The Fighting 29th

All about New York's 29th Congressional District

Randy Kuhl voted against the Responsible Redeployment from Iraq Act, which passed the House this evening. Kuhl told the Buffalo News that he is waiting for General David Petraeus' report in September before deciding whether to change his position on Iraq.

Today's Massa press conference covered three topics: health care, the local economy, and Iraq.

Massa began with plug for Michael Moore's new movie, Sicko. Massa watched the movie and spoke at a special showing at Rochester's Little Theater. Massa recognized that people sometimes focus on Michael Moore's persona and tend to lose the message of the movie. Even so, Massa said:

I invite every voting American to go see this movie. It's something I've been talking about for two years: the moral, financial and ethical imperative of reforming our medical system.

Massa re-iterated his support of single-payer health insurance and addressed some of shortfalls of the current system. For-profit HMOs have "destroyed the doctor-patient relationship and corrupted the political system." Massa pointed to the $70,000 in HMO-related PAC money received by Randy Kuhl during the last cycle, and noted that "when that happens, you give up your credibility about speaking for the people."

Massa noted that Kuhl's charge that single-payer would raise taxes by $7,000 per person was not only too high, but also that it ignored the other burdens placed on business, which pays 50% of health care costs, as well as on the taxpayers. Massa noted that 25% of Medicaid is paid for by taxpayers. Even though the popular conception is that Medicaid only goes to the economically disadvantaged, Massa noted that roughly 70% of Medicaid money goes to elder care.

I asked Massa whether he thought that single-payer is a silver bullet solution to health care issues. He said that there's no single silver bullet, but single payer changes the health care model. He pointed out that the majority of health care money is spent in the last 1 to 1 1/2 years of life. One of the reasons for this is that most of the health care decisions are from the perspective of the bottom line of for-profit HMOs. Massa believes this is the wrong model, and that those decisions need to be made by the doctor, patient and family.

I also asked his take on the some of the criticisms of single-payer as implemented in Canada. For example, the formularies (list of authorized drugs) in one province differ from others, and often new, life-saving drugs are delayed. Massa responded by noting that the overall health statistics in Canada are better. Massa said that we can't use the Canadian examples to stop us from moving forward. Instead we need to look at what's wrong in Canada and say "let's not repeat it here". He noted that Medicare, which is functionally single-payer healthcare, is largely successful.

Massa also repeated one of the messages of his 2006 campaign: everyone should have the same medical plan that Congress has given itself: "If it's too expensive for the average US citizen, why is it not for every member of Congress?"

Massa then turned to jobs. He laid out two formulas for job creation in the 29th:

1. "Bring home pork...a never-ending series of addictive Washington handouts." This is Massa's characterization of Randy Kuhl's plan, and he used as evidence Kuhl's recent $43,000 earmark that paid for a study to find barriers to economic development in Cattaraugus and Allegany counties, as well as three counties in Pennsylvania. Massa's retort:

   I think it would have been better to give me the $43,000, because I know the two reasons: no jobs and no roads.

   Massa called this handout "exactly what the government should not be doing".
2. "A new vision that marries education and industry." This is Massa's new economic plan, and he added a few details. He said that we need to "educate to the economy". He sees a plan where students sign up contractually for a certain job, and receive an education that is the product of industry and professors working together to create courses that address real industry needs. Massa sees the role of government as providing tax breaks to help pay for the infrastructure needed to enable this partnership.

Massa's third topic was Iraq. He mentioned the accusation that he's a one-issue candidate, and countered that Iraq is the "issue of my generation". He pointed to Randy Kuhl's multiple votes in support of the War and his multiple, incorrect predictions of when the war would end.

I asked him if he thought Kuhl was a "dead ender" or if he would change his position on Iraq. Massa said that he can't predict that, but "this election is about accountability". He noted that when Kuhl was asked whether he supported the war in Iraq during his first run for Congress, he said that he did.

In other Massa-related news, his campaign announced two more labor endorsements, from the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME).

Reader Elmer sends the front page [pdf] of Saturday's Corning Leader, which includes a story about an anti-war protest in Bath, which is just down the road from Randy Kuhl's home town of Hammondsport. The protest is part of the Americans Against Escalation in Iraq campaign announced last month. A similar protest occurred last week in Elmira but did not generate any media coverage (at least that I saw) and was reported in the Corning Leader [pdf] (thanks, Elmer).

Rochesterturning and Granolabox also have coverage of this event.

