Janice Volk's campaign manager has finally admitted to Sean Carroll that the charges of racism and sexism that he was complaining about occurred on only one Southern Tier blog and have since been removed. Sean Carroll adds this:
Cary also said that "if my candidate was a white male I wouldn't have felt the need to say" what he did in the press release.
I was told I should be pursuing all sorts of campaign issues and politely pointed out that I have yet to see a Volk press release, campaign speech, and/or media tour to raise any of the said issues.
I was also told by Cary that I'm the only reporter asking about this. At last check I believe he's the only person talking about this.
A couple of people have sent the following from the Volk campaign:
Over the past few months this campaign has been asked to answer a multitude of both questions and criticisms. Jan is committed to a transparent campaign that enables the voters to choose for themselves, unlike her opponent, she believes in straight forward to-the-point responses. Here are Jan’s answers to the most frequently asked questions:
Why haven’t you filed with the FEC?
The answer is simple; I am running a fiscally conservative campaign. The FEC requires a candidate to file upon expending or raising $5,000.00 in funds. I am not digging into my constituents’ wallets just so I can show up and vote in Washington for them. My goal is to win this race as cost effectively as possible. I hope that we do it for one quarter of a congressman’s salary.
My opponent, on the other hand, has raised over $700,000.00 for a job that pays $174,000.00 per year. I am about the people and for the people. How can someone represent their neighbor when the mortgage can be paid five times over by campaign contributions? My opponent is not concerned about your day to day life. It appears that he is concerned with taking your money and his personal rise to power.
Did your campaign challenge Tom Reed’s petitions?
NO, we did not challenge Tom Reed’s signatures for two reasons: first, this campaign believes in democracy; second, such a challenge would have been futile because we know that Jan is the best candidate. Jan is the people’s candidate and she will not allow technicalities to be the deciding factor in the election of our next congressman. When you vote for Jan you vote for yourself! A vote for Tom Reed is a vote for the establishment and a continued disregard for our rights as citizens.
Do you think Reed’s campaign will succeed in removing Jan from the ballot?
NO, Reed’s campaign will not succeed. If Jan is removed on technicalities, then the G.O.P. is ensuring a Democratic victory this November. The G.O.P. is ignoring the fact that they must ensure that Jan is both the General Election and the Special Election Candidate. Jan is doing something that no American has done before. She is running a Constitutional campaign. This requires putting the people first.
So what next?
All of this is to say that Jan is ensuring a victory for the people by minimizing expenses while enduring fruitless challenges against her petitions. It Tom Reed’s campaign believed in democracy then they would have welcomed Jan to the race with open arms.
Remember, all politics is local. Let’s start here at home and show Washington that we are going to send an everyday American to their stomping ground. Let’s show them that Jan is our choice. When you vote on September 14, be sure to pull the lever for Janice Volk.
My only comment to this is that the term "Constitutional" as used in this email is meaningless. When any candidate runs for office they're doing what the Constitution says they can do. No one candidate gets to wrap him or her self in the Constitution and thereby claim some special privilege.
Also, we're still waiting for evidence to back up the charges of racism and sexism directed at Volk made by her campaign manager. It's telling that we've heard nothing to back up that accusation.
Sean Carroll has some more information on the Reed effort to challenge Janice Volk's petitions. According to the Volk campaign, Janice collected just a few hundred more signatures than are needed to get on the ballot.
Commenter Down in Cuba points to this Hornell Evening Tribune story that prints Reed's claim that Volk may have as few as 50 more signatures than required to make the ballot.
In either case, it's pretty likely that the Reed campaign challenges will be successful and Volk will be knocked off the ballot.
In other news, Sean also reports claims of slurs against Volk in some right-wing blogs. I'll be the first to admit that I don't read many of those, but I haven't seen any slurs. Please drop me an email or report it in the comments if you have.
Tom Reed raised $150k [pdf] and banked $53K in the last three months. Matt Zeller raised $138k [pdf] and banked $86K. Neither of those numbers are big for this time of year. But, because Zeller is starting so late, his cash on hand is dwarfed by Reed's $350K.
Janice Volk hasn't filed a campaign finance report, which means that she hasn't raised $5,000 yet.
The Volk Campaign has sent out a press release announcing that they've collected "more than enough" signatures than the number needed for Janice Volk to appear on the Republican primary ballot. The release also says that the Reed campaign is "chomping at the bit" to challenge Volk's signatures.
The Corning Leader is reporting that Republican candidate Angelo Campini did not collect enough signatures to make it on the primary ballot.
The status of the other possible challenger to Tom Reed, Janice Volk, is unknown.
Tom Reed is touting the fact that he's now one of the 39 "Young Guns" who the National Republican Congressional Committee say will help unseat Nancy Pelosi. Since he got the "Young Gun" designation, Reed's been tweeting that Pelosi Must Go.
I've long held that the whole Pelosi fixation is just meat for the base, that people don't really care about her. But within the last few days, there's another reason why running against Pelosi isn't the smartest strategy on record: Joe Barton. If Republicans do take over the House, Barton, the man who apologized to BP, will be the head of the House committee in charge of oversight of all energy-related legislation.