The Fighting 29th

All about New York's 29th Congressional District

Reader Elmer sends a page image [pdf] of yesterday's Corning Leader editorial page. Randy Kuhl has a guest editorial responding to last week's letter on Immigration from Eric Massa.

Kuhl's rebuttal is classic political rhetoric, designed to obscure one fact: he has recently changed his position on a guest worker program.

Kuhl's initial claim, "last year’s Democrat nominee claims that I am not a supporter of a guest worker program for the agricultural sector" is simply false. Massa did not make that charge. Instead, he accused Kuhl of "flip-flopping" on the issue. As documented in a newspaper article, Kuhl changed his position on immigration in late October, 2006, under pressure from local farmers.

Now, one man's flip-flop is another's "listening to constituents", and Kuhl could have simply said that he changed his mind. Instead, he tries to make it sound like he's supported a guest worker program all along. He cites his 2006 letter to the Republican leadership of the House asking them to support a guest worker program, but that letter was probably sent very near the election.

Kuhl's second point -- that he can't be accused of supporting Bush's immigration bill because it hasn't yet been introduced in the House -- is right. However, he goes too far when he says this:

As even an elementary school student could tell you, President Bush is not a Member of Congress and therefore is not able to introduce legislation in Congress. That privilege is reserved for citizens who have been elected to serve in Congress.

Yes, Randy, we've all paid attention to Schoolhouse Rock -- Presidents don't introduce bills. But this statement insults the reader's intelligence, because anyone who's been reading the newspaper knows that Bush has been pushing hard for this bill, and that he's twisting arms in his party to keep the bill alive. In fact, Bush will make a rare visit to Capital Hill this week to meet with Republican Senators to try to revive the bill. Most adults know what elementary school children can't tell you: Presidents use their clout to get bills passed.

Kuhl's final remarks concern a couple of statements Massa supposedly made about two of Kuhl's votes in the 109th Congress. According to Kuhl, Massa accused him of voting against a guest worker program when he voted for the House border security bill in December, 2005. Since that bill was moot on the guest worker program, Kuhl asks how Massa can accuse him of voting against something that isn't even in a bill.

I don't know if Massa ever made this accusation, but even if he did, Kuhl's using it to obscure a broader truth. Kuhl's stated position in 2005 was opposition to a guest worker program. He had no opportunity to vote on a guest worker program because his leadership removed it from the bill in committee and blocked floor amendments on guest workers. (Even the conservative Washington Times' account acknowledges that.) So, whether or not Massa made this accusation, it doesn't change the underlying fact: Kuhl was against a guest worker program for most of his first term.

Kuhl then alleges that Massa's statement about his non-vote vote is one in a pattern. He dredges up an old fight over minimum wage, where Massa accused him of opposing a minimum wage increase because of a vote on a technical amendment. The important point on this issue is that Massa got burned in July, 2006 and then stopped making that accusation. In the Fall, 2006 debates, the minimum wage debate centered around Kuhl blaming the Democrats for blocking a minimum wage bill he supported, as documented in this newspaper article. Again, accusing Massa of distorting his record obscures a broader fact. Kuhl's leadership consistently blocked action on minimum wage, and it was only when Democrats took control of the House that a minimum wage bill could pass.

Kuhl's letter ends with this statement:

So thank you, Mr. Massa, for providing everyone with an unfortunately not-so-rare glimpse of how you plan to run your future campaigns.

Unfortunately, Kuhl's letter also gives us a glimpse of how he runs his campaign. Instead of just owning up to the fact that he changed his mind, he chooses to twist and dodge, for no good reason . Kuhl could have made a virtue out of his ability to listen to area farmers. Isn't that what Representatives are supposed to do?