this blog, whether they're Roberts supporters or not.

Visit the Back to Democracy web site to find out more about the organization.

Funding our races, part II

2006-04-25T22:22:00.000-04:00

Two entries down I wrote part I about how we can start to fund the races in New York that will help us win back the House. The moral of the story is that in the majority of our congressional districts in New York we have very safe Democratic seats, with incumbents collectively with millions of dollars in the bank and yet they are not contributing to the races we need to win to take back congress.

As noted in part I, only 8 of 20 Democratic members of Congress donated to Frank Barbaro's campaign, the nominee for NY-13, so I took a little spin around some FEC filings and see where PACs associated with New York members of congress sent their contributions in 2004. I have listed contributions to other Democrats running for Congress in New York state.

via Opensecrets.org; Leadership PACs
Carolyn Malloney NY-14 (Carolyn's PAC) - $1,000
Swett, Katrina (D-NH),

Swett ran for NH-02 on 2002 however does not appear to have run for office in 2004. Her donation is listed in parenthesis, which is not explained, so this may not be a donation. By the way do not look up Katrina at work, as her old campaign site appears to have since become a porn site.

Nita Lowey NY-18 (Cmte for Leadership and Progress) - $102,000 given
Barend, Samara (D-NY) $1,000
Bishop, Timothy (D-NY, incb) $7,000
Higgins, Brian (D-NY) $5,000

Joseph Crowley NY-07 (Jobs, Opportunity and Education PAC) - $39,000 given
Bishop, Timothy (D-NY, incb) $1,000
Higgins, Brian (D-NY) $2,000
Owens, Major (D-NY, incb) $1,000
Serrano, Jose (D-NY, incb) $1,000
Clinton, Hillary (D-NY, incb) $4,000

Charlie Rangel NY-15 (New Leadership PAC) - $364,000
Owens, Major R (D-NY, incb) $6,000

Hillary clinton (HillPAC) - $312,500
Schumer, Charles (D-NY, incb) $10,000

I have placed text in bold where these candidates contributed money to incumbents who did not even have competitive elections and direct need for financial contributions. Rep. Major Owens who garnered contributions won his election with 94% of the vote. Statistically I believe that is called a "safe" seat. Owens had a hard fought primary receiving 45% of the vote in a four way race. Regardless of the outcome this seat would not have flipped parties leading one to wonder if that financial contribution would not have better served it's purpose in a contested general election race.

Rep. Crowley donated to Rep. Serrano's re-election (NY-16) which he barely squeaked out with 95%, managing to do even better than Rep. Owens. Even more astounding he made his largest contribution to Sen. Clinton, who at the time was two years away from her 2006 re-election race. Finally, continuing on this thought of reckless and irrational contributions, Sen. Clinton gave $10,000 to Sen. Schumer's re-election. Meanwhile Clinton only managed to make half the legal maximum contribution to Higgins (51%), Barend (41%) and Barbaro (41%).

As we fight to take back the House and Senate I propose that;

• Sen. Clinton and Schumer shall release any Democrats from the assumed pressure that they pay their dues and line their coffers and in return that their past donors give instead to a contested Senate or House race. Since both Senate seats in New York are safe, that leaves many viable House races.

• Any elected Democrats from New York shall not make any financial contributions to incumbents that are not up for re-election in the upcoming year

• Any elected Democrats from New York shall not make any financial contributions to incumbents in a race where there will not be a competitive general election; meaning a safe Dem seat, until they have made contributions to Democratic challengers to Republican held seats. This essentially would means Higgins and Bishop should be the only incumbent recipients. Higgins currently does not have a Republican opponent and Bishop does not have a financed opponent (as of yet).

• All donations should be prioritized to top tier and second tier House races in New York

• Each Democratic Representative from New York shall be expected to make financial contributions to both top tier and second tier races. Should this not be possible for what ever reason they should be expected to use their donor network to raise an equivalent amount for those candidates.

updates:

2006 ~~useless~~ PAC contributions; Sen. Clinton (HILLPAC)

Carper, Tom (D-DE) $5,000
Feinstein, Dianne (D-CA) $5,000
Kennedy, Edward M (D-MA) $5,000
Lieberman, Joe (D-CT) $5,000

Having thrown around a bunch of numbers, let me address my basic take away from this information. Majority control of the House is within our grips, and as Chris Bowers shows flipping seats in the Northeast is key to our victory. (Yeah I just name dropped a big time blogger, sorry). While individual small contribution donors is the best way to juxtapose the Democratic strategy versus the Republican, our elected Democrats need to acknowledge these races with their support. Futhermore our elected Dems need to be involved in financing races with Democratic challengers. Rep. Rangel can no longer be the only member of congress from New York that knows how to use his PAC and support our bench of candidates.

Originially posted at NY13

Dr. Johnson speaks at large peace rally

2006-04-24T17:27:00.000-04:00

CROSS POSTED WITH PHOTOS @ BOBAUBIN.com

Saturday in Plattsburgh, NY (in the North-East corner of NY), around 250 concerned patriots gathered with North Country Democracy for America to speak out for peace. We marched from Plattsburgh State University into downtown Plattsburgh where we had many eloquent speakers and music by Mike Pedersen.

Dr. Bob Johnson, Democrat running for Congress in New York's 23rd District to unseat the right-wing Republican John McHugh, gave a rousing speech about the need for change in our war obsessed foreign policy and against the Republican Culture of Corruption.

Plattsburgh City Councilor and North Country DFA member Bill Provost reminded us of Eisenhower's farewell address where he warned against the military-industrial complex. He noted that the current regime in Washington is virtually a direct representative of that military-industrial complex we warned against so many years ago. Bill recently sponsored a resolution in the Plattsburgh City Council in support of HR 635, calling for the investigation of the Bush Administration. The findings of this investigation could result in the Impeachment of the Bush/Cheney Administration. We are currently working to support similar resolutions around New York State and I encourage all New Yorkers to get in touch with us for more information.

We where proud to be joined by a number of Veterans who spoke out against the Bush reckless war policies. Dr. Bob Johnson himself served in the Army Medical Corps during the first Gulf War, and I was proud to serve in the Navy under the Clinton administration during peacetime. The most moving event came when a sign was displayed formed of the names of the first 2000 soldiers killed in Iraq into the word "WHY?" We observed a moment of silence in honor of the fallen, but we will never be silent in our opposition to the unjust and misguided Iraq war and Bush's plans for attacking Iran.

Many of the speakers noted that the only real way to stop the war in Iraq, and a future war in Iran, is by taking away the Bush rubber-stamp Congress and cleaning out the Republican Culture of Corruption infesting our government. North Country Democracy for America will continue organize and mobilize people here in New York's North Country to Democratic victory in November and beyond.

Check out the North Country DFA's Peace Rally page for more photos and a great article from the local press about the rally for more information.

Funding our races

2006-04-21T12:42:00.000-04:00

Over at NY-13 I have been taking a look at fundraising numbers from the Democratic nominee, Frank Barbaro, in 2004 to get a better understanding of how we can fund a race in this district and win. I approached this from the perspective of the New York City political community, but most of these figures we can extrapolate out to the rest of the congressional seats that are in play.

There are 20 Democratic members of Congress from New York state, of those 12 are in New York City. In 2004, 8 of the 20 donated to Barbaro’s campaign, 6 from New York City. Of those twenty only two, Higgins NY-20 and Bishop NY-01 faced a competitive race winning with 51% and 56% respectively and had a dire need to keep their funds and fundraising efforts within their own district. No other members were re-relected with less than 63%. Excluding Higgins and Bishop, the 18 other members of Congress have a combined $7.21 million cash-on-hand.

Outside of NY-13, the next closest election in the city last time around was Rep. Weiner winning with 70%. That leaves NY-13 as the only New York City centric race for our elected candidates and donors to get behind. As opposed to 2004 however, this time they need to actually support our nominee.

In 2004 these members of Congress gave a combined $12,750 to Frank Barbaro’s campaign. $7,000 of that coming from Rep. Rangel's PAC.

Down the political hierarchy, New York City is represented by 22 Democratic State Senators, yet only outgoing State Senator Seymour Lachman (seat currently held by Diane Savino) gave to Barbaro’s campaign. And finally there are 63 Democratic Assembly members in NYC, yet only 7 made a financial contribution to the race. In 2004 New York members of congress, state senators and assembly members combined for a total of $17,900 in donations to Barbaro's campaign.

Winning this seat starts with party discipline from the officials we put in office.

Funding the race, part I
Funding the race, part II

updated: fixed the links

Oil Wrong

2006-04-19T13:39:00.000-04:00

Here are a few things Jimbo voted against in last year's special interest give away, Energy Policy Act of 2005:

Voted against an amendment to put alternative fuels in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve
Voted against an amendment to end big oil subsidies and reinvest them in the development of alternative energy.
Voted against an amendment that would raise fuel standards and cut gas use by 10% over 10 years.
Voted against an amendment that would give the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission more ability to punish companies engaging in Enron-like tactics.
Voted against an amendment that would have looked into using mustard seed for biodesiel.
Voted against an amendment that would have taken away MTBE's free pass to pollute.

Whose side is Jimbo on, ours or big oil's?

Crossposted at The Walsh Watch.

Right Wing John McHugh Throws Money at Ray Meier

2006-04-17T08:05:00.000-04:00

From Take Back the 24th

Congressman John McHugh is one of the meanest members of the U.S. House of Representatives. A genuine right wing radical, McHugh has voted to allow federally funded programs to fire workers just because they don't belong to the same religion as their boss. McHugh has voted to give the Secretary of Homeland Security the power to overrule American laws. McHugh has voted to hobble the Endangered Species Act. McHugh voted to kick American-born babies out of the country. The list of nasty right wing votes goes on and on.

John McHugh represents New York State's 23rd District, where he is facing a tough antiwar opponent, Dr. Bob Johnson. So what does McHugh have to do with us here in the 24th District?

John McHugh is the only member of Congress to give any money to Ray Meier's campaign - one thousand dollars. The hundreds of other members of the House and Senate won't have anything to do with Ray Meier. So, Ray Meier's one friend in Congress is a right wing extremist. That tells a lot about what we can expect from Ray Meier if he gets elected.

Republicans Were Pro-War. Was Mike Arcuri?

2006-04-12T17:23:00.000-04:00

On his campaign web site, Michael Arcuri now declares that when George W. Bush started the Iraq War, "The President made a bad, unnecessary decision."

I agree. But then again, everyone this side of Jerry Falwell now agrees with that statement.

For the 2006 campaign, the relevant question is this: Where did our candidates stand in March 2003?

March 2003 is when this terrible war was started by George W. Bush, along with the approval of many politically established Democrats. Was Mike Arcuri one of those Democrats?

Michael Arcuri claims to be a leader. Well, leaders use their power to make a difference on the issues that they care about. Did Arcuri care enough in 2003?

In early 2003, did Michael Arcuri use his powerful voice in Oneida County to support those of us who were marching in the streets begging George W. Bush not to start a war with Iraq? Or, did Mr. Arcuri abdicate his leadership and support George W. Bush's war? Even worse, did Michael Arcuri say nothing either way, remaining safely silent while American soldiers were sent to their deaths?

To all these questions, the only answer I can honestly give now is I don't know.

I've searched what news I can find of the time, and I can't find a single instance of Michael Arcuri making any public statements either way. Of course, that doesn't mean that Arcuri did nothing against the war. It just means that there's nothing on the record.

This issue is not about Monday morning quarterbacking. It's about whether the candidates did the right thing when it counted - when America had the chance to choose not to go to war.

Any Democratic candidate who did not oppose the war before it began, but now criticizes the war as a mistake, has serious credibility problem. Voters are going to notice the discrepancy, or the silence about it, in the general election, so it's best that New York's 24th District Democrats hash out the issue now.

If Michael Arcuri did support the Iraq War in 2003, and he gets into the House of Representatives in 2006, how do we know he won't make the same mistake again, and vote to approve another bloody, costly, pointless war just because it is the politically easy thing to do?

We deserve to know where ALL the candidates stood on the Iraq War before it began.

We can be pretty sure that Ray Meier and Brad Jones supported starting the Iraq War in 2003. After all, they still support keeping the Iraq War going now.

Les Roberts opposed the Iraq War before it began.

Bruce Tytler isn't running any more, but before he dropped out, Tytler openly admitted that he supported the Iraq War in 2003. He admitted that was a mistake, but was open about it.

As far as I can tell, Michael Arcuri hasn't said where he stood on the war in 2003.

If I'm wrong on this, and Mike Arcuri has made any public statement about his pre-war position on invading and occupying Iraq, then let me know. If there are any old sources showing Arcuri's position, I'd like to know of those too.

I've Googled, and gone through old newspapers, and looked around everywhere that I could - but just because I can't find anything doesn't mean that it doesn't exist.

Of course, Arcuri could just make a clear and simple statement to the public explaining his position, right?

Many people say that, as a District Attorney, Mike Arcuri simply couldn't take a public position on a political issue like the Iraq War. That position is clear and unadulterated BULL.

Michael Arcuri is District Attorney right now, and he's taking plenty of positions on plenty of issues, local, national and international.

So, if Arcuri can take these public positions now, as a part of his own self-promotion campaign to Congress, how come he didn't take a position back in 2003, when it really counted?

Get Out of Jail Free Card

2006-04-12T14:02:00.000-04:00

A week ago today, Jimbo showed his true colors when it comes to the Republican Culture of Corruption.

A bill came to the floor that said:

That the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct shall immediately initiate an investigation of the misconduct by Members of Congress and their staff implicated in the scandals associated with Mr. Jack Abramoff's criminal activity.

Jimbo and his Republican comrades voted to kill the bill.

Jimbo proved again he is just more the same, just another foot soldier in the Republican Culture of Corruption.

Crossposted at The Walsh Watch.

Republican Syndicate: Bush & McHugh

2006-04-12T09:32:00.000-04:00

If you've been reading my blog you've probably noticed me write about the Republican Culture of Corruption, which refers to the Republican party's consistent national pattern of unethical behavior. The Republican party under the leadership of George W. Bush has been corrupted by the temptations caused by controlling all branches of the national government and in many ways now resembles some kind of crime family.

