A reader who lives in the Southern Tier and attended a town meeting recently reports that Randy Kuhl's inability to deliver earmarks in the South has not gone unnoticed or unremarked. The mostly-Republican group noticed that Randy's had a number of earmarks for Monroe county, but none for his home county, Steuben.
For those living in the Southern Tier, it's also worth noticing that some of Randy's earmarks were due to help from more senior local Congressmen Tom Reynolds and Jim Walsh. Both are retiring, and it looks pretty certain that Walsh will be replaced by a Democrat. If he's re-elected, Kuhl will be a not-very-senior member of the minority party, and he'll be the most senior Republican in the area. It's hard to see how he'll increase the number of earmarks sent to the Southern Tier from that weak position.
Comments
I have not heard a word of complaint in the southern tier. Who is this resident? Perhaps he or she could eave a comment with some information and then answer some questions?
I don't use much anonymous material here, but it is from someone I know lives in the Southern Tier and I trust that person's honesty.
Also, the second paragraph makes some points that don't depend on whether you believe the story, though of course they're open to argument.
you have to remember how earmarks work, those that contribute $$$ will receive them. There is more $$ in the Monroe County area so the real earmarks will go there. Plus, Kuhl was able to piggy back and jointly claim earmarks with Walsh and Reynolds, who were gracious enough to do that, the same way that Kuhl used to do that when he was in the State Senate; for example to prop up Brian Kolb when he was facing a tough reelection battle.
Now that Walsh and Reynolds are leaving, and that the Democrats are now in charge the clout is greatly diminished.
But even in the Southern Tier, Kuhl supposedly got $4 Million plus (or something like that) for a Corning Transportation Center, and the funding was lost because nobody knew what to do, and there wasn't a thing that Kuhl could do about it. He couldn't even deliver in his home base.