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Massa Bio

Tue, 03/16/2010 - 08:00 — Rottenchester

Reader Elmer sends this link to a Washington Post story (free registration required) that contains an interesting and detailed bio of Eric Massa. It sheds a bit of light on Massa's career as a (Republican) staff member on the House Armed Services Committee, and his party switch.

One Last Massa Joke

Mon, 03/15/2010 - 13:09 — Rottenchester

I missed posting Jerry Seinfeld's riff on Massa from Saturday Night Live.

Unless I see something exceptionally funny, that's it for the Massa jokes from me.

More Massa Humor

Mon, 03/15/2010 - 07:15 — Rottenchester

Reader Elmer sends a couple of cartoons from the NY Daily News:

Readers' Links

Sun, 03/14/2010 - 21:00 — Rottenchester

Up in Prattsburg pointed out this OpenSecrets story about Massa's contributors. For some reason, they're a bit upset with him.

Another commenter pointed out that a skit about Massa opened Saturday Night Live last night. Here's the video.

Massa's Money

Sun, 03/14/2010 - 10:00 — Rottenchester

Eric Massa will keep most, if not all, of the money he raised and will be able to use it to fund donations to other candidates, according to this Hornell Evening Tribune story.

The story speculates about what Massa will do with the money. If I had to guess, he'll probably end up returning most of it, or donating it to charity. No politician will want a donation from Massa, it's just too tainted.

Don't Fear the Teabag

Sat, 03/13/2010 - 10:56 — Rottenchester

The biggest danger to Tom Reed's campaign at the moment is a replay of NY-23, a three-way Republican, Conservative and Democratic race where teabagger Doug Hoffman's challenge helped Democrat Bill Owens squeak out a win.

The Reed campaign has been quietly working to make sure this doesn't happen in NY-29. This week, they announced that Reed has been endorsed by the Chemung County Conservative Party. Reed already has the endorsement of the Monroe County Conservative Party.

By taking the #1 and #4 counties, by 2008 vote, out of play for a Conservative, Reed has gone a long way to insulate himself from a challenge from the right.

One Question for Sanford Dickert

Fri, 03/12/2010 - 18:12 — Rottenchester

I asked Sanford Dickert this question: "Did you know that Eric Massa had a habit of sexually harassing men at or around the time you filed your lawsuit?" Here's his answer:

I can honestly say that the Eric Massa I knew when I worked on his campaign was an incredibly hard-working campaigner who was looking to make a difference for the people of the 29th. No - I never had any inkling of this kind of behavior back then, so I had nothing to "out" him with.

Maggie Out

Fri, 03/12/2010 - 16:26 — Rottenchester

Maggie Brooks is officially out of the race. It looks like Tom Reed will be the Republican candidate in the special election, if and when Governor Paterson calls it.

Other Democrats

Fri, 03/12/2010 - 10:03 — Rottenchester

Sean Carroll's new blog post has some more news on Democrats.

I'd missed the news that Mike Green is out.

In addition to the name of David Nachbar, Sean has a new rumored lamb to the slaughter: Mary Wilmot. She works for David Paterson and is part of the wealthy Wilmot family, which owns the Wilmorite mall management company.

Both Nachbar and Wilmot can self-finance, to a degree. Other than that, they're unknowns.

The B-Team

Fri, 03/12/2010 - 07:02 — Rottenchester

This morning's Corning Leader story about the Democratic field in the 29th names three possible candidates: Assembly members David Koon and Susan John, and Brighton Mayor Sandra Frankel.

Koon's name was mentioned earlier, and he seems the best of this bunch. Susan John is retiring from the Assembly, and has had major issues in the past with drunk driving charges. Sandra Frankel is the mayor of the most liberal town in the 29th. Notably absent from the list is Monroe County District Attorney Mike Green.

It's pretty clear that the Democrats are looking at candidates who can afford to lose. John has a state pension. Koon and Frankel aren't up for election in 2010.

Whoever is nominated will be hoping that the same lightning that struck for Tom Reed will strike twice. Reed will win in a walk over any of them after what's happened in the past week.

Back to the Committee

Thu, 03/11/2010 - 17:51 — Rottenchester

Commenter groundhum sends this item about a vote today to refer the Massa investigation back to the House Ethics Committee. The vote was on a measure to instruct the committee to restart the investigation. Instead, the House voted to refer the measure back to the committee.

My understanding of a "motion to refer" is that it's the committee's decision whether they conduct an investigation. CBS News reports, "The 402-1 vote means there may or may not be further inquiry into the Massa affair."

What Did Pelosi Know?

Thu, 03/11/2010 - 17:01 — Rottenchester

Reader Elmer sends a link to the Washington Post story reporting that Joe Racalto, Massa's chief of staff, reported concerns about Massa's behavior to the Director of Member Services for the House, who is on Pelosi's staff.

Racalto reported that Massa was living in a house with young male staffers, and that he was spending time alone with young gay House employees for no work purpose.

Some pundits are trying to make a big deal of the Pelosi angle, but I happened to listen to a few minutes of Lonsberry this afternoon, and he said that he needed to "give the devil his due". He thought it was pretty clear that Massa was forced out by Democrats because of his behavior.

Another point that I haven't seen made about this incident is that Massa himself said that he moved out of the house after Recalto became concerned about him living there. I don't know if that was a result of Racalto's trip to Pelosi's office, but it sounds like Racalto alone couldn't get the job done, and Massa did move out, so you connect the dots.