As head of the Republican Syndicate, George "Dubya" Bush has abused the office of President of the United States on countless occasions. Bush authorized the leak of classified information that lead eventually to the public revelation of an undercover CIA operative's identity. He mislead the nation about the reasons for entering the war in Iraq, which has cost thousands of American lives, and billions of dollars. Dubya and his allies have also been involved in numerous election irregularities, including voter suppression in Florida in 2000 & a phone scam during a Senate race in New Hampshire in 2002. Also, Bush has suspiciously close ties to notoriously unreliable electronic voting machine manufacturer Diebold. He botched the response to the terrible Hurricane Katrina and lied to the public about his knowledge of the problem. George Bush has appointed unsavory individuals to his White House staff, and praised and rewarded incompetent Government officials. He demands the erosion of American civil liberties and may have been complacent in the torture of prisoners of war in Iraq. For all these reasons and more the vast majority of Americans have lost all faith in Bush, and many are calling for him to be Censured or investigated for possible Impeachment. The City of Plattsburgh passed a resolution recently in support of such an investigation.

Republican John McHugh is a hardcore Bush crony in the U.S. Congress that ensures Dubya's will can be imposed upon the people of America and New York. McHugh is a dedicated supporter of the failed Bush plans for war in Iraq. McHugh has also often expressed strong confidence in the leadership of ethically-challenged former House leader Tom "The Hammer" DeLay, who recently resigned in disgrace after being indicted by a grand jury in his home state of Texas. Scandalously, John McHugh has taken large amounts of money from associates of convicted criminal lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Despite token votes for a few labor friendly bills when he knows they are doomed to failure in the Republican infested Congress, McHugh does not represent the values of upstate New York's working families. He is a radical Republican that votes in lock-step with Bush's whims. Unlike the draft dodger McHugh, Dr. Bob Johnson is a proud veteran who will bring honor and integrity to the NY-23 Congressional seat.

Cross posted with some additional information about my local NY Assembly race @ BOBAUBIN.com

Les Roberts on Health Care

2006-04-10T17:21:00.000-04:00

Les Roberts, Democratic candidate for Congress in New York's 24th congressional district, recently made the following statement on solving the crisis in health benefits:

""I believe the most expedient way to ensure that uninsured Americans get coverage is to expand the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program. This program already provides coverage to all federal government employees by providing a wide range of health plans to buy into. The risk pool created by opening these plans to a great number of people may eventually reduce costs to everyone in the plans.

This is, of course, not the end to our health care problems. There are gross inefficiencies in our health care system. We must strive to get our reimbursement and paper trail systems to be more compatible. We must push for a revisiting of our entire health care strategy. We are currently one of only three industrialized countries among the 30 largest economies in the world that does not guarantee health care to all of our citizens (Turkey and Mexico are the other two and both are working on plans to expand coverage to all citizens). Since 2000, the number of uninsured, non-seniors, in the United States has increased by 6 million people. We must reverse this trend."

Les Roberts Is the Favorite on Foreign Policy

2006-04-10T02:32:00.000-04:00

In a recent poll of readers of the Take Back the 24th blog, a solid majority of readers said that, of all the candidates running for the Democratic Party nomination in New York's 24th congressional district, Les Roberts has the most credibility on foreign policy.

57 percent of readers so far indicated that Les Roberts is the best choice for Congress on foreign policy issues.

Only 33 percent of readers were willing to say the same thing about Michael Arcuri.

Leon Koziol was even further behind, with just 10 percent of readers saying that they believe Koziol has the most credibility on foreign policy.

NY13: An interview with Stephen Harrison

2006-04-10T00:56:00.000-04:00

I have been invited to join the blog covering the 13th congressional district (Staten Island/Brooklyn). This is often considered the most conservative seat in New York City. It is currently held by Rep. Vito Fossella, a four term incumbent. Currently Stephen Harrison is the only declared Democratic candidate running for this seat. You can read more about the race at ny13.blogspot.com, where this interview is also cross posted:

NY13: Can you give us a brief introduction about yourself and what motivated you to run for Congress?
SH: A Check out the bio section of harrison06.com for background info on Steve. Although the site is still very much a work in progress, it is much improved from when you initially visited it. Also the quote you lifted from the solicitation letter Steve wrote posted in the donate section no longer exists. He changed the wording a little a bit.

NY13: In 2005 Frank Barbaro won 41% against Fossella, the best a Democratic challenger has ever done. How do you plan on building off of those results and what do you need to do to win in November?
SH: A From my earlier comment on your blog, “ Barbaro lost in 2004 by 33,000 votes in a district with roughly 500,000 people old enough to vote. There was 40 percent greater turnout in 2004 than in typical years because of the presidential election.

Although I think the Democrats would lose less votes because of dissatisfaction with Bush policies, for arguments sake lets assume both parties lose votes proportionately if turnout returns to normal levels. Fossella's margin is now 20,000.

If 5000 white voters over 25 years of age who didn't vote in 2004 vote this time because of Bush, Iraq, gas prices, whatever, Vito's lead shrinks to 15,000.

Persuading 5000 Fossella supporters to see the light results in a 10,000 vote swing because Vito loses 5000 and we would gain 5000. This cuts the deficit to only 5000 votes.

Between 18-25 year olds of all ethnicities and black and Hispanic adults, there are about 88,000 US citizens who belong to Democratic affinity groups who didn't vote last election to get the remaining 5000 votes.

We plan on accomplishing this by being the most visible opponents Vito has ever had. In 2004, Voters who didn't read the Advance or live in the few neighborhoods with grassroots efforts didn't know who the Democratic candidate was until Election Day. We will be different.

Our campaign will generate media coverage in most of New York's print and broadcast media. Our paid advertising strategy will not be limited to local insertions on news programming on Staten Island cable like other Staten Island Dems. We will purchase a broader range of programming and media aimed at groups we need to target to win. We're also the first Staten Island Democratic congressional campaign to have an Internet marketing strategy.

NY13: This district has been represented by Republicans for many years. Why do they need to elect a Democrat this November?
SH: You know probably as much as anyone why this needs to be done.

Republican fiscal policy that cuts needed programs for the poor and middle class and yet mortgages the next generation with debt because it starves the government of revenue by cutting the taxes of the extremely wealthy.

Iraq
Darfur
Energy dependence
Social Security
Steve’s plan to use laws already on the books to eliminate the Verrazano toll (A copy of the press release is already on the site)

We will be posting detailed policy and issue stances on the site very soon.

NY13: There are a few other congressional races in New York State this year, where Democrats have a good chance to flip a Republican seat; Eric Massa running for NY-29 and Kristen Gillibrand running for NY-20. These races have received a lot of coverage and could be exciting races for Democrats trying to retake the House. Why should Democrats outside of the 13th district watch your race? Why is picking up this seat more important than some of the others?
SH: Because we can win if properly funded.

Bob Johnson (NY23) and the City of Plattsburgh support HR 635 (Impeachment investigation)!

2006-04-07T15:55:00.000-04:00

I was very excited to attend the Plattsburgh City Council meeting last night at 6PM. The chamber was packed with people, many of whom spoke in favor of Congress investigating George Bush over a host of alleged violations of law. Only two individuals spoke against the measure, and they seemed to have a personal issue with the Councilor who proposed the resolution, Bill Provost.

One of those present to speak in favor of the resolution was future Congressman Dr. Bob Johnson. Bob explained that the City council was most certainly the best venue for bringing up the issue, since George Bush's actions have put a heavy burden on our local area by taking away funds that would otherwise belong to the City. Bob spoke strongly in favor of the Council passing the resolution.

The Council vote was 4 in favor and 2 opposed. The Council's two Republicans claimed that it was not in fact the proper venue for the people's concerns to be discussed, but the Republican Mayor Dan Stuart, who does not have a vote unless there is a tie, disagreed. He noted that Plattsburgh City citizens should have this venue to speak on all issues - local, national, or global. Mayor Stuart did not express support or opposition to the resolution itself.

I am very proud of my friend, and fellow North Country Democracy for America member, Councilor Bill Provost for making this vote possible.

Visit BOBAUBIN.com for the full story!

Ray Meier Won't Listen to The Troops

2006-04-07T13:31:00.000-04:00

From Take Back New York's 24th District:

Republican congressional candidate Ray Meier has a growing problem with his lack of respect for Americans serving in the military. Meier says he'll listen to American soldiers fighting in Iraq, but when those soldiers disagree with Meier's political agenda, he just puts his fingers in his ears and pretends he hasn't heard anything.

The troops have spoken. They want out of Iraq fast.

Polling shows by the reputable company Zogby International indicates that about 70 percent of soldiers believe that the USA should get out of Iraq before another year is done. In fact, a majority of American military men and women in Iraq want America to pull out before six months from now.

Someone ought to tell Ray Meier that you can't say that you support the troops and then tell them to go to hell when they don't tell you what you want to hear.

Support the troops, Ray. Stop supporting George W. Bush's plan for the Iraq War to continue for years on end.

Fibbin' Jim

2006-04-06T14:02:00.000-04:00

Jimbo seems to be a little bit of a fibbin' streak this week.

He did first in the Op-Ed in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, saying:

The bill aims to re-establish respect for immigration laws and crack down on employers who hire illegal workers and smugglers trafficking in human beings.

When in fact Jimbo voted for an amendment to that very bill that limited the amount an employer would be sanctioned for using illegal workers, to a mere $7,500. Quite a disincentive Jimbo.

Then as a commenter pointed out the other day, Jimbo was doing a little fibbin' on the Jim Reith show when it came to his good buddy, Republican Culture of Corruption Kingpin Tom DeLay. And while I missed it, The Maffei campaign managed to catch him in the act:

Reith: "Do you consider him (DeLay) an ally of yours? Or are you an ally of his?"

Walsh: "Well, not really…He is not a guy that I would want to bring up to Syracuse because he is a lighting rod….He is very conservative. Far more conservative than I am."

Wow, now that's a whopper Jimbo!

Crossposted at The Walsh Watch.

Campaign update from New York's North Country

2006-04-04T18:45:00.000-04:00

First of all, I want to thank "24 Democrat" for inviting me to become a contributor to the Take Back New York blog and hope you all find my posts informative and helpful.

On Monday April 3 the Plattsburgh State University Democrats and Progressives held a meet the candidate night with Dr. Bob Johnson, our next North Country US Congressman, and Andrew Brockway, our next North Country NYS Assemblyman. The candidates presented themselves and their platforms and opened the floor to public questions. It was a very informative night with excellent free food and drink!

Andy spoke first, describing how he returned to the area after working in Albany in civil service and studying for a graduate degree when he heard about the immanent exit of Wyeth Pharmaceuticals. Andy has decided to devote himself full time to ensuring we get what we need from Albany. We aren't getting the representation we deserve in the North Country and Andy plans to change that. When it comes to job loss, cuts to education aid, and the heavy burden of property tax the incumbent simply has not done enough to stop the Republican efforts to short-change the North Country. Andy's website is now set up to receive online donations.

Dr. Bob Johnson spoke on the Republican culture of corruption and how its influence has tainted Congress. After a long history of service to his country, both in the armed services and as a local surgeon, Dr. Johnson feels he still needs to do even more to help the nation. Huge multi-national corporations have far too much negative influence over Washington and Bob wants to change that. Just like many of us in the North Country, Dr. Johnson was inspired by the Dean for America campaign and Howard's message of people empowerment. Dr. Johnson knows that the only way we will restore our American democracy is if people like you and me stand up for America and donate our time and money to campaigns that support real American values. In Congress Bob Johnson will work to stop the unfunded mandates breaking the back of local economies. He will fight for us against the radical Republicans' agenda of permanent war. He will be an outspoken advocate for fulfilling the Democratic Party's pledge, made in the era of Harry Truman, to give health insurance to ALL Americans.

Dr. Johnson will be back in Plattsburgh on April 6 to speak at the City of Plattsburgh Common Council meeting (5:30PM) where they will be discussing a resolution to encourage the Congressional investigation of George W. Bush over Iraq pre-war intelligence. The Johnson for Congress campaign has not released the content of the remarks Dr. Johnson will make. Later that evening (8PM) Dr. Johnson will attend the North Country Democracy for America monthly Linkup where he will receive the North Country DFA's official endorsement and take questions from the public.

Andy will be traveling all around the North country in the month of April seeking support and listening to the concerns of voters.

Both Andy Brockway and Dr. Bob Johnson will be at the Plattsburgh Peace March / Rally on April 22. They will be joined by: PSU Students for Direct Democracy, PSU Environmental Action Committee, PSU Campus Democrats & Progressives, PSU Amnesty International, North Country chapter of Veterans for Peace (out of Canton/Potsdam), Green Mountain chapter of Veterans for Peace (Vermont), Gold Star Families for Peace (Nancy Shipes, husband killed in Vietnam), Plattsburgh City Councilor Bill Provost, Susan Ledges (Plattsburgh Peace), Colin Wells (Diogenes), Alternatives to War (from Canton/Potsdam), Burlington Vermont Peace & Justice Center, Echec a la guerre (Montreal Stop War Coalition), Rev. Glen Michaels, Chris Fells (Air America Radio, Burlington VT) among others. Starting with speakers at Amity Court on the PSU Campus, we will march downtown to Trinity Square where we will have music, and more speakers. If you plan to attend please RSVP at DFA Link.

Also, please consider registering with DFA link and signing up with Dr. Johnson's DFA link site and Andy Brockway's DFA link site. The more support they have on these sites, the more likely it is they will receive the national Democracy For America endorsement which will give them access to tons of new supporters and campaign funds.

If you live in the North Country region of NY please also consider signing up with North Country DFA on DFA link, we are continuing Howard Dean's vision of grassroots politics in the North Country and we can always use more help.

For the latest on these candidates and events keep your browser tuned to BOBAUBIN.com, I am committed to ensuring a Democratic victory over the Republican culture of corruption in November; a victory for real American values, and a victory for the American people.

Remember, YOU HAVE THE POWER!

2006-04-02T21:21:00.000-04:00

A couple weeks ago, I wrote a quick article discussing the fact that, in spite of prideful claims by Oneida County Democrats that nobody can win the 24th District Democratic nomination without winning Oneida County, Oneida County actually contains a minority of the Democrats in the 24th District.

The article clearly upset many Oneida Democrats, but facts are facts. In order for a Democrat to win the 24th District Democratic nomination, the best bet for a Democrat is to reach out beyond the borders of Oneida County. A Democrat like Michael Arcuri or Leon Koziol could easily win the nomination contest in Oneida County and lose the district.

