The Fighting 29th

All about New York's 29th Congressional District

The Star-Gazette has posted its story on Eric Massa's meeting with their editorial board. The S-G also gave Massa a "hit" for scheduling his town meetings at times when people can attend. Massa got a "miss" last week for taking corporate donations.

Massa has an op-ed in today's Albany Times-Union. The topic is stimulus (what else could it be?).

Update: Thanks to reader Mike for pointing out that Massa will co-chair a group supporting HR 676.

Eric Massa's office sent over some more photos of his Southern Tier swing. Below is a shot from the Bath Veterans' Fair. After the break, a meeting at the Corning Leader.

Reader Rich sent in a letter from State Senator George Winner, which I've included after the break. Winner tells the Village of Penn Yan that his member items have been eliminated, as have all the member items of Republican Senators.

I haven't seen this reported anywhere, but it seems like big news, especially in the 29th, where we're represented by Republicans in the State Senate. It also sounds like big news for Eric Massa, because the money in the stimulus bill is all the more critical to towns in the 29th.

I'm not an expert on the dysfunctional New York State Senate, so if anyone has any more information on this, I'd appreciate hearing it.

Update: A reader wrote to say that member items in the New York State Senate were almost completely alloted to Republicans. The new plan, apparently, is to eliminate member items entirely. That doesn't mean that it hurts less, but it sounds less partisan that Winner claims in his letter.

Reader Elmer sends two Corning Leader stories. This one covers Eric Massa's meeting with the Leader editorial board, and this story examines the impact of the stimulus on Corning, Inc.

The Hornell Evening Tribune focuses on Massa's decision to take corporate donations.

Syracuse News10 covers Massa's visit to Elmira.

Update: I missed this item from yesterday's D&C, which contains Massa's criticism of Chris Lee's [NY-26] decision to vote against the stimulus but take the money for his district anyway.

Eric Massa's appearance at a cancer benefit made the University of Rochester Campus Times.

Reader Rich writes to say that the Yates County Democratic Party is having an open house featuring Eric Massa on Saturday from 3:30 to 5:30 at 19 Main Street in Penn Yan.

The Messenger-Post has a story about Massa's visit to Hydroacoustics in Henrietta yesterday.

According to Massa's press release, he's in Corning and Hornell today, meeting with newspaper editorial boards. Tomorrow, he'll be in Elmira, Pittsford and Canandaigua, with office hours in the afternoon at Pittsford, and an open meeting in Canandaigua in the evening.

Today's D&C editorial takes Eric Massa to task for changing his position on accepting corporate financing.

I've already said my piece on Massa's decision, so I want to focus on this part of the editorial:

How quickly they forget. President Obama succeeded largely on the backs of voters who made small donations. But it must not be excused that he, too, reneged on his promise to embrace public financing once his campaign war chest started to swell.

There are (at least) two kinds of stupid in this statement.

First, the whole point of changing the campaign financing system is to limit the influence of individual donors. Obama's network of small donors does just that. Obama didn't just ditch public financing, he found a better way to finance his campaign. It will be the model for every future Presidential campaign, and our politics will be better for it.

Second, if we're going to have better politicians, we need to judge them on results, not just promises. Is there any other human pursuit where we expect the participants to do exactly what they said they'd do months ago, regardless of current circumstances? Being upset that Obama used small-donor financing is like complaining that the coach whose team won the Super Bowl didn't play the same quarterback that he said he'd use at the start of the season.

The Hornell Evening Tribune covers Eric Massa's visit to the Alstom facility in Hornell. Alstom is one of two manufacturers of New York subway cars, and the company stands to benefit from $1.3 billion of stimulus funding targeted at New York mass transit.

The Massa office sent over some more photos of Massa's in-district visits. The first one, below, is from his visit to Hydroacustics, a Henrietta business. After the break, a shot from his trip to Integrated Nano-Technologies, another Henrietta company.

Eric Massa met with the D&C editorial board yesterday, according to this blog post at their Editorial Board blog.

This is a shot of Eric Massa at yesterday's Alfred town meeting, courtesy of Massa's office. More after the break.