The Fighting 29th

All about New York's 29th Congressional District

Today's Buffalo News has two editorial items that are directly or peripherally related to S-CHIP.  The first is an editorial column about the President's decision to veto the bill.

The second item is an op-ed by an American Lung Association official, and though it's not specifically about S-CHIP, it's interesting in light of the charge that Kuhl opposes S-CHIP because of donations from the tobacco lobby.  The op-ed challenges Kuhl to support HR 1108, which would put the Food and Drug Administration in charge of regulating the sale of cigarettes.  The bill is co-sponsored by 204 House members, including 24 from New York.

The Democrat and Chronicle Political Blog posted yet another Americans United anti-Kuhl S-CHIP ad.  The theme of the ad is "What if it was your child, Congressman Kuhl?" Video after the break:

Randy Kuhl says he's "encouraged" by S-CHIP negotiations in a story in today's Hornell Evening Tribune.  Kuhl says the negotiations are taking place without input from the administration, with the goal of getting a veto-proof majority.  Eric Massa opposes the compromise, which would remove more adults from S-CHIP eligibility, noting that the number of adults covered by S-CHIP is tiny (0.5% of those eligible), most of them are mentally disabled, and Medicaid would end up covering them, which would increase property taxes.

County and municipal elections are Tuesday in the 29th.  Since most of the municipal and county officeholders in the 29th are Republicans, Democrats typically have an uphill climb, especially in the Southern 29th.  In the North, the city of Rochester is heavily Democratic, and one would think that the Monroe County Democratic Committee (MCDC) should be able to extend its reach into the more Republican suburbs. 

However, as I posted/ranted earlier, the MCDC is so ineffective that it couldn't even field a candidate for County Executive, and I pretty much wrote off this race as a foregone Republican win.  Since my last discussion of this issue, two events have occurred that have shaken up the race.  The first is Governor Spitzer's license plan, and the second is the "FAIR" tax plan. In my very Republican part of the world, Pittsford in Southeast Monroe County, it looks that the latter is a major mis-step that might lead to a Democratic upset.
The "FAIR" plan is a tax-reallocation plan that, among other things, removes about half of the county's aid for schools from the current school budgets.  In Pittsford, the schools are scrambling to make up for a $1 million shortfall this year, and a $2 million shortfall next year.  In a district where schools regularly make "top 100 in the nation" lists, this is a big deal.   On Friday, I received a four-page, detailed mailing [3 meg pdf] from the Pittsford superintendent of schools.  It criticizes both the results of the FAIR plan, and the non-collaborative process under which it was adopted. 

Such a mailing is unprecedented - I've lived here for more than a decade and never seen anything as political.  It's also interesting to compare it to two of the mailings I received from Pittsford Democrats.  The first mailing [pdf] was sent to me personally, and is more detailed.  The second [pdf] was sent to "the Rottenchester family" and contains some feel-good pictures and a few bullet points.  Both are state-of-the art political mailings, and both assume that the attention span of the average voter is somewhere between the common housefly (musca domestica) and a restless toddler.  The Pittsford Schools, having educated a good percentage of the town's residents, take a different view, and their mailer contains facts and argument instead of slogans.

Don't get me wrong -- the Pittsford Dems mailing is a quality product by the standards of the trade, and it was delivered in a timely manner to the right person (a registered Democrat).  As reader Mike writes to point out, the Pittsford Democratic candidate for County Legislature, Ted Nixon, is also running a good campaign.  I haven't received any Nixon mailers, but, unlike his opponent, Anthony Daniele, he has a website, and he posts YouTube videos there regularly.

Nixon's most recent video concerns the recent Republican mailers about Governor Spitzer's Drivers License plan.  As Rochesterturning first reported, one of the mailers is an over-the-top depiction of "terrorists" getting licenses.  I didn't get that mailer, but I did receive a card from Assemblyman Joe Errigo last week that criticized Spitzer's plan.  I didn't save that mailer, but Errigo has a petition [pdf] on his site that contains the substance of his critique.  Errigo's mailer is an example of how state and local party officials are able to coordinate to transmit the Republican message prior to an election.

Though the license issue is a statewide one, the county Republicans have made immigration an issue because of the County Clerk's role in issuing licenses, and also because of the negative reception of the FAIR plan.  The question is whether the license issue, which is essentially one of ideology, will trump FAIR, which has practical, immediate effects on local schools.  My guess is that FAIR will get more voters to the polls.

In Pittsford, Anthony Daniele, who is a solid young candidate with strong community ties, has been forced to make pronouncements like this about FAIR:

"It is certainly a hurdle,” he said, adding that he supports the plan. “I believe the schools can do a better job of tightening their belt.”

The only thing I've ever heard Pittsford residents say that their schools should do "a better job of" is educating kids.  I've been at a meeting where parents complained that the school did not teach Mandarin to sixth graders.  Belt-tightening doesn't lead to "top 100" schools, and I'm sure that Daniele, who's running for an open seat that's been historically Republican, would rather be talking about anything else in the lead-up to the election.