A lot of people seem to forget that there is no electoral college for this primary race. A Democrat who gets the majority of votes in a county does NOT seize all the votes for that county. If Les Roberts, for example, got just 20 percent of the votes in Oneida County, all those votes would remain with him, even if Mike Arcuri got over 50 percent of the Oneida County vote. Then, by getting a majority of the vote in most of the rest of the counties in the 24th District, Les Roberts could coast to an easy primary victory over Arcuri, in spite of the loyalty of Oneida County Democrats to their local guy.

As I've pointed out at the local blog Finding Ulysses, high turnout in counties other than Oneida can easily counter for the Oneida Democrats' raw weight. Typically, less than ten percent of voters actually turn out for a primary election, so organized turnout efforts can turn presumptions inside out. It's a matter of simple math, but some Oneida County Democrats seem unable to grasp it. Let me provide the information about distribution of Democrats in New York's 24th District, then, in text and graphic form, to make it plain.

Broome County: 6.7 percent of district Democrats
Cayuga County: 12.3 percent of district Democrats
Chenango County: 6.5 percent of district Democrats
Cortland County: 7.5 percent of district Democrats
Herkimer County: 8.9 percent of district Democrats
Oneida County: 30.9 percent of district Democrats
Ontario County: 3.7 percent of district Democrats
Otsego County: 6.8 percent of district Democrats
Seneca County: 5.2 percent of district Democrats
Tioga County: 2.4 percent of district Democrats
Tompkins County: 9 percent of district Democrats

Qualifications of Michael Arcuri And Les Roberts

2006-04-02T12:52:00.000-04:00

Thoughts on the relevant professional experience of the two remaining serious Democratic candidates in New York State's 24th congressional district from Take Back New York's 24th District blog:

Les Roberts has relevant professional experience in the following areas: International relations, health care, disaster relief, science, and education.

Michael Arcuri has relevant professional experience in the law, law enforcement and politics.

So, which one of these candidates would do a better job for us in Congress? Well, that depends on what you think members of Congress ought to be concerned about.

If you care about education, international issues, health care, disaster relief, and science, then you'll judge Les Roberts to be better qualified. There's some good reason to value these issues in the 24th District in particular. International affairs are on everybody's mind these days, with the war in Iraq draining resources from every community in the USA, and Les Roberts has a long history of dealing with top level officials in the American government, foreign governments and the United Nations. Health care is an essential issue for the 24th District too, with health care costs quickly becoming the number one burden for local governments. If you're upset about property taxes, you ought to be thinking about a national health care plan of the sort that Les Roberts has proposed. Education and science are, as Sherwood Boehlert's career demonstrated, essential for a US Representative for the 24th District to address with skill. Our colleges and universities are our district's most reliable source of bread and butter.

If you care about legal issues and law enforcement, then Michael Arcuri is your man. Crime is not a big issue in the 24th District, but matters of constitutional law have never been more important. We have too many members of Congress right now allowing President Bush and the Executive Branch to play fast and loose with the law, and having someone with legal skills to take a strong stand for the rule of law would be refreshing. Mike Arcuri's professional background with the law would also enable him to be an intelligent reader and creator of legislation. Given the fact that most members of Congress passed the Patriot Act without even bothering to read it, that skill is nothing to sniff at. Arcuri's status as a career politician may be regarded by some as a liability, but the truth of the matter is that, for a member of Congress, politics does not end on Election Day. Members of Congress need to be able to maneuver amongst their colleagues in order to get business done.

Now is the time that we grassroots Democratic voters in New York's 24th District need to start discussing the relative merits of the different kinds of experience Les Roberts and Michael Arcuri would bring to the job. Arguments about who can win the race are all well and good, but in order for those arguments to be well informed, they need to be based upon an understanding of the areas of professional expertise that Les Roberts and Michael Arcuri promise to use on our behalf in the House of Representatives.

Top Issues of the 24th District Race: Poll

2006-04-02T10:52:00.000-04:00

Commenting on the new issues poll found on the Take Back New York's 24th, a reader writes,

"As a soon to be graduating student I must say that all of those issues are important, but there are two that truly stand out for me: one is jobs/the economy, the other is democrats taking back Congress. The first is an obvious one, I want a job (hopefully in the upstate 24th area)that I can support a family with. The second issue is important to me because I feel that the future of this country, of this district, my future, ultimately my future rests in the hands of the democratic party and them taking back the Congress.

That does not mean that none of those other issues aren't important to me becuase I deeply care about education, health care and the rest, but I feel that the democratic party taking control can hopefully fix all of those other issues."

This comment brings to me the thought that perhaps the selection of giving the Democratic Party the majority control of Congress is a kind of "all of the above" selection. But, what, I wonder, are our expectations of new Democratic majority? How would we, as Democrats, judge whether a new Democratic majority in Congress is successful? What specific actions would we want them to take in their first year in charge of the House and Senate.

A second development related to the new poll has to do with the land claims issue, which I've already discussed a bit this morning. I see that two votes have been cast in favor of the idea that the land claims dispute is the number one most important issue in New York's 24th congressional district race this year.

How can those votes be justified? That's not a rhetorical question. I'd really like to hear a justification from the people who voted in the poll this way. What is it about the land claims issue that makes it more important than the state of the economy, or the war in Iraq?

Also, how is the land claims issue a congressional issue? What do voters expect the United States House of Representatives to do about the issue? Most importantly, how do voters believe that Les Roberts, Michael Arcuri and Leon Koziol would handle the land claims issue differently?

Once again, the poll can be found at Take Back New York's 24th.

Cayuga County Peace Group Supports Les Roberts

2006-03-31T17:25:00.000-05:00

Emails recently sent by members of the Cayuga Coalition for Peace indicate that members of group are overwhelmingly backing Les Roberts in the Democratic congressional primary here in New York's 24th District.

Based in Auburn, but with members spread throughout Cayuga County and beyond, the Coalition for Peace has emerged as a consistent grassroots force in local politics, addressing issues that go far beyond just the war in Iraq. The group has sponsored discussions and actions on issues as far-ranging as domestic espionage against political dissent and the political implications of electronic voting machines.

With many Democrats among their ranks, the Cayuga Coalition for Peace can be counted upon to be a significant influence in the 24th District, in voting, volunteering, and fundraising. It is not clear if there is any equivalent issues-based grassroots organization in the district that is willing to put its support behind Michael Arcuri, who has yet to take many detailed stands on the issues that motivate such groups.

What's The Cost?

2006-03-30T14:51:00.000-05:00

Recently the DCCC released a report detailing just what the cost is of having Jimbo and his Republican comrades in charge. The entire thing is worth the read, but here are a few of the biggest costs:

$10 Billion in no-bid contracts to Halliburton.
140 hours of testimony on the Clinton Christmas Card list to 12 hours of testimony for the abuses in Abu Ghraib.
Hundreds of soldiers in Iraq put at risk because of a lack body armor and armored Humvees.
$150 Million spent investigating Bill Clinton, including $2.2 Million spent between March 2004 and March 2005, nearly 4 years after Clinton left office.

Jimbo and his Republican comrades are a mistake we just can afford to make again.

Crossposted at The Walsh Watch.

Les Roberts Offers Solution For Iraq Crisis

2006-03-28T13:30:00.000-05:00

On a national scale, the Democratic response to the disaster of the Iraq War has become a disaster all its own. After the dazzling performance by John Murtha last year, the Democrats in Congress seem to have collectively decided to pull their heads back into their shells. Sure, the congressional Democrats fire off a shot about the idiocy of starting the war in the first place, but let's not forget that many of those same Democrats on the Hill voted to help Bush start the war in the first place.

Even at a time when the American people are solidly against the war, and over 70 percent of soldiers in Iraq believe we need to be gone from there within the year, the Democrat's position of the Iraq War has become ineffective, largely because it's dominated by a timid, hair splitting approach that still fails to recognize the gravity of the problem. We see scores of Iraqis killed every day, by each other, and the former Iraqi Prime Minister that the United States maneuvered into power calls what's going on a civil war. Yet, we have Democrats in Congress, and Democratic congressional candidates, offering bland non-solution solutions like establishing "benchmarks" on our path to Iraqi Democracy, victory, and peace.

At a time when the situation in Iraq is becoming worse, not better, establishing benchmarks to "monitor our progress toward a stable democratic Iraq" is inadequate, and Democrats who offer plans that stop at such bureaucratic reshuffling demonstrate a lack of the kind of vision America needs to get us out of this mess. We need the Democrats to offer bold, imaginative strategies for ending the war in the least painful and humiliating way possible. It's time for us to get realistic, and acknowledge that the glowing, glittering victory Bush promised us three years ago is never going to happen.

The American people already know that. It's the Republican and most Democratic politicians who seem unable to accept reality. They're still afraid of being identified as "anti-war", not realizing that such political timidity is what enabled the United States to start the Iraq War in the first place.

Here in New York's 24th District congressional race, Democratic candidate Les Roberts is going to some trouble not to make too much out of his war record, though it is the kind of record that he ought to be proud of. It is the primary strength of his campaign - yet, he's decided not to use it, allowing himself to be identified in the public mind instead as some kind of mild-mannered epidemiologist. Do most people in the 24th District even know what that is?

It's a shame, because even Republicans are moving toward opposition to the war. Les Roberts has the experience in Afghanistan, Iraq, the former Yugoslavia, the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide, and elsewhere to bring him a kind of credibility that can cross party lines, so that he could win not just the Democratic nomination, but the general election as well. As it stands, Les Roberts has been made the underdog by the implicit DCCC endorsement of Michael Arcuri. Underdogs only ever come back to win when they act with boldness.

The material of such boldness already exists within the Les Roberts for Congress campaign - the campaign just needs to shake off its fear, and use it. I'm talking about the Iraq Position Paper recently released by the Roberts for Congress campaign.

The position paper goes to great length to summarize that dangerous position America finds itself in with the Iraq War, but the best part are the innovative proposals that Roberts makes at the end of the paper. Roberts proposes that, in order to end the war in the most painless way possible, the United States:

1. Win back the trust of the Iraqi people by ending suspicions that the United States is in Iraq in order to make American corporations rich through the exploitation of Iraq's oil resources. Les Roberts proposes a five-year ban on American for-profit corporations working in Iraq, as a way of showing that we have the best interests of the Iraqi people at heart.

2. Set a timetable for withdrawal. The refusal to set a timetable for withdrawal has not been effective in stopping the violence - in fact, the vagueness of such an approach has made the violence worse. Les Roberts proposes that we make it clear to the Iraqis that they are going to be the owners of their country, and they'd better get it in shape fast.

3. Congress should set an end date for the authority of President Bush to wage war in Iraq. Congress made a mistake in giving President Bush the power to start the war in Iraq, and Congress can take that power away from President Bush as well. Setting an end date gives the Bush Administration the message that it needs to change its failed Iraq War strategy in profound ways, and either win the conflict quickly, or start preparing to pull American soldiers out of harms way in a manner that is best for both the Iraqi people and for our military forces.

This is the kind of bold solution that the Democrats should have been proposing years ago. It's high time that our Democratic candidates and representatives in Congress step up to the plate and get serious about ending this war.

Don't run away from who you are, Mr. Roberts. Communicate your plans with the strength in which they were conceived, and you will earn the respect of the 24th District.

War Orphan? Too Bad

2006-03-21T14:40:00.000-05:00

With the 3 year anniversary of the beginning of the War in Iraq just passing, I thought I'd bring you this little gem.

Congressman Melancon introduced an amendment that would:

Provide retroactively $23 million for war orphans: Surviving spouses with minor children are eligible for Dependency and Indemnity Compensation to assist the families with immediate and transitional needs after the death of a spouse. Right now, only servicemember families whose spouses die after November 30, 2004, receive this $250 per month benefit for 2 years. This amendment will help approximately 4,100 spouses with children whose servicemember spouse died during the war on terrorism between September 11, 2001, and November 30, 2004.

Here is Jimbo's response:

Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to the gentleman's amendment.

Sometimes, there's just nothing to add, Jimbo's words speak for themselves.

Crossposted at The Walsh Watch.

Trouble With Abortion and Michael Arcuri

2006-03-19T05:10:00.000-05:00

Democrat Michael Arcuri has not answered constituent questions about his position on abortion.

Why not?

Once, when a constituent asked the question about abortion on the discussion forum at the Michael Arcuri campaign web site, the question was deleted by the Arcuri for Congress campaign.

The next time, when a second constituent used the discussion forum to ask Arcuri about his position on the legality of abortion, the entire discussion forum was removed by the Arcuri for Congress campaign.

There are three reasons it bothers me what Michael Arcuri has done with his discussion forum.

1. First of all, it reveals to me that the Arcuri for Congress campaign thinks it's a problem when voters have a voice. It gives the appearance that Arcuri is afraid of answering voters' questions in general.

2. The abortion issue is a vital one for this election. South Dakota has just banned all abortions - even when women are raped, or when girls are the victims of incest. There will surely be a Supreme Court case challenging Roe v. Wade, and Bush has stacked the court to overturn the right to an abortion. Abortion is, therefore, an issue that the Congress will have to deal with. We need to know Arcuri's position on the issue. I'm starting to wonder: Is Arcuri Pro-Life?

3. Rahm Emanuel, the Democratic Party boss from Illinois, has instructed all his "recruits", of which Michael Arcuri is one, to avoid talking about abortion. So, this brings up a disturbing question: Is Michael Arcuri taking orders from Rahm Emanuel? We need a Congressman who can be his own man.

We don't have Sherwood Boehlert to kick around any more. So, it's time for the Democratic candidates to get serious. Michael Arcuri, what is your position on abortion?

Illinois Party Boss Interferes in 24th District Election

2006-03-18T19:29:00.000-05:00

A report out from Bloomberg News yesterday afternoon cites Rahm Emanuel, a Democratic congressman from Illinois who chairs the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, referring to Michael Arcuri as "one of his key recruits this year."

One of his key recruits?

Pardon me, but since when does a politician from Illinois get the power to choose who the Democratic candidate for Congress in New York State's 24th congressional district will be?

The answer is simple - he doesn't. We do. We, the Democrats of the 24th District.

