The Fighting 29th

All about New York's 29th Congressional District

The phrase "tilting at windmills" is often used metaphorically, but in today's press conference, Eric Massa did it literally. Read on for more about wind power and other issues.

Massa began today's conference with a discussion of S-CHIP, which, he said, is "a very easy-to-understand effort by the new Congress to increase access to quality health care for the nation's uninsured children." Massa called Kuhl's vote against S-CHIP "stunning": "Especially in the rural areas of the 29th Congressional District, we have a real emergency with regard to health care in general, but specifically for children."

Massa stressed his view of the non-partisan nature of S-CHIP:

This is not a Republican or Democratic issue. When I go to the doctor, I don't say 'Are you a Republican or a Democrat?' Medical care should have nothing to do with partisan politics, but everything to do with access.

Bryan Roth from the Messenger-Post asked why Massa considered health care an "emergency". Massa replied that 49 million Americans don't have health care, and that "as access to health care is cut back, illness and fatalities increase." Roth also asked what Massa thinks needs to be done. Massa's response:

I'm on record supporting single-payer health care: privately-delivered publicly-funded health care. I will work to give the American People what Congress has given itself. Every Member of Congress has a gold-plated, diamond-studded health plan. The American people deserve no less. [If I am elected,] I will not accept the Congressional Health Plan. As a military retiree, I'll stay on that program, which is far less than Congress', until everyone in the 29th Congressional District has the same as what Congress gives itself.

I asked Massa what he thought about the objection that the new S-CHIP limits in New York were too high, since they covered a family of 4 with an income of $80,000 (actually, I was wrong: it's $82,500). Massa said that "a family of 4 earning $80,000 is certainly eligible to pay for the Iraq war." He added:

Why is it wrong for someone with an $80,000 income to get access, while it's OK for Congress to get free access to health care. It comes down to a bottom-line discussion item: why should health care come down to a competitive model: survival of the fittest. We're the only industrialized country [doing that].

With S-CHIP out of the way, Massa turned to wind power. He prefaced his windmill discussion with a discussion of the way that nuclear energy was marketed in the 1950's. Massa remembers advertising which featured "clean free nuclear energy" but didn't mention "the hundreds of billions of dollars for cleanup, the long-term health risks, or the increases in taxes." Massa sees the same thing happening in current talk about windmills:

Today in Steuben County and throughout the Southern Tier, we are being scammed in much the same way. We are scammed by foreign-owned companies building foreign-manufactured wind turbines that will not produce electricity. This is a threat to landowners, who will see taxes explode. It is an environmental burden, which will see bird populations destroyed. Foreign companies will take their tax subsidies and run, with no money going to the 29th Congressional District. We are going to have to live with 1,000 windmills the size of the Washington Monument.

Massa said he was interested in this issue because "our local governments are not sounding the alarm". I asked him why he thought that the windmills wouldn't produce energy:

We are being told that we are building windmills to provide electrical power for New York State's largest consumers. The largest consumers in New York are air conditioners in New York City. Wind is available for generation in upstate on cold winter nights. That's when there's enough wind to turn 450 foot towers.

Finally, on Iraq, Massa had this to say about the Petraeus report:

We're seeing something in this administration that we've never seen before in the history of the United States of America. We're seeing a Commander-in-Chief and Members of Congress saying that they're going to wait until they get a report from a General [to decide what to do about the war]. George W. Bush is the Commander-in-Chief. He's supposed to be the leader, not the follower. Members of Congress are elected to lead, not follow. In the American military tradition, it's the civilians who tell the military leaders what to do, not the other way around.