I've been off the net for a couple of days, but the news in the 29th keeps rolling in. Here's the roundup:

• Randy Kuhl has joined the bi-partisan Congressional Human Rights Caucus.
• Eric Massa has racked up another union endorsement - this one is from the Communications Workers of America (CWA).
• Rochesterturning reports that Bob VanWicklin's assertion that turnout in the North was lower than in the South was rebutted, forcefully, in the Corning Leader. VanWicklin's statement is incorrect for the 29th, but it was made in the context of speculation about the fate of the 29th after redistricting, which might include all of Monroe County, including Rochester. Since most of Rochester is represented by safe-seat Louise Slaughter, my guess is overall Monroe turnout for Congressional races is lower than turnout in the Southern Tier. I still don't agree with VanWicklin, since a tight race in the "new" 29th might draw more Rochester voters to the polls. But I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he wasn't simply misstating well-known facts.

Eric Massa will co-host a two-hour radio show on WKPQ 105.3 FM and WHHO 1320 AM every Sunday from 10:00 AM to noon. The call-in program can be heard by most of the 29th, as well as over the Internet.

In other Massa news, the United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipefitting Industry has endorsed Massa.

Rochesterturning has posted video of and commentary about David Nachbar's appearance at last month's Brighton Democratic Committee meeting here and here. The video from those reports is embedded after the jump.

The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle has an editorial about earmark disclosure that points out that Randy Kuhl is one of the Members of Congress who's refused to disclose earmarks to CNN. The D&C documents how the whole earmark disclosure process has been grudging at best, and obstructionist at worst.

Reader Elmer sends two interesting front-page items from the Corning Leader. The big news in Corning is the lack of migrant workers for Southern Tier farms. The immigration crackdown has scared off legal and illegal immigrants, and farmers are finding the H2-A visa program, which is supposed to help supply workers, "an unbelievable amount of bureaucracy".

The second story concerns the declining New York population and its affect on the government programs and representation. The likelihood of another redistricting in the 29th is discussed. The district narrowly avoided annexation to a major city in 2000, and that all of Monroe might be attached to it after the next redistricting. That would probably lead to a Democratic takeover in the 29th, though Bob Van Wicklin, ever the optimist, thinks that turnout, which is better in the Southern Tier, might keep the seat in Republican hands.

Here are the stories: Page A1 [pdf] and Page A10 [pdf].

Finally, today's Democrat and Chronicle has a story pegged on the recently-announced DCCC ads. This continues a consistent pattern of minor ad buys leading to stories in the newspaper, which is a large part of the intended effect of those ad campaigns. The DCCC ads also triggered stories in Congressional Quarterly and the New York Observer late last week.

Yesterday's Hornell Evening Tribune documented the efforts of Randy Kuhl's office to assist a group of students from Alfred who need passports for a trip to Japan.

Kuhl's efforts on behalf of area farmers were mentioned in a Democrat and Chronicle backgrounder on the current farm bill. Kuhl has worked on increasing disaster payments for disease loss of fruit trees. He's also worked with other legislators to insert funding for the MILC program, which subsidizes dairy farmers when milk prices fall below a certain amount.

Randy Kuhl has voted against the major appropriations bills that have come before Congress in the last two weeks. This week's no votes on the Interior and Environment and Financial Services and General Government bills are interesting because each was accompanied by a press release (here and here) touting Kuhl-sponsored earmarks in those bills.

Kuhl has not explained his votes against these or any other appropriations bills. None of the appropriations bills have passed with veto-proof majorities. Most of the bills passed are under veto threat from the White House. Kuhl's vote with his party helps to give those veto threats some credibility, which in turn gives Senate Republicans leverage to remove or reduce appropriations that aren't in line with the Republican agenda.

If Kuhl votes for the final, compromise version of the bill, he can have it both ways: He can claim that he ultimately voted for the appropriation (and his earmarks), even though he initially opposed the bill.

The DCCC has announced a "blitz" of ads targeting Randy Kuhl, among others, over the July 4 holiday. Unlike top-tier candidates (such as Jim Walsh in NY-25), who will be targeted by radio ads, Kuhl will be hit by "telephone calls, emails and web video".

Though the announcement doesn't say how many telephone calls the DCCC is making, when you combine the withering effect of robo-calls with emails and web video, one wonders why Kuhl won't just resign on the spot in the face of this terrific deluge.

If it's not painfully obvious, that last sentence was sarcasm. This is a nothing ad campaign that, at best, will garner a little attention in the local newspaper and promptly be forgotten.