I don't care if you're pro-Arcuri, or pro-Roberts, or pro-Tytler. You ought to be offended that Rahm Emanuel believes he can just hand pick which Democrat will represent us in the general election.

Rumors have it that we still live in a democracy, and the way our Democracy works is that we, the people, are supposed to have the power to select our own leaders. Apparently, some people with the national Democratic Party are working to squelch those rumors.

In fact, they're setting out rumors of their own. Although there are no public opinion polls on this Democratic primary race and the only publicly available campaign finance information shows that Michael Arcuri had raised NO money by the end of the last filing deadline, with a suspiciously synchronized timing, all the establishment political reports in Washington D.C. have been reporting that the Democrats in the 24th District are all solidly behind Michael Arcuri.

I've been following this race for every day for three months now. I live in the District. I've attended campaign events here. I've been getting information from many sources within the District, and I can tell you one thing for sure: The Democrats of the 24th District are solidly behind nobody yet. The Democrats of New York's 24th District haven't had time to make up their minds yet. We just found out yesterday afternoon that Sherwood Boehlert is retiring, so how could we District 24 Democrats possibly have come to a conclusion about which Democrat would be the best candidate to take on the Republican candidate? We don't even know for sure who that Republican candidate is!

The people who write those political reports have not actually bothered themselves to come to New York's 24th District. They're just relying on what their inside sources in the DCCC, like Rahm Emanuel, are saying. They're assuming that whomever Rahm Emanuel supports, the Democrats of the 24th District will support.

The fact is that we have two very good Democratic candidates besides Michael Arcuri: Les Roberts and Bruce Tytler.

Since I first reported on Rahm Emanuel's poorly-timed comments yesterday, many people from outside the 24th District have been sending me angry messages telling me to shut up and get out of the way of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. They're telling me that I ought to be happy just to have the chance to get another Democrat in Congress - even if I have no say as a Democratic voter on which Democrat gets to represent my home district.

These comments miss the point of what a primary election is all about. A primary election is not an obstacle to having a strong Democratic candidate in the general electiom. A primary election is the tool through which our nation remains a democracy. It is the right and responsibility of local Democrats to choose their own representatives. That's not a problem - it's a basic right that Americans fought the Revolutionary War for. It's downright unpatriotic to try to deprive American voters of that right.

We should not kid ourselves into thinking that all we need to do to bring an effective, clean, government into power is just to get the Republicans out of Congress. The problem is much trickier than that. Ideologically, I disagree with the Republicans, and I want them out of office. But, I'm not so stupid as to believe that Democrats are not susceptible to the same corrupting influences that have brought us a slew of Republican scandals, with Jack Abramoff and beyond.

If Michael Arcuri wins a Democratic primary election fair and square, that's fine. If Michael Arcuri gets the Democratic nomination by pressuring the other candidates to quit the race before the primary, however, that's a sign of trouble for us Democrats of the 24th district.

If Arcuri wins the nomination solely because of money and resources pumped into the race by Rahm Emanuel, then we 24th District Democrats have some serious soul searching to do. If Arcuri goes on from such a nomination process to win the general election, he will not represent the people of the 24th District in Congress. He will represent the interests of Rahm Emanuel.

I don't write this blog so that Rahm Emanuel can have another loyal foot soldier in the House of Representatives. I write this blog because I want to participate in the democratic process, and have a member of Congress who is more accessible, and more accountable to the voters, than Sherwood Boehlert has been.

It seems that many Democrats on the national level, who only a few weeks ago were dismissing our district as unwinnable, are now opportunistically trying to manipulate our election. These Democrats seem not to care very much about the democratic process. What they care most about is a win for their team, to help them expand their power.

More and more, it seems to me that we 24 District Democrats all being played for a bunch of suckers. Are you going to play along, like a good sucker?

This Leaves A Bad Taste In My Mouth

2006-03-14T14:29:00.000-05:00

This smells like some foul fowl:

On Thursday Jimbo voted against an amendment that "permits states to maintain or enact food warning laws notifying parents of the risks of cancer, reproductive or developmental toxins, and food borne pathogens associated with certain foods".
Immediately before, Jimbo said no to an amendment gives states the authority to handle bioterrorism attacks on their food supplies.

Better watch what you eat.

Crossposted at The Walsh Watch.

Can Mike Arcuri Be Passionate and Moderate At The Same Time?

2006-03-14T09:10:00.000-05:00

From Take Back New York's 24th:

------------------------

In the most expected announcement I've heard in a long while, Democrat Michael Arcuri announced yesterday that he will be running for Congress this year, first battling it out with other Democrats to gain the nomination, and then campaigning against incumbent Republican Sherwood Boehlert, or whomever runs in his place.

Arcuri's announcement speech, available on his campaign web site, is an extension and refinement of the speech he has been giving around the district while visiting local Democratic groups. In particular, there's a new, stirring ending in which Arcuri announces that now is the time for action, not neutrality:

"When I was young, I would often ask my Father for advice on one thing or another, and he used to love to quote a passage from Dante’s Inferno to me. That quote is: 'The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in a time of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality.'

This is not the time to be neutral. This is the time to be bold. This is the time to be passionate. This is the time for change. This is a time for us to make a difference."

Now, that's the kind of fire in the belly I've been waiting to see in one of our candidates for quite some time now. The funny thing about Arcuri's announcement speech, though, is that for every fire it kindles, it's got a sprinkler all set to give us a cold shower if things get too hot.

Consider another passage, spoken just a minute or two before the ending where Arcuri reminds us of the importance of not being neutral in times of moral crisis:

"The 24th Congressional District is a moderate district. That’s why Congressman Boehlert was effective for so long… because he tried to be a moderate. The problem is he can no longer be an effective moderate in his own party… because his party leadership has forsaken traditional American values."

It's going to be interesting trying to figure out this Michael Arcuri fellow. One minute he's Paul Wellstone, and the next minute, he's Joseph Lieberman. He's a moderate who says he won't run a partisan campaign, but he also tells us that this is no time to be neutral.

If Arcuri isn't going to be neutral, then he's going to be a partisan. If Arcuri isn't going to be a partisan, then he can be neutral, but what can he possibly stand for?

Arcuri referred to his accumulated political wisdom today by saying, "I learned to NOT run partisan political campaigns but, rather, campaigns that speak to issues of concern to all voters."

I've got some hard news for Mr. Arcuri. The issues that are of the most importance to the people of the 24th district are issues that the people of the 24th district do NOT agree about. The only "issues of concern" that appeal to all voters are pieces of genuine consensus that don't get to the heart of the matter.

We all want more jobs and a better economy for the 24th District. The issue we fight about is HOW to get them. We all want good schools. The issue we fight about is HOW to get them. We all want fiscal responsibility. The issue we fight about is WHERE to cut the budget and HOW to increase government revenues.

We fight about these details not because we're nasty people who like to fight. We fight about these issues because they're important. They're important enough that they must not be ignored by our candidates.

That doesn't go just for Michael Arcuri. It goes for Les Roberts too, who has let placeholder messages like "Please check back soon..." stand on his campaign web site for the last two months. It also goes for Bruce Tytler, who doesn't even have a web page.

Votes are not earned through back-room meetings with party insiders. They're not earned through television advertisements. They're earned with straight talk that lets voters know where candidates really stand on the important issues that divide us.

Enough silence. Enough ambiguity. Enough promises about plans that will come out later. Enough with trying to talk an argument both ways.

We voters aren't stupid. We know when we're being talked down to, and if we don't get the respect of some direct talk about the difficult issues of the day, most of us will stay home.

I'm not saying that because I want it to be true. I'm saying it because it is true. Michael Arcuri was right when he said that this is the time to be bold, the time to be passionate, the time for change. But, that change has to take place in the way a campaign is run as well as in the pretty words that candidates make in speeches.

Candidates: Be bold, be passionate, and be on the level. Fight like hell for our votes -- and don't pull any punches.

Aborting Reason and Moderation

2006-03-07T13:10:00.000-05:00

Right now, I'm sure no one is happier than Jimbo at South Dakota's new abortion ban. Jimbo and South Dakota have a position so extreme on abortion, it makes Bush look moderate.

Jimbo's position is so extreme that a 13 year old girl raped and impregnated by her father would not be able to get an abortion.

Be prepared for a lot more stories like this if Jim Walsh and South Dakota get their way.

Crossposted at The Walsh Watch.

How Does One Report Fairly on Leon Koziol?

2006-03-01T16:14:00.000-05:00

Earlier today, someone left the following comment on this blog:

"Tow of the three serious candidates? I would like to introduce you to Leon Koziol. You seem to have some love for the internet, and think it is so important. Well, it's not. I have been studying politics for many years (B.A. in Political Science, Brown University, J.D. from Cornell) and very, very few people actually visit these sites (other than political insiders). However, Koziol does have a site being worked on and it will be up and running this week. Now to the real issue...Your lack of journalistic integrity. Your failure to even mention a candidate who is the only one currently running TV ads, has traveled the district, and nearly locked-up the Independence line, is clearly a biased and intentional act on your part. I do agree with many of your views, and certainly enjoy many of your posts; however, you should pay more attention to fair reporting. Politics can get very dirty (especially in Oneida County), and I would hate to see a negative campaign launched against your pal Les."

I'd like to address this comment by considering the simple question: How does one report fairly on Leon Koziol?

First of all, I might say that, as much as I have an interest in providing information on the 24th District congressional campaign, I value fair advocacy as well as fair reporting. This is a blog, not a newspaper. So, while you'll currently find more information here on the campaigns than you will in any newspaper in this district, that doesn't mean that I hold myself to newspaper standards of neutrality. When I learn enough about the Democratic candidates to endorse one of them, I'll do so, but Bruce Tytler and Mike Arcuri are still holding their cards too close to their chests to really tell what kind of candidates they'll be... once they get their campaigns really running, which they haven't so far.

I'm not a right wing Democrat of the Joseph Lieberman sort. Leon Koziol is. Therefore, he's just not getting my vote. I wholeheartedly endorse opposition to Leon Koziol. The right wing agenda he supports makes him just not worth considering at all. That isn't just my opinion. It'll be the opinion of the majority of the Democrats in District 24 too. As much as right wing Democrats like to pretend that they're in charge, most Democrats here are moderately to strongly progressive, especially in light of the very low popularity of the Republicans in Congress and President Bush right now.

Besides being a right winger, Leon Koziol kind of comes off as a kook. He doesn't answer telephone calls or emails in a manner that is at all timely. Mr. Koziol sent me one of those television advertisements that the anonymous commenter talks about. Koziol told me it was a campaign advertisement. It's nothing of the sort. It's an advertisement for his law firm, with some pretty blatant attempts to skirt the campaign finance laws by creating the impression that it's an ad to promote Leon Koziol for Congress, without ever saying so. That's pretty slicky tricky, but you know, the part that stays with me is the slick part - oily slick.

Then there's the fact that, although Leon Koziol made his "announcement" two weeks ago, and his supporters were going around telling people that Koziol already had 20,000 dollars in campaign contributions, he still doesn't have any paperwork with the FEC. That's mighty, mighty suspicious. I'm starting to suspect that this whole Koziol for Congress nonsense is really just a scheme to drum up business for Koziol's law firm.

Every contact I've had with Leon Koziol suggests that he's not serious. The only fair thing to report is that he doesn't look like a serious candidate. Objectivity is not the same thing as blindness. I'm not going to pretend that a fish rotting on the lakeside is a piece of fine cuisine.

I particularly enjoy hearing about how unimportant the Internet is for politics from a visitor who's come to read and comment this a political blog. If the Internet doesn't matter in this campaign, what's this commenter wasting his time here for?

It doesn't take a degree from Cornell University to figure that one out.

Selling Out Our Veterans

2006-03-01T14:22:00.000-05:00

I'm beginning to think it's irony week here at The Walsh Watch. Monday, we had a Congressman with the most polluted lake in America with a horrendous record on the environment. Tuesday, we had a Congressman from an economically depressed district without absolutely no plan on the environment. And now today, we have the Chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Quality of Life and Veteran Affairs and Related Agencies screwing Veterans. Amazingly, this is all the work of the same Congressman.

Jimbo sure likes his title as Chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Quality of Life and Veteran Affairs and the great perks that come with it, he just doesn't think he should actually have to look out for veterans.

Jim and his Republican masters American Legion had some choice words in a letter to the Chairman of the Budget committee:

The American Legion is deeply troubled and cannot support your Committee's proposed Budget resolution... especially the reconciliation instructions targeted at earned veterans' benefits. Reducing mandatory appropriations for veterans' disability compensation, pensions, and education at a time of war is inconsistent with the thanks of a grateful Nation.

[...]

It appears the pattern of shortchanging VA medical care continues in the 109th Congress. America's veterans and their families deserve better.

Where are your priorities Jim?

Hat tip to the DCCC.

Crossposted at The Walsh Watch.

Asleep at the Switch

2006-02-28T12:03:00.000-05:00

The Sub-Standard reported this today:

Syracuse is among New York's most fiscally imperiled cities, and other Central New York cities aren't doing much better, according to a new report from state Comptroller Alan Hevesi.

[...]

"The financial condition of many once-flourishing cities in New York State is truly troubling," Hevesi said in a statement. "For decades, these cities have seen demands for municipal services increase while their tax bases continued to erode. Most troubling, cities all across New York State continue to lose population, which has made achieving fiscal stability even more challenging."

[...]

The New York Conference of Mayors and Municipal Officials, opening its annual legislative meeting in Albany Monday, released results from its own - similarly ominous - survey of budgets in the 61 cities outside New York City.

The group found 31 percent reported worsening financial conditions in the past year, 59 percent are raising property taxes, and 90 percent get less inflation-adjusted unrestricted aid than they did 15 years ago.

When it comes down to it, this is ultimately about planning and executing a loan term vision to grow our local economy. Jim Walsh has had 17 years in office to come up with a plan, and has we reported before, this is the best Jimbo could come up with.

Luckily, we have two candidates with a real plan to get Central New York back on track.