Though FAIR has probably put some local and county seats in play that were safely Republican, it should also serve as an object lesson to the MCDC.  Fortune favors the prepared.  If the Monroe Dems had a candidate for County Executive, they'd have a spokesperson who would be able to lead and coordinate their FAIR story. As it stands now, their candidates are on their own.  The complacency of the Monroe Democratic leadership is as astonishing as it is unforgivable.

According to a Corning Leader story [pdf] supplied by Reader Elmer, Randy Kuhl is urging President Bush to suspend deposits to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to help lower the price of gasoline. 

The Hill newspaper has another item on the machinations behind S-CHIP.  According to this report, the recent Senate vote in favor of the bill was rushed by the Republican leadership to keep the stalemate going.   Randy Kuhl is listed as a member of a group of 38 House Republicans who are ready to support a new S-CHIP compromise if changes are made to the bill.

The Hill newspaper has a story about Sen. Chuck Grassley's efforts to lobby on S-CHIP.  Randy Kuhl was one of the representatives who met with Grassley yesterday.

Kuhl has released an audio statement [asf] about Gov. Spitzer's new plan on drivers' licenses.  He still opposes it.   In the aftermath of the Tuesday night presidential debate, which featured Hillary Clinton working both sides of the issue, Ben Smith quotes a Siena Poll on the plan, which shows 72% opposition in New York State.

There was no Massa press conference yesterday, because he's busy campaigning for candidates in next week's municipal and county elections.

Today's Star-Gazette story on the new Spitzer Drivers' License plan quotes most of Chemung County's elected officials in opposition to the plan.  Randy Kuhl gets a lick in, too:

I am saddened that the Bush administration would agree to this dangerous and potentially destructive plan.

The Spitzer plan is a gift to Kuhl that just keeps on giving:  he can oppose it vehemently to appease those angry with his position on guest workers,  and he can use it so show that he's not a rubber stamp. 

Reader Elmer sends Eric Massa's Letter to the Editor of the Corning Leader [pdf] in support of the current Mayor of Corning, Frank Coccho.   I'm not an expert on Corning politics, but it looks like Coccho, a Democrat, is facing a tough race, mainly because of self-inflicted wounds. 

Governor Eliot Spitzer and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff have announced a new compromise on drivers' licenses for illegal immigrants.  Both Randy Kuhl and Eric Massa are on record opposing the original plan. The new proposal would issue two classes of licenses.  Those who can prove residency will be issued a RealID license, and those who can't will get a license to drive with restrictions on its use for boarding airplanes or crossing borders.  As part of the compromise,  New York will be one of the first states to issue RealID licenses.  

If a successful compromise is one that leaves both sides unhappy, then Spitzer's new plan is a big win.  Immigrant groups are calling the new, second class license a "scarlet letter".    Those who opposed Spitzer's earlier plan point to the extra expense of issuing two kinds of licenses.  And county clerks in Erie and Niagara counties are planning to call the sheriff to arrest anyone they suspect is an illegal immigrant applying for a license.

I didn't have an objection to Spitzer's earlier plan, because I don't think that it's the state's business to become immigration police.  But his endorsement of the intrusive and pointless RealID program now has turned me against it.  Since nobody is happy with issuing illegals second-class licenses, I'll bet that the final outcome will probably be no license for illegals, and RealIDs for the rest of us.   Our highways won't be any safer, but we'll all be packing a big-brother identity card.

In the 29th, this controversy has handed Kuhl and his supporters some easy talking points.  I listened to some of the Bob Lonsberry show twice this week, and this issue had big play in both of the snippets I heard.  Lonsberry's position is that the license will actually attract illegals to New York.   That's consistent with his usual tactic of pushing illegal immigrants as scapegoats for the lackluster Southern Tier economy.  I've shown why this is a fantasy in an earlier post.  In this case, however, Bob has it pretty easy, because there seems to be something inherently wrong about county clerks issuing legal documents to people who are breaking the law.

That perception of a basic injustice is what's going to keep driving this controversy, as it does the whole illegal immigration mess.   The national polling on this issue shows that most folks would be happy with an amnesty program that's coupled to paying fines or back taxes, they want to increase security at the border, and they believe legal immigration benefits our country.    But Congress can't seem to pull the trigger on a compromise containing security, earned amnesty and realistic quotas for Mexico, Central and Latin America.   Until some national compromise is reached, the pressure caused by illegal immigration will be ventilated periodically by dust-ups like the drivers' license controversy.  Why Eliot Spitzer wanted to stick his hand into this barrel of scorpions is beyond me, but he hasn't done his reputation any favors in the 29th.

The Elmira Star-Gazette is doing a series on tolerance, and today's issue covers tolerance in politics.  Both the editorial and story mention the race in the 29th. 

Some items I missed yesterday:

Randy Kuhl has also withdrawn sponsorship of the House Resolution condemning the Armenian Genocide by Turkey.  For those unfamiliar with the history of this resolution, the LA Times has a good timeline.

WETM Channel 18 has a short story on Kuhl's defense of his S-CHIP vote.  The Washington Post's Capitol Briefing blog counts votes on S-CHIP, and concludes that there's little chance for much change in the current position of House members, including Kuhl:  "[N]ow that they've voted three separate times against an SCHIP expansion, it's almost impossible to envision these lawmakers flip-flopping unless the bill is dramatically reshaped."