The Fighting 29th

All about New York's 29th Congressional District

The Amherst Times reports that flood-damaged areas of Cattaraugus, Chautauqua and Erie Counties have been declared disaster areas.

The mighty Gannett empire reports that Massa is interested in helping small business. Also, a wind farm in Steuben County got a $75 million stimulus grant.

Area bloggers have a couple of interesting town hall meeting reports. First, GranolaBox reports on the Potter town hall meeting, which was tame by current standards. And Rochester resident Tim Ellis blogs about his experience at the Victor town hall meeting on the Huffington Post.

The Corning Leader and the Star-Gazette attended last night's meeting in Horseheads. About 800 people showed up. The S-G's coverage includes a photo of a pair of senior citizens with the sign "Govt Health is Dead on Arrival". They must have run out of room for the rest of the slogan: "for others, not us".

WETM also has a short story about the meeting.

Today's Democrat and Chronicle carries an op-ed from a local physician who describes the atmosphere at the Victor town hall meeting:

I arrived at the town-hall meeting for Rep. Eric Massa, D-Corning, with an eagerness for respectful debate. I left with a sense of disgust and disappointment. The atmosphere was so vicious that any attempt at meaningful dialogue was met with perverse heckling including screams that our nation should have "dropped a nuke" on Iraq instead of spending three trillion dollars on the war, and someone screaming "give Obama's wife to the Insurance Industry!"

On my walk into the meeting, I stood next to a gentleman wearing a T-shirt with President Obama's face and a Hitler moustache. I heard him argue with a World War II veteran, who told him he should be ashamed of himself.

In other news, Massa will be holding a meeting in Canandaigua tomorrow with House Agriculture Committee Chair Collin Peterson. According to a press release, the meeting will be for Farm Bureau members only.

Update: This isn't the last town hall meeting. There's one more on Thursday at 5 at Hornell High School.

Eric Massa met with the D&C editorial board this afternoon, and Jane Sutter lived to tell the tale.

Sutter says that Massa was pushing his "baby steps" view of healthcare reform, where a number of common-sense initiatives are passed piecemeal by Congress. Massa's also concerned about H1N1 now that kids are back to school.

Today's Corning Leader is happy with the Reed/Massa campaign so far.

The Corning Leader reports on Massa's town hall meetings.

The location of Massa's final town hall meeting has been moved:

Monday, August 31
5:30-7:30 PM
Horseheads Senior High School
401 Fletcher Street
Horseheads, NY 14845

Erin (pop. 2054) hosted another packed town hall meeting last night. The Star-Gazette story focuses on Massa's view that the bill won't pass and we'll get an individual set of reforms instead. WETM was there, too.

Billie Owens at the Batavian covers a hearing on Western New York dairy issues, held by Kirsten Gillibrand. Eric Massa made some comments there.

Here's something I hadn't seen before: a district-by-district analysis of the impact of HR 3200. In the 29th District [pdf], we'd have 39,000 more people with health insurance, $98 million less in uncompensated costs for hospitals, and 800 fewer healthcare-related bankruptcies.

Bob Clark at the Hornell Evening Tribune has a good story on short-line rail in the far Southern Tier, a topic that came up in Tuesday's press conference.

The D&C has a story and photos of Massa's Victor town hall meeting. The meeting started with over a thousand people, lasted four hours, and ended with 200 in attendance.

Sean Carroll at 13-WHAM has attended three meetings, including last night's, and he says that "while many disagree with some of his positions on proposed reform, every person I’ve asked at these meetings is appreciative of his willingness to stand in front of them."

News 10 focuses on some of the more outrageous statements:

At one point, someone took it too far for the Congressman and yelled about nuclear bombs.

"I would never ever stand before the American people and joke about dropping nuclear weapons," said Massa. "I'm sorry!"

DaveSyn at The Albany Project reports that, when Massa requested a moment of silence for Ted Kennedy, "The hall blew its top with boos, cat calls, and shouts of 'Mary Jo'."

The D&C says that more than 1,000 people showed up at Massa's Victor meeting tonight.

The Star-Gazette has a story on today's Reed press conference that includes Massa's response.

The S-G also covers Massa's visit to a local valve manufacturer.