Here's some of Dan Maffei's vision:

Modern manufacturing. While vast factories employing thousands are unlikely to come back to Upstate New York, we must have a plan in place to maintain the streamlined factories that stayed and insist that workers continue to have collective bargaining power to ensure fair wages and benefits for their work.
Technology and Innovation. We need to encourage a new marketplace of high-tech industry with tax credits, opportunity grants, and other incentives.
Leveraging a Top-Notch Educational System. We need to take better advantage of the educational resources of Syracuse University, Upstate Medical University, SUNY-ESF, LeMoyne College, and the many other colleges and schools in the region. These schools are already hubs of economic activity but Federal policies such as inadequate funding for graduate medical education, wrongheaded limits on stem cell research, and not enough emphasis on environmental research stifle their potential and need to be corrected.

And here is some Paloma Capanna's plan:

development of a high technology corridor from Syracuse through Rochester into Buffalo,
building upon local resources and assets, and consistent with state and local government objectives;
expansion of high-quality mass transportation between Syracuse, Rochester, and Buffalo;
encouragement of entrepreneurs and attraction of existing businesses into our region; reduction of business relocation, benefit reduction, and bankruptcy;

There is a clear choice in this election between change and more of the same. We can either go with more of the same, an out of touch Congressman who doesn't have a plan for the most important issue facing his district, or change, two candidates with a real desire for a better Central New York. I know my choice.

Crossposted at The Walsh Watch.

Will Arcuri and Tytler PLEASE get online?

2006-02-25T15:57:00.000-05:00

From Take Back New York's 24th:

This whole web site thing is getting silly. It's almost March now, and two of the three serious Democratic candidates for the 24th District seat have yet to get even a simple campaign web site up. Honestly, it's not hard to do. I know that Bruce Tytler and Michael Arcuri have full time jobs that make it hard for them to campaign, but it shouldn't take more than a weekend to set a simple web site that gives basic information about the candidate, provides contact information for those who want to get involved, and has a link that people can use to donate money to the campaign.

There is no good excuse for these candidates to wait so long to develop this basic tool for voter communication. If they're so slow on their feet in the primary campaign, what hope do they have against incumbent Sherwood Boehlert?

This is not the norm for primary campaigns. Over in the Hudson Valley, District 19, there are 5 Democratic candidates for Congress. Each and every one of them has a campaign web site up, and has had a web site up for weeks.

I've been asking the Arcuri for Congress and Tytler for Congress campaigns to get their web sites up for weeks, with no response on their parts. So, now I will add a prod and a promise to my plea.

I have made a 500 dollar donation to the Les Roberts 2006 campaign. That's not an endorsement. It's a reward for being responsible to the voters and getting a web site up.

I'd like to give the same financial reward to the Arcuri and Tytler campaigns, but I can't, because they're not online. There's nothing to reward.

If Bruce Tytler or Michael Arcuri can get their campaign web site online this week, I will send a 500 dollar donation to their campaigns. That's $500 to each campaign, not just 500 dollars split between the two of them.

If Tytler and Arcuri wait until next week to get their web sites up, the reward goes down to 400 dollars. The week after that, it's 300 dollars. The week after that, the reward goes down 200 dollars. For one week after that, I will send 100 dollars.

If Bruce Tytler and Mike Arcuri cannot get their campaign web sites up in that time, they get no money from me at all.

Why am I willing to do this? It's the same reason I write this blog. I want to be represented by a Democrat in the House of Representatives. I'm willing to put my money where my mouth is, and support Democratic candidates who have a chance in hell.

If Bruce Tytler and Mike Arcuri don't get off their behinds and start running like mad, they don't have a chance in hell. This isn't just about capturing the Democratic nomination. It's about taking on a very powerful Republican machine.

You can't jog your way into Congress. You've got to push like hell. Arcuri and Tytler are not pushing right now. They're strolling, and it drives me crazy to watch them acting this way.

The Democrats of the 24th District deserve nothing less than a 100 percent effort. So, Mr. Arcuri and Mr. Tytler, the carrot has been placed in front of you. Now make like good bunnies and run, will you?

Think of it as a challenge grant.

Passing on Port Security

2006-02-23T13:32:00.000-05:00

Jimbo was outraged, outraged, outraged! at the attempted sale of six east coast ports to UAE. But it seems that Jimbo wasn't so concerned about it before.

Jimbo voted to kill an amendment that would have provide $2.5 billion and specifically $250 million for Port Security, $800 million for First Responders, and $150 million to defend against chemical weapons.
Jimbo also voted against an amendment that would have added $6.9 billion to the Homeland Security budget and specifically $400 million for Port Security and $13 million for new overseas Port Inspectors.

I guess this is to be expected when your congressman has this position on security. I wonder what got him so outraged though, maybe Jimbo is a little nervous about re-election.

Hat tip to the DCCC.

Crossposted at The Walsh Watch.

Everywhere You Turn: Corruption

2006-02-22T10:15:00.000-05:00

When I started this blog, I intended to focus more on Jimbo's poor policy positions, but everywhere I turn, I find Jimbo tied in with more and more corrupt politicians.

Jimbo, of course, found a corrupt horse to back in the Governor's race, Bill Weld. Mr. Weld is of course caught up in a scandal involving a college he was president of.

On the legal front, a federal prosecutor said Mr. Weld had not been ruled out as a target in the investigation of student loan fraud at Decker College, a bankrupt Kentucky trade school at which Mr. Weld served as chief executive for 10 months until October of last year. The disclosure, first reported by The Phoenix, a weekly paper in Boston, appears to contradict what Mr. Weld has said in the past.

[...]

The scandal at Decker College has been difficult for Mr. Weld to shake. The school collapsed into bankruptcy weeks after he left his post as chief executive, and it is now the subject of a federal investigation into financial aid fraud.

In his endorsement of Mr. Weld, Jimbo said this:

It’s about the future of my state. I’m concerned.

Apparently Jimbo wants the future of New York to look more like the Republican Culture of Corruption in Washington.

PS. How out of touch do you have to be to endorse the former governor of Massachusetts to be governor of New York?

Crossposted at The Walsh Watch.

Censorship, Liberals, and the 24th District Race

2006-02-20T13:32:00.000-05:00

From Take Back the 24th:

------

If you're the type who clicks on links, you may have noticed that the New York Progressive Directory listed over on the right hand column of this Take Back Back New York's 24th blog doesn't lead to anywhere any more. Since Friday afternoon, the site has been dead.

I thought at first that the New York State Progressive Directory might be offline just as the result of the extremely powerful winds that blasted Upstate New York on Friday, knocking out power across our region and killing two people. Actually, the reason for the site's sudden disappearance is much more troubling.

The progressive directory was the victim of cyber terrorism in the form of a distributed denial of service attack so large that the company that hosted the site, Lunar Pages, could not cope, and shut the web site down, telling the web site's producers that Lunar Pages would no longer be willing to host the site.

In this distributed denial of service attack, the cyber terrorists set up thousands of fake IP addresses and then, from those addresses, sent such a surge of information requests that the vulnerable system designed by Lunar Pages could not keep up. So, the attack was not a hack in the classic sense of a network break in, but it had a similar destructive impact.

I have learned that the New York Progressive Directory was really just one part of a much larger network of progressive web sites that included a set of similar directories of progressive organizations and blogs in every state in the USA, a ten year-old progressive site with a prominent blog, web sites promoting Democratic presidential candidates for the 2008 election, a national progressive political merchandising infrastructure, and even a web site that discussed the symbolic-mythological context of current events. In a flash, this entire progressive network was destroyed.

Apparently, the progressive network attacked by cyber terrorists last Friday had a long list of enemies. Its contributors had spent years vigorously opposing right wing ideology, not just in the United States, but around the world. Among the people angered by various sites on the network were Republican activists, Christian and Islamic fundamentalists, large corporations, conservative Democrats, and Bush loyalists in the federal government.

The list of potential suspects is too huge to contemplate, but this much is clear: The progressive network was attacked by somebody who was threatened by its clear and honest use of free speech. The attack was intended to enforce censorship on political dissent, and although the network is currently working to get back online, for a few days at least, that censorship has been effective.

It wasn't just the cyber terrorists who made the censorship possible. Lunar Pages helped the attackers succeed when they pulled the plug on the progressive network of web sites and refused to host the network any longer. Apparently, in the offices of Lunar Pages, a decision has been made that any web site of political dissent that becomes powerful enough to gain the attention of unscrupulous cyber terrorists will be kicked off their servers. Only political web sites so ineffectual as to not to offend or gain the attention of anybody will remain online.

On a larger scale, such surrender to terrorism would be unthinkable. It would be as if the federal government, after September 11, 2001, said to New York City that Manhattan would have to secede from the Union, because its prominence made it too vulnerable to future attacks, and the USA just couldn't handle the security logistics any more.

This kind of preemptive censorship has become all-too-common in America.

Seeing this attack on the online progressive network, and the reaction of Lunar Pages to it, reminded me of the attitude of someone I met with last week, to discuss the 24th district congressional campaign. This person is working on one of the campaigns, and I won't identify who it is, because I don't want to get into personal attacks. It was the ideas that this person expressed that bothered me, not the personality of this individual in itself.

Discussing campaign strategy, this person said that the campaign on which he/she is working is struggling to prevent its candidate from being perceived as a liberal. The candidate would have to be careful about what he said, this person told me, and would have to be cautious about being associated too strongly with local liberal Democratic groups.

Now, I happen to know that this candidate is, in fact, a liberal. It has also been clear to me that he is not the only liberal Democrat running in this race. Still, it seems that this candidate's campaign staff has him convinced that letting voters know that he is a liberal is a bad idea.

It makes me wonder - why is it that people in the 24th District have such little respect for liberals? Is it a problem with liberal ideals? I don't think so. America's traditional civic values are liberal values. Democracy, equality, liberty, fairness, critical suspicion of government power, and empowerment of ordinary citizens are the ideas that have made America great, and are well within the mainstream of political thought.

The only thing that most people in the 24th District, and across America, don't seem to like about liberals is that they're called liberals. It's quite odd, but when you consider the way that most liberals participate in public political discussions, it's also quite understandable.

Ever since Ronald Reagan got into the White House, American liberals have been nervous ninnies. The personal presence of President Reagan was so powerful that he convinced liberals that things really had changed, and that the political game had to be played on his terms.

That acceptance of Reagan's rules was disaster for American liberalism, of course. From that point on, liberals ceased to set the tone for their own agenda. Everything liberal became couched in right wing Republican language, and so liberals became, in the perception of the rest of America, nothing more than weak imitations of Republicans.

When people say that Democrats don't have any ideas of their own, they're dead wrong. What Democrats don't have any more is their own language - and that includes the word "liberal".

It has become perceived as a bad thing to be a liberal not because there is anything wrong with being a liberal, but rather because liberals act as if there is something wrong with being a liberal. Every liberal proposal begins with an apology. Liberal politics has become an arena of "Yes, but", in which the fundamental right wing ideology remains unchallenged.

The people of the 24th District are cold to liberals because they have never met a liberal. Every liberal who runs for office in America these days does so wearing an elephant costume. Is it any wonder so few of them get elected?

Some voters are ideologues - and that's not a bad thing. Most voters in the 24th District, however, are not. They're open to a persuasive message of any variety. A political narrative that is compelling really can move them, because they don't care enough about party politics to be particularly loyal.

Most of all, what people in the 24th District look for in a candidate is somebody they can trust. Now, I don't like Republican politics, but the fact is that Republican politicians can be trusted to act like Republicans. People know what they're getting with a Republican.

Contrast most of our Democrats with that Republican political honesty. Our candidates start out by assuming that they've got the liberal vote wrapped up just by having their name on the Democratic line. So, they spend most of their campaign time pretending to be something that they aren't. They think they're being clever, but they're not. The problem with their strategy is that they can't pull it off.; Voters know they're being insincere, and therefore judge them to be untrustworthy.

It's a vicious cycle in which the liberal side of politics gets weaker with every lost election, and liberal Democratic politicians, in response, become more dishonest about who they really are, and therefore, even less appealing to voters.

And so we arrive at the state we are in now, where Democratic campaign workers shiver in fright at the idea that their candidates might be perceived as liberal. Democratic campaigns don't even try to persuade the voters any more. Instead, they begin with an ideological surrender. That's like starting out a chess game by giving up your queen before your opponent has even moved a pawn. It is no way to win.

It's also a kick in the teeth to liberal grassroots activists in our district, the people who set the foundation for Democrats to run for office, when candidates weasel out of a direct and honest discussion, professing to be moderates, just like everyone else, and eschewing liberal political philosophy, as if it's something to be ashamed of.

When I heard about the cyber attack on the progressive political network, I took some extra time to think about the importance of honest free speech. There are a lot of people out there, both inside and outside Americ, who want people like me to be quiet, and now I can see that some of those people are willing to act to enforce their censorship upon us.

I feel relatively protected posting this blog on Blogger.com, which has the power of Google to back it up, but what if I had a blog out there on its own stand-alone server that could become the target of a cyber terrorist attack? Would I think twice about what I write, trying to avoid offending people who might try to hack the site?

I hope not. Too many people are too afraid these days. It's the goal of terrorism to make us quiet by making us afraid, and the only way to confront and defeat terrorism is to be unafraid and to be unswayed in our course of political action.

Free speech is not free if we only exercise it when it's easy to speak. If I were to censor myself because I became afraid of someone attacking my web site, or worried that someone might call me a name, like "liberal", nothing I wrote would be worth reading. I would join that campaign worker, and the management of Lunar Pages, in the community of the afraid.

You may say it's easy for me to talk about free speech. I'm a blogger, after all. I'm not running for public office. I don't have a campaign on the line.

In a way, you're right. Sure, I'm not the one campaigning. But, if I don't speak, I've got to put up with a government built upon a democracy of silence. If I don't speak honestly, I know that I am part of the problem.

Besides, does a candidate for Congress really have anything more to lose than I do? If a candidate is running merely for the sake of satisfying their own personal ambition, by all means, that candidate should duck and weave and maneuver without regard to making an honest promotion of their true ideals.

A more sincere candidate, however, has nothing to lose. The candidate runs for a few months, and if he does not win the seat, he goes back to work in his old profession, having made a name for himself in his community.

Having a solid chance of losing the race, why wouldn't the candidate want to ensure that he at least lost the right way? A political campaign isn't just about winning. It's also about promoting what you believe in, and getting citizens involved in the democratic process, to make it stronger.

Opportunists hire political sharks to intimidate opponents and bluster open a path to victory. Opportunists say what they think people want to hear. Opportunists work with whomever they can get on their side, whether those people have the same vision or not.

Leaders have vision, and work to persuade other people to believe in that vision. Leaders work with other people who believe in the cause. Leaders inspire people into action. Leaders would rather lose than mislead.

This year, I want to help elect a leader into the House of Representatives. To the Democratic candidates, I say that it is time to be bold and time to be true. Show me your leadership.

Sherwood Boehlert's Smoke Gets In Your Eyes

2006-02-17T08:32:00.000-05:00

Republican Congressman Sherwood Boehlert's re-election campaign is smoking - all too literally.

Take a look at the attention that Representative Boehlert has been getting in the news lately, and you'll see that his reputation is largely that of being Washington D.C.'s most desperate smoker. The news has been full of stories this year about how, as much as he wants, Congressman Boehlert just can't quit smoking - in spite of the fact that he needed cardiovascular surgery during the 2004 election season in order to deal with the damage he has done to his body.

Well, that's his business, I suppose, although you'd think that our elected representative in Congress would have enough respect for us constituents to keep himself in better shape. I can't imagine how anyone could do a good job in the House of Representatives with a set of clogged lungs and a heart that struggles to keep up with every drag. It's a wonder that Sherwood Boehlert keeps up even the weakening pace of work that he managed lately.

No, the real trouble with Sherwood Boehlert is his more public addiction to tobacco. I'm not talking about his bad habit of puffing on cigarettes. I'm talking about a more nasty habit - Sherwood Boehlert's addiction to political contributions from big tobacco corporations.

Congressman Boehlert has been taking campaign contributions from the Altria Group, a big tobacco corporation, ever since the Altria Group became the Altria Group - a change from its previous incarnation as Philip Morris. Last year, Sherwood Boehlert's campaign committee took the maximum allowed from Altria's corporate political action group, sent in two big checks, one sent in February 2005, and another sent in September 2005. Why? It's not in the business interests of corporations like Altria to just throw away money without some expectation of a significant financial return.

The last time I checked, New York State's 24th District was not a big center for tobacco farms. Tobacco grows better down south, in places like Virginia, Kentucky, and North Carolina. So Altria's funding of Congressman Boehlert's campaigns has hardly been a matter of just supporting the home town boy.

We who live hundreds of miles away from Altria's corporate headquarters have the right to ask just what Altria's corporate lobbyists are expecting in return for their money. We also have the right to ask why Sherwood Boehlert is taking this money. He's our representative, after all, so isn't our money good enough for him? If Sherwood Boehlert can't raise enough money from his constituents to fund his re-election campaigns, isn't that a pretty good sign that it's time for him to step aside?

The only cigarette-related activity that goes on in the 24th District is smoking - including the sale and transmission of cigarettes to kids. It's been a major problem for years that Sherwood Boehlert has not adequately addressed. Is he afraid to offend Altria, out of fear that his fundraising resources will dry up?

Congressman Boehlert, it's time for you to kick the habit. We, the people of the 24th District, are calling upon you to send back all the money that you've received from Altria for this election cycle. We want to see a clean campaign, with clean money. We're tired of all the smoke and mirrors.

------

From Take Back New York's 24th

Democratic Primary Update

2006-02-14T12:48:00.000-05:00

First, I got this e-blast from Paloma Capanna's campaign:

Last Week…
Paloma was a whirl! She met with County Legislators, Democratic leadership, business leaders, Reporters, and - Paloma's favorite - people! A highlight of the week was speaking to the Clay & Cicero Democratic Committees. Q&A was animated, and many new volunteers and connections were made. Another highlight of the week was Paloma's lecture for the Onondaga County Bar Association on domestic violence issues. This is a practice area in which she has been a tireless fighter, both for private clients and for poverty level pro bono clients. Her law practice will now include pro bono cases throughout the District.

…and Next.
Magnifique! Paloma is off to Washington, D.C. for strategy sessions with our national consultants, a meeting at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and various meetings with Political Action Committees. Count on Paloma heading straight into a presentation to the Monroe County Democratic Committee on Thursday evening, and then a full day of meetings in Syracuse on Friday.

Then I was alerted to Dan Maffei's announcement of his steering committee, which includes:

Headlining the impressive Maffei committee are Syracuse native and former Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe, Unity Mutual Life Insurance Chairman John F.X. Mannion, New York State Democratic Party Vice-Chair Ed Szczesniak, Syracuse Common Councilor Stephanie Miner, Syracuse Common Councilor Van Robinson, Monroe County Legislator Stephanie Aldersley, Onondaga County Legislator Mark Stanczyk and Maura Moynihan, the daughter of the late Senator.

It looks like Mr. Maffei has wrapped up most of the Party apparatus in Onondaga County, so Ms. Capanna may not have much luck in finding supporting here. I think most damaging for Ms. Capanna is the endorsement of Mr. Maffei by 2002 Democratic Nominee Stephanie Aldersley, who hails from the Monroe County portion of the district. I have always been open to all candidates in this race, however the poor fundraising numbers for Ms. Capanna were a set back, but the Aldersley endorsement looks to me like a vote of no confidence. Though, I have always felt that Ms. Capanna's Monroe County residency would be a huge disadvantage.

As for the other candidates, I have heard nothing further on Jean Kessner and Ken Howland is basically not running besides his website. Any info on either of them, please email me.

Hat tip to Mike.

Crossposted at The Walsh Watch.

When Congressmen Attack

2006-02-13T12:58:00.000-05:00

Last week a great letter to the editor appeared in the Post Standard criticizing Bully Jim for the slash and burn attack on student loans.

Bully Jim decided it wasn't enough to viciously attack students from Washington, now he is striking back at all those who disagree in shrill letters in the Post Standard. Here are a few of the kind words Jim had for a constituent:

In her letter, it's clear that Ms. Kelly fails to understand what the bill actually does for student borrowers.

[...]

I hope that Ms. Kelly - a professional educator and Le Moyne College graduate student - considered all sides before formulating and sharing her opinion on the matter.

Way to treat a constituent Bully Jim. I hear that his next step is to find all the people who disagree with him, ring their doorbell and run away before they can answer!

Bully Jim also had this gem:

There are some who have good reason to oppose these lending reforms (primarily student loan lenders and banks who have lost the ability to charge high interest rates and excessive up-front fees), but student borrowers aren't among them.

But among key opponents are United State Student Association and Student Aid Alliance.

From the United State Student Association:

The bill generates over 70% of its total education savings from charging higher loan interest rates to borrowers. "Congress plans to swindle students and families by forcing them to make excessive interest payments on their loans," said Jennifer Pae, Vice President of USSA.

[...]

Most federal student loans will be impacted by the interest rate changes. Stafford loans will move to a fixed 6.8% interest rate and PLUS (Parent Loans for Undergraduate Students) loans will increase to a fixed 8.5% interest rate. "My current Stafford loan interest rate is 4.7%. With a 6.8% fixed interest rate, I will end up paying thousands more in interest payments over the life of my loans," said Jeannie Biniek, Vice President of Associated Students at the UCLA and USSA Board of Directors Member.

From Student Aid Alliance:

While there are some new improvements for students, the loss of more than $12 billion from student loans could have a devastating impact on the future stability of the program. For example:
Student loans contribute 30 percent of the bill's entire contribution to deficit reduction, but represent less than half of one percent of all annual federal spending.
Most of the savings come from changes to the student and parent interest rate structure, including a July 1 increase in the parent interest rates from 7.9 percent to 8.5 percent.
Under the bill, the congressional pot that funds grants and work-study for needy students would have to absorb nearly a billion dollars a year in administrative expenses for the Education Department, meaning less money for everyone.

Crossposted at The Walsh Watch.

Kicking Seniors While They Are Down

2006-02-12T13:38:00.000-05:00

Not only is Jim supporting Bush's backed door privatization of Social Security and funding numerous candidates who want to privatize social security, but now the Medicare law that he felt so important he needed to threaten other members of Congress is a complete debacle. Here's the kind words the Post-Standard had for it in the Saturday Quiz:

1. The problem with the new Medicare drug plan is:

a) It will cost the federal government $30.5 billion in its first year and a 10-year total of $678 billion through 2015.

b) Confusion about the transition has caused lapses in medication.

c) It prohibits Medicare from negotiating on the prices it pays the pharmaceutical industry for drugs.

d) Private insurance plans will "cherry-pick" the healthiest seniors, leaving behind a group of Medicare applicants that are far more expensive per person. In the words of Sen. Hillary Clinton, "This will create a two-tiered system and start an insurance cost death spiral that will unravel Medicare's financing."

And drum roll... The answer:

1) All these and more.

Crossposted at The Walsh Watch.

Bruce Tytler To Run for Congress

2006-02-11T08:09:00.000-05:00

Bruce Tytler is running for Congress.

Okay, I know, that link isn't exactly active yet. It leads to a placeholder site for now. But, the mere fact that the link has a placeholder reference tells us something. As of January 27, 2006 TytlerForCongress.com was a registered domain name with Network Solutions.

That's a pretty good sign that Tytler will be running for New York State's 24th District seat in the US House of Representatives, but it's not a clincher. Perhaps Tytler wanted to secure a domain name just in case.

Here's a more sure suggestion: Bruce Tytler called me last week to let me know that he's going to be making an announcement tomorrow outside the courthouse in Auburn - and again in Cortland. An announcement made in two places is not given when a person decides not to run. When Jeff Miller announced his decision not to run for Congress this year, he didn't go two places to do it. Tytler refused to confirm or deny that he will be running, but it's a clear sign

Now, some mean-spirited rumor mongers from Cortland have been suggesting that Bruce Tytler's campaign will not be really intended to put him in Congress, but will merely be a fundraising tool to put donations in the coffers of the Cortland County Democratic Committee. Tytler's registration of the domain TytlerforCongress.com suggests that these rumors are complete bunk. The clue: He registered the domain not just for one year, but for three years.

At the beginning of a campaign, when funds are tight, such decisions are not made lightly. Bruce Tytler clearly believes that he has a reasonable chance of using the TytlerForCongress.com web site not just for a few months, as a candidate, but for a three years at least, as a member of Congress who will be running for re-election in 2008. Tytler believes that he can win the Democratic nomination, and then win against Republican Sherwood Boehlert - or whatever Republican replaces him as the GOP candidate in the general election.

Here's the clincher for the Tytler for Congress campaign: He's filed as a candidate with the FEC. In fact, Tytler's FEC filing has showed up in the public records of the DCCC quicker than Leon Koziol's have, even though Koziol has already made an official announcemnt, and Tytler has not. Here it is, in the sexy language of bureaucracy, the first official sign of the Tytler for Congress campaign: FEC ID: H6NY29176 FEC Committee: C004192

Welcome to the race, Mr. Tytler.

------

From Take Back the 24th

The Walsh Security Plan

2006-02-10T14:39:00.000-05:00

I think I can hear crickets chirping...

OUR SECURITY

I'm currently updating this page. Please refer back in the very near future.

Currently, No Related News Articles.

So Jim Walsh has been in Congress for 17 years now and he has no plan for our economy. It has been over 4 years since 9/11 and Jim has no plan to keep Central New Yorkers safe from terrorism. What exactly are you doing in Washington Jim?

Crossposted at The Walsh Watch.

24th District Democratic Candidates on the Web - Update

2006-02-09T13:27:00.000-05:00

A while ago, I wrote about the problems of most Democratic candidates in the 24th congressional district getting their campaign web sites up online. The Les Roberts campaign did a great job of getting a campaign web site up quickly, and filling it with useful information for voters who want to evaluate what Congressman Roberts would look like. The other Democratic campaigns, I've reported, have been slower than molasses in getting campaign web sites up.

As of this update, the slow pace of the other Democratic candidates' web site development is still impeding their progress. However, there has been a little bit of progress. Bruce Tytler and Michael Arcuri have both registered domain names for their web sites. TytlerForCongress.com and TytlerForCongress.net were secured on January 27, and ArcurifForCongress.com was secured on February 3. No content yet appears on either site, and it appears that the Arcuri and Tytler campaigns have yet to redirect the nameservers for their domains away from Network Solutions, so at a bare minimum it will be a few days before these web sites are up and functioning. Of course it could be longer than that - weeks or months, even.

As for Leon Koziol, although he told me a couple weeks ago that his campaign was working on a web site, it seems that he has done nothing to actually move toward getting a campaign web site up online. This morning, I used the Network Solutions web site to search for every imaginable domain name that Koziol might use for a Koziol for Congress web site: Koziolforcongress.com , leonkoziol.com , koziol06.com , leonkoziol06.com , leonkoziol2006.com and so on. I found that every domain I could come up with was still available - even ones like Leon06.com. The .net and .org addresses were also unclaimed.

To be fair, Leon Koziol could have people working on a campaign web site offline. Still, even if that is the case, his failure to have a web site ready for the time of his official campaign announcement must be disturbing to Koziol's supporters. Other than a few short, not very descriptive, newspaper articles, there is no way for voters to find out about Leon Koziol, much less provide him with their support.

A web site is one of the first things any campaign should make available. A campaign site is extremely inexpensive (usually less than $50 necessary for initial set up costs), and has the potential to reach a large audience without restrictions of physical distance. These sites offer information, but also give the candidate a way to start collecting financial donations and information about potential supporters. Until Leon Koziol, Bruce Tytler, and Mike Arcuri get their web sites up, the only way that they'll be able to collect donations is from direct contact with potential donors. Their supporters in the 24th District wouldn't even know who to make a check out to right now, much less know where to send it.

In the meantime, the Les Roberts campaign web site has been collecting online donations and volunteer information for weeks. Les Roberts 2006 continues to expand. The blog there is now operational, and is supplemented by a blog written by Josh Lozman, the manager for the Les Roberts campaign.

This online head start could be narrowed quickly, but every week that these campaigns fail to establish an online presence is another week that they'll have to play catch up. It generally takes between one to two weeks for new web sites to get a foot in the door with search engines like Google - no matter how much they advertise and solicit links. In just three days from now, it will be a mere seven months until the Democratic primary. That's shorter than it seems. The filing deadline for petitions is just a little over five months away, and petitioning is a real test of organizational power.

Given that we won't know for months what kind of fundraising the Democratic candidates are doing right now, presence in the media, including the Internet, will be an important clue for those of us who are trying to assess the candidates' relative strength. It looks like the online field will soon get more crowded, but for now, we're still waiting.

-------

From Take Back New York's 24th

Jim's Plan For Our Economy

2006-02-09T11:28:00.000-05:00

If this doesn't say it all, I don't know what does:

OUR ECONOMY

I'm currently updating this page. Please refer back in the very near future.

Currently, No Related News Articles.

Yep, it's from Jimbo's Issues Page on the Economy on his campaign website. Do we really think Jimbo is going to give CNY what it really needs?

Crossposted at The Walsh Watch.

Jim Hates Social Security

2006-02-08T14:33:00.000-05:00

In yesterday's Post Standard Jimbo gave his glowing endorsement of Bush's 2007 budget:

Republican Reps. James Walsh, of Onondaga, and Sherwood Boehlert, of New Hartford, found much to their liking in the $2.77 trillion spending plan.

But as it turns out, since Bush couldn't publicly put social security on the roulette wheel, he tried to sneak it into the 07 budget.

Let's see if Jimbo can get away with another mealy mouth stance on this.

More on the bumbling budget later.

Crossposted at The Walsh Watch.

Les Roberts Defends 24th District from Budget Cuts

2006-02-08T14:19:00.000-05:00

The Les Roberts for Congress campaign became the first, and so far the only, campaign in the 24th District to come out in opposition to the drastic federal budget cuts in education by George W. Bush. President Bush has referred to his approach to budget matters "the ownership society". All I can figure that means is that if you want to get an education, you own all the expense yourself.

Bush has suggested cutting the education budget by 3.5 billion dollars, including severe cuts to student loan programs that just last year Bush promised that he would never cut. That affects working families in our area who don't have the wealth of the Bush family to send their kids to college all on their own. The working families of the 24th District aren't asking for a handout, just a loan from the federal government so that their kids can start out their life without a mountain of high-interest debt.

Now President Bush is saying that it's just too much to ask - at the same time that he is pushing the Paris Hilton Loophole, which gives kids who inherit millions or billions of dollars from their wealthy parents a special exemption from having to pay their fair share. That kind of loophole won't help us out here in the 24th District. How many of your neighbors are set to inherit multi-million dollar fortunes?

In spite of all that, Sherwood Boehlert loves this budget, because it throws him the promise of a little bone, maybe one million dollars or so, with which Boehlert thinks he can buy our votes. None of the money is guaranteed, you understand, but Boehlert has his hopes, so he's declared that the Bush budget has "bold and much-needed" elements.

Even I didn't think that Sherwood Boehlert was that far out of touch. The new budget is set to bankrupt local governments and school districts across Central New York.

Les Roberts sees through the the bull, and is willing to give us some real straight talk. Here's what the Les Roberts campaign blog has to say about the draconian cuts in the new federal budget:

"This sort of cut would have a disproportionate impact on the 24th District. We have 5 times more 4-year universities per capita than the national average. This represents a great number of students who will have to struggle a bit more to afford a college education. While the President is talking about investing money in math and science education, he appears to be forgetting that for many - if not most - people around the country, college is one of our largest lifetime expenses... As a Congressman, Les would not only use his vote to serve as a check on this White House, but would also use the vital oversight role given to Congress to make certain the President keeps the best interests of the country, not special interests, at the front of his mind."

Les Roberts has set the standard of integrity on the budget issue for the 24th District campaign. It is now up to the rest of the candidates to join Les Roberts in his stand. I'm waiting to hear what they have to say on the matter.

Public reports of Leon Koziol's campaign announcement yesterday had more to say about his effort to ban abortion and same-sex marriage than the economic needs of the people of the 24th District.

-------

From Take Back New York's 24th

Today's the Day! So Where is Koziol?

2006-02-07T22:11:00.000-05:00

Today was to be the day that Leon Koziol made his big announcement that he is officially seeking the Democratic nomination for the 24th District seat in Congress.

So far, though, not much of the local media is covering it, just Channel 10 News, which says, well, that Leon Koziol is running. Nothing else. No newspaper coverage. No web site. So far, it's kind of a big pffft.

Mr. Koziol, if you're out there, we'd love to hear from you with some more information. Drop us a line, okay?

Update: The Morning After

It's the morning following Leon Koziol's campaign announcement, and still the only coverage of it I can find is that little Channel 10 blurb.

Two things are very, very wrong with this. First of all, the Leon Koziol for Congress campaign needs to do a better job of getting the word out. Second, and more importantly, our district's newspapers need to do a better job of reporting what's going on to us. It is outrageous that I should know that yesterday would be Leon Koziol's announcement day, but the area newspapers would know nothing about it.

It is even more outrageous if the newspapers know about it, and just aren't telling any of us. It looks as if we, the citizens of the 24th District, are going to have to do the leg work ourselves.

Maybe I'm missing an article. Maybe the Auburn Citizen stuck the story in underneath some stock quotes or something. If anyone finds a newspaper article on this subject, please let me know.

Weak Kneed Walsh: A Blast From The Past

2006-02-07T15:42:00.000-05:00

Here's a little blast from the past, with Weak kneed Walsh selling out post-9/11 New York when the people he truly serves told him to. From the Almanac of American Politics (subscription required):

In November 2001 Walsh and Democrat Nita Lowey pushed for $11 billion in aid to New York in the defense supplemental. This was opposed by the Bush administration, and Dick Cheney brought Walsh to the White House to ask him to defer the money until later. Walsh refused. Although Walsh and Upstater John Sweeney crossed party lines, their amendment, reduced to $9.7 billion, was defeated by two votes in committee. Walsh continued fighting and threatened to vote against the rule unless it allowed a vote on his amendment. But in a meeting with OMB Director Mitch Daniels and Deputy Whip Roy Blunt, he gave way, and agreed to accept $1.75 billion.

Don't we deserve someone who will stand up for us?

Crossposted at The Walsh Watch

Les Roberts Campaign Manager Blogs the 24th District

2006-02-07T11:24:00.000-05:00

In an expansion of its domination of the online campaign space, the Les Roberts for Congress campaign has added another resource to its web presence. Over the weekend, Josh Lozman, the campaign manager for Les Roberts, started his own blog, chronicling his own thoughts on campaign issues and the process he's going through working with the candidate and local Democratic activists.

It's called On the Trail With Les Roberts, and it promises to be an interesting combination of personal reflections, political analysis, and professional insights into the working of a congressional campaign.

I'd like to see this kind of outreach from the other campaigns. Voters need as much information about their congressional candidates as possible, and giving us an insight into the kind of people who would be on their congressional staffs is a bonus. If Sherwood Boehlert would give us this kind of way to get in touch with his own staff, maybe the people of the 24th District wouldn't feel so distant from their own representative in Washington D.C.

You'll see that Josh has also joined Take Back Congress - New York as a contributor of congressional campaign news, as Les CM. Thanks for adding to the effort.

----

From Take Back New York's 24th

Crank Candidate or Sincere Democrat?

2006-02-06T07:49:00.000-05:00

Here she comes again: Chris Rosetti has declared her intention to run for Congress against Jim Walsh, in spite of the very strong showing in the 25th District by Democrat Dan Maffei. I seem to remember Chris Rosetti showing up for the 2004 election campaign as well, without being able to come up with the necessary signatures to get on the ballot.

I'm interested in any comments by the Walsh Watcher on this campaign. How are we best to regard the Rosetti for Congress campaign? Is she a crank candidate, or a sincere Democrat who just has trouble getting it all together?

Michael Arcuri appears in Lansing - From Take Back the 24th

2006-02-05T16:21:00.000-05:00

It was a great pleasure to attend Michael Arcuri's talk at the Lansing Community Center a few days ago. At long last, there is a great deal that I can say about Arcuri's candidacy, other than that he has been absent from the race up until now.

To be fair to Arcuri and his supporters, I will need to address his speech in several, separate chunks over the next few days. The gathering went on for about two hours, after all.

For now, as it's a Friday afternoon, I will merely take note of the form of audience participation. There were between 15 and 20 Democrats in attendance, but 13 questions asked, not including my own 2 questions, which I just don't feel that I can fairly report on along with everyone else's. A quick review of the scope of these questions will give us a good idea of the subjects that the primary campaigns ought to address, as the Democrats in that room were probably a good rough representation of the kind of Democrats who are likely to turn out to vote in the primary election.

The subjects of the questions were as follows:

2 about how to reform health care
2 about Bush's warrantless wiretapping against American citizens
2 about general campaign strategy
1 about the district's economy
1 about media consolidation
1 about the proper balance between federal rights and states' rights
1 about the Republican Party's support infrastructure
1 about gay marriage
1 about the ability to get funding for science for universities in the district
1 about political role models

Look at these questions quickly, and you'll see that local issues don't play a dominant role in Democrats' consideration of who they want to support in the upcoming primary election. The large majority of questions dealt with national issues, with actions that can be taken by Congress to impact all Americans, not just people living in New York State's 24th. Campaign organization will have to occur on a local level, but the candidates will need to appeal to a higher level of citizen interest than merely what benefits us in our own back yards.

From Take Back New York's 24th District!

Team Corruption Loses (Sorta)

2006-02-02T15:20:00.000-05:00

Jimmy backed the wrong horse. Tom DeLay Mini-Me Roy Blunt lost to John "That's not how my last name is pronounced" Boehner. Of course, Tom DeLay Mini-Me Roy Blunt stay Majority Whip and Eric "I only had a sandwich named after me at Jack Abramoff's kosher deli" Cantor stays Chief Deputy Whip.

Important question though, with Jimbo backing the wrong horse, and Tom DeLay looking for a seat on the Appropriations committee, will Jim lose his subcommittee chairmanship?

NY 19 - Hall on Page 2 of the NY Post!!

2006-02-02T14:12:00.000-05:00

John Hall continues to attrack huge press attention to the campaign in the 19th District. This ability will be a HUGE asset in defeating Sue Kelly, who yet again voted to slash funding for the sick and students.

Yeseterday he was on page 2 of the NY Post!
http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/ 62726.htm

The story was then picked up by UPI and went nationwide!!http://washingtontimes.com/upi/20060201- 042515-6048r.htm

Please sign up to volunteer and get camapaign updates at:http://www.johnhallforcongress.com

Update: (NY Post and UPI's sites aren't letting you click through, if you cut and paste address into your browser it works)

Team Corruption Can Get The Job Done

2006-02-02T11:44:00.000-05:00

Jim Walsh gave a glowing endorsement of the leaders of Team Corruption, Tom DeLay Mini-Me Roy Blunt and Eric "I only had a sandwich named after me at Jack Abramoff's kosher deli" Cantor. Jim had this to say to Bloomberg News:

"They've proven they can do the job,'' said Representative James Walsh, a New York Republican. "This is an important time for our party.''

Jim is right, with Tom DeLay now disposed, the Republicans need someone to step up and carry the Culture of Corruption banner and to sell us out to the out of touch special interest groups that rule Republican Washington.

The vote for new Majority Leader is coming up soon.

Hat tip to Lisa.

Crossposted at The Walsh Watch.

Sue Kelly goes ga-ga over W!

2006-02-01T20:56:00.000-05:00

Take19 realizes that some people consider W a celebrity and that the State of the Union can be exciting for a few diehards. But, it was a more than a little bit embarrassing to watch our 69 year-old Representative fawn (with a capital F) over W as she sought his autograph last night.

Note to Sue: he's not Mick Jagger. He isn't even Bono. And besides, with all those votes you've taken that are in lock-step with Bush's misguided policies, like cutting more than $12 billion from federal student loans, it's a bit surprising to us that you had to act like some crazed fan to get a simple autograph.

Decisive/Divisive Budget Vote

2006-02-01T18:38:00.000-05:00

By a 216-214 the House of Representatives passed a scorched earth budget. Had Jim voted against it, rather than for it, the budget bill would have failed to pass. Here are a few highlights:

$8 Billion Cut in Student Loans
70,000 Low income people will lose their health care
225,000 people will lose their food stamps

(Source)

On the plus side, Paris Hilton's taxes won't go up! Thanks Jim!

Les Roberts is Frontrunner of Democrats in 24th District

2006-02-01T08:27:00.000-05:00

This news is just in from the New York Liberal blog: The fundraising statistics from the period ending December 31 last year show that Les Roberts is the clear frontrunner for the Democratic nomination. As of New Year's Eve, the Friends of Les Roberts campaign had 48,767 dollars in the bank.

How about Michael Arcuri, the Oneida County District Attorney who was, in December, widely assumed to be a strong contender for the nomination? He had just more than one-fifth of the amount raised by the Les Roberts campaign: 10,150 dollars. What can you get for ten thousand dollars these days? Not an effective campaign, that's for sure.

I'm going to borrow the following graphic from the New York Liberal people - don't tell.

Jeff Miller is shown here raising just twenty five dollars, but to be fair to Jeff, he wasn't even campaigning at the time. Yesterday, Jeff Miller bowed out of the race, leaving Les Roberts, Michael Arcuri, and two possible campaigns by Leon Koziol and Bruce Tytler.

Tytler and Koziol may be reconsidering their temptation to jump in the race at this late date, given that they would have to make up almost 50,000 dollars just to be competitive... with the figures Les Roberts had one month ago. Who knows what kind of money the Roberts campaign has gathered since the beginning of the year.

Michael Arcuri will also probably be reassessing his chances of gaining the nomination. What with his campaign victory to a new term as DA just two months ago, and a deficit of over 38,000 dollars compared to Les Roberts, Arcuri will have to work extra hard now to convince the Democratic committees of the 24th District that it is worth their while to endorse him over Roberts. Even the Oneida County Democratic Committee may now be in play.

Add to Michael Arcuri's problems that he has waited until February to really begin campaigning. Arcuri is giving a speech two days from now in Lansing, and he may well face some difficult questions from the members of the Lansing Democratic Committee gathered there.

All this confirms my earlier suspicions about the use of web presence as a good indicator of the health of a campaign. As I've pointed out on a few occasions, the Internet profile of Les Roberts easily overshadows all his Democratic rivals. Anyone who wants to take on Les Roberts now will not only have to contend with their relative poverty of funds, but also with their nearly non-existent online presence.

------

From Take Back the 24th

Leon Koziol Fails the Contact Test: From Take Back New York's 24th

2006-01-31T20:01:00.000-05:00

I didn't want to write this article. I've waited for there to be something other for me to say. But, I've waited long enough, and there isn't anything better I can say:

Prospective Democratic candidate Leon Koziol has failed the contact test.

Much was made at the end of 2005 about a possible campaign for the Democratic nomination in the 24th District by attorney Leon Koziol. Since then, there has been relative silence. A few name recognition ads for Koziol have apparently run on television, but I haven't been glued to the tube enough to catch them. Discussion of Koziol, in the newspapers and online, has dropped down to practically nothing.

So, I was curious. Was Koziol still considering a run for Congress, or had he thought the better of it? I found the telephone number for Koziol's office on a PDF of a legal letter he had written for his work with Upstate Citizens for Equality, and gave him a call.

When I got through to Mr. Koziol, he confirmed that he would be running for Congress. He said he was still crafting his announcement speech, and would formally enter the race within the next two weeks (moving ahead now, that time frame would be some time in the next week). He says he has a campaign committee, and is working on a web site.

Then, I asked him how he was different from the other Democrats, how he planned to position himself as a candidate for the Democratic nomination. He seemed stumped. "I guess I really ought to have an answer for that question," he told me.

I was floored. How could someone contemplate running for Congress without considering how they would be different from the other candidates? How could someone seek the Democratic nomination without knowing what kind of Democrat they are? How could a candidate begin putting television ads on the air without knowing what the theme of his campaign would be first?

After a couple of minutes, Koziol recovered, and summoned up a trial answer.

"I'm a moral traditionalist," he said. I asked him what that meant. He talked to me about how he regards himself first and foremost as a conservative, family-oriented Democrat. He told me about how America's traditional value system is eroding at a pace that society cannot keep up with. He said he wants to work to bring back and preserve traditional moral values. He complained about the "very liberal viewpoint" that appears on television these days.

So it appears that Leon Koziol intends to be the Joseph Lieberman of the 24th District, running from the right. He's free to make that choice, of course, but it may not be the best way to clinch the Democratic nomination in a year when the Republican Party and its right wing agenda are less popular than they have been since the days just after Watergate.

A few minutes later, Koziol shifted his focus, and said that he really ought to be regarded as "the most qualified public interest advocate" among all the Democrats in the race. He talked about how he has clients throughout the district, people that he has helped, and would be working with their support during his campaign.

Koziol distinguished himself from both Michael Arcuri and Sherwood Boehlert, calling them "career politicians". In fact, Koziol's attention seemed riveted by Arcuri in particular. He had nothing but kind words for the other Democratic candidates, calling Les Roberts "a scholar and a gentleman", and saying that he was very glad that Jeff Miller and Bruce Tytler might be considering joining the race. When it came to Michael Arcuri, however, Koziol very pointedly said that he would not address Arcuri "right now".

This was an interesting, if somewhat quirky, start, and I was eager to provide readers here with more information about Koziol's campaign. So, I asked him for a copy of one of his television advertisements, and for a more extensive interview at a later time. He agreed, and told me to get in touch with the administrative assistant in his legal office, who is also running his
campaign.

The administrative assistant was friendly, and said that she would either email me a copy of the campaign video or send a tape to me through the mail. She said she would be in touch with me soon by telephone or by email to have a time for an interview arranged.

So, the waiting began. The Koziol campaign never called back. They never sent an email. They did not send me a copy of Koziol's TV ad. I received no further contact at all.

Of course, I can't know the reason that Leon Koziol's campaign fell silent. Maybe they're stiff-arming me. Maybe Koziol has reconsidered his campaign. Perhaps Koziol's legal office is busy, and just dropped the ball.

The thing is, none of these possibilities reflect positively on a Koziol for Congress campaign. If Koziol's campaign is disorganized at this point in the race, when there is relatively little press coverage, and relatively slow procession of events, how well would it fare when things get really hot, before the filing deadline, primary, and general election? If Koziol's assistants can't be bothered to get back in touch with a prospective constituent offering free publicity, how accessible would he be as a member of Congress?

Leon Koziol failed the contact test. Although he may still make an announcement that he is running for Congress, and may wage a campaign of some sort, I wouldn't expect much more than a few sporadic fits and starts.

-----

From Take Back the 24th

We've Got Numbers!

2006-01-31T18:21:00.000-05:00

And the Financial reports are officially in:

Palomma Capanna - raised $22,744, spent $2,373, Cash on Hand $20,371
Dan Maffei - raised $100,403, spent $4,014, Cash on Hand $96,388
Jim Walsh - raised $298,005, spent $253,187, Cash on Hand $508,704
Ken Howland - report not available or none filed

Dan Maffei has raised an impressive sum for only being in the race for a short while. Palomma Capanna will need to increase her numbers next quarter if she expects to be competitive. Mr. Walsh raised a lot, but he also spent a lot, he must be worried. More later after I've had time to look through the reports.

Crossposted at The Walsh Watch.

The Walsh Watch

2006-01-31T13:35:00.000-05:00

I began my blog The Walsh Watch a few weeks ago in order to hold Jim Walsh accountable. Mr. Walsh has lost touch with Central New York and sold us out by voting with out of touch special interest and the Republican Culture of Corruption first and his constituents a distance second. I post there daily, sometimes more, and I will be crossposting most of them at this blog as well. So please check out my blog. Here are some blog entries that may interest you:

Culture of Corruption Connection:
Jim Joins Team Corruption
Jim Hearts Tom
Can't Shake the Stank
The Hits Just Keep On Coming

And here are Jim Walsh's potential opponents:
Dan Maffei
Palomma Cappana
Ken Howland

Another Corrupt Lobbyist

2006-01-31T13:32:00.000-05:00

This time it's a New York local. The Times Union's blog Capitol Confidential has this to say:

More trouble is coming down the track for Cooperstown short-line railroad head Walter Rich, whose fundraising and gift-giving are under scrutiny by the state lobbying commission.

A book is about to be published by Rich’s former railroad police chief, David K. Butler, called “Railroaded in Cooperstown.'’ The book will detail alleged safetycover-ups, corruption and fundraising scandals led by Rich.

Of course, Mr. Walsh has accepted money from. It's time to give back the dirty money, Jim.

Crossposted at The Walsh Watch.

Take 19: Back to work....

2006-01-31T07:04:00.000-05:00

Well, it's been six long weeks since Congress went out on recess. But all good things have to come to an end eventually and Sue Kelly and her colleagues are headed back to the hallowed halls of Congress. What's on the agenda for the second session of the 109th Congress? Here's a brief look at two key votes:

--Sue gets another shot at voting to cut $40 billion from the budget. This would cut $12.7 billion from federal student loan programs -- the largest cut ever -- at a time that college costs are rising sharply. Medicaid would be cut by $7 billion and funding for Medicare and child support enforcement would also be cut sharply. The House is voting on this again because the Senate made several changes to an earlier budget bill. Sue's already voted twice here and here in favor of these drastic cuts, so it's unlikely she'll suddenly have a change of heart the third time around.

--More tax cuts for the wealthy. The House will vote on extending tax cuts on capital gains and dividends, even though those tax cuts are not set to expire for another two years. Kelly voted to approve this once before. There's no reason to believe she won't do it again.

With these types of irresponsible votes, maybe we're all better off when Sue is on vacation.

Walter Rich to Become New York's Abramoff? - From Take Back the 24th

2006-01-31T05:16:00.000-05:00

It looks like the 24th District's congressman, incumbent Republican Sherwood Boehlert, may soon be joining the likes of Randy Cunningham, Bob Ney, and Tom DeLay - as a suspect in a rapidly spreading corruption probe.

This corruption scandal does not have a direct connection to Jack Abramoff - yet. In this case, the corrupt lobbyist under investigation is Walter Rich, a railroad boss who is under investigation by the by the New York State lobbying commission on possible corruption charges.

The commission has asked Rich to turn over records of who stayed and ate at his mansion and in other lodgings he arranged around Cooperstown during a Baseball Hall of Fame event, and got free tickets to local events. It is against New York State law for lobbyists to give public officials gifts of over 75 dollars in worth, as the lodgings, meals and tickets surely were. These events will likely prove to be the New York State equivalent of Jack Abramoff's golf vacations in Scotland given to public servants.

It is widely expected that Sherwood Boehlert's name will be among those who were given illegal gifts by Walter Rich. Sherwood Boehlert is among those who are known to have held fundraisers in Rich's mansion.

These allegations come at the same time that David Butler, a former railroad police chief who worked for Walter Rich, is preparing to release a new book, Railroaded in Cooperstown. Butler's book promises to reveal chronic safety violation cover-ups, corruption, and illegal political fundraising orchestrated by Rich.

It is alleged that Walter Rich required his employees to give political donations to politicians, possibly including Sherwood Boehlert. Was that kind of corruption the secret behind Sherwood Boehlert's fundraising machine?

The commission will hold a public meeting Feb. 8. Look for more information then.

Thanks to Capitol Confidential for the tip.

----

Postscript:

Republican political cannibals who are eager to profit from Sherwood Boehlert's apparently imminent downfall might want to look at the connnections their own prospective candidates. State Senator James Seward, who has been named as a possible Republican successor to Sherwood Boehlert, is also named in David Butler's book, and may soon become the subject of a corruption probe himself.

-----

From Take Back New York's 24th

From Take Back the 24th: Sherwood Boehlert Rumored to Be Pulling Out

2006-01-30T11:53:00.000-05:00

Tom Grace of the Daily Star over in Oneonta dropped a bomb on the 24th District congressional district this weekend with his article suggesting that incumbent Republican Congressman Sherwood Boehlert is likely to quit the race, and not seek re-election in 2006. Sam Marchio, a spokesman for Representative Boehlert, has said that there will be an announcement sometime in March, when the House of Representatives is in recess.

Grace cites Boehlert's strong challengers within the Republican Party, and Boehlert's apparent difficulties gathering donations for his campaign. With Boehlert losing the chairmanship of the House Committee on Science, his ability to bring money into the district is greatly diminished, and donors appear to doubt that Boehlert has the clout necessary to gain another influential chairmanship.

Republican Brad Jones, former mayor of Seneca Falls, is already challenging Sherwood Boehlert for the Republican nomination, and has raised about 90,000 dollars. Republicans who are considering running for the GOP nomination, assuming Sherwood Boehlert's retirement, are state senators James Seward and Raymond Meier.

Whether or not Boehlert continues his re-election campaign, it looks like the race is wide open on the Republican side. Chances are increasing that the Republicans will nominate a right wing ideologue, making it more difficult for the Republicans to hold onto this seat in the general election.

From Take Back New York's 24th District

From Take Back the 24th: Bruce Tytler Conspiracy?

2006-01-30T07:52:00.000-05:00

This morning, someone calling himself of herself "Tytlerwatcher" left the following message at the Take Back the 24th Blog:

"You should check out the speculation about Bruce Tytler at the Syracuse.com Cortland County Forum. It appears he is destined to run for Congress, gather donations, drop out of the race and give the money to the Cortland County Democratic Committee that can't raise money under Bill Wood.

Tytler was the one term Mayor of Cortland who spent his entire term tied up by a battle with the Water Board and accomplished nothing."

Rumor has it that Bruce Tytler is currently considering a campaign for the Democratic nomination to oppose Republican incumbent Representative Sherwood Boehlert in this year's election. Rumor, apparently, also has a bit else to say about Bruce Tytler.

I have seen this kind of idea discussed elsewhere on the web, perhaps by the same person, perhaps by someone different. At the discussion boards at Syracuse.com, for example, I found the following comments:

"Rumors abound that Mr. Tytler running for congress is nothing more then a ruse to raise money for the politcal party locally. The rumor is that Mr. Wood and his reputation have reached the tipping point where anything with his name on it can't garner any real support. Political gamesmanship and his Pyric Democratic Committee aside, he can't get the real party faithful to give him the time of day muchless a monotary donation. The ruse is to have Mr. Tytler "run" for this congressional seat but only go through the motions, so as not to spend all the donations he has taken in. Before the primary takes place it is rumored that he will bow out of the race, finally realizing what any politcal student already knows, a Democrat can't win this seat. With the money he has left in his coffers, he can by law, legally donate that money back to the local Democratic Party i.e. one Mr. William Wood. The joke will be on all of those who thought that Bruce was a candidate of substance and principle and once again, Mr. Wood like a theif in the night thwart all people of any decency. Remember, this is just a rumor however, heard while dinning at a local eatery in the first block of Main St. at the begining of the one-way section."

Is there any evidence for some kind of conspiracy by Bruce Tytler to defraud campaign donors? I haven't seen any. What there is evidence for is a coordinated, but underhanded, attack in the style of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.

This looks to me like a desperate maneuver by a supporter of one of the other Democratic candidates who is afraid that a Bruce Tytler candidacy would take away valuable attention. The attacks are clearly coming from a resident of Cortland who has a grudge against Democratic Committee chair Bill Wood.

To this attacker, I say: Whatever your agenda, this is not the way to promote it. If Bruce Tytler is not fit to represent the 24th District Democrats in the general congressional election this year, we will find that out when he starts campaigning. If Bill Wood is not to your liking, then gather up a group of Democrats who will support you, and make a run for his position.

Democracy works best in the open, not under the veil of whisper campaigns.

From Take Back New York's 24th

Take Back Congress - New York is Begun

2006-01-28T21:10:00.000-05:00

The project of Take Back Congress is simple, but not easy: To serve as a center for news about congressional campaigns to take back the Congress from corrupt Republican rule across New York State.

Take Back Congress - New York is not intended to be the work of just one person, but rather, the cooperative project of otherwise unassociated progressive bloggers across New York State. This blog is not a replacement for those blogs, but instead to be a place that helps those blogs that are dedicated to the electoral struggles in particular congressional districts gain more prominence.

This blog also is intended to serve as an easy to follow resource for readers who are interested in the latest news about congressional races across New York State, and the progressive efforts across New York to be part of the nationwide effort to replace the Republican majority in Congress with a more stable, less corrupt alternative that can begin the long process of bringing America back to its traditional place of liberty, justice, and the rule of law for all - no matter how weak or how powerful.

If you have a progressive or Democratic blog that is dedicated to covering a congressional race going on somewhere in New York State, or if you know of one that we ought to add, leave us a note in the comments section, and we'll send you information about how to become part of this collaboration.

Look to see the first content for Take Back Congress - New York in just a few days from now.

It's going to be an exciting year.