The Fighting 29th

All about New York's 29th Congressional District

Reader Elmer sends two stories from the Corning leader, (first page [pdf], jump [pdf]). The first is based on Massa's news conference, with responses on free trade and the economy from Randy Kuhl's spokesman, Bob Van Wicklin. The second details Massa's lead in the fundraising race.

The Hornell Evening Tribune carries a story about the local Americans Against Escalation in Iraq (AAEI) organizer in Hornell, who says he's trying to get "everyone involved, Republicans, Democrats, Greens, whoever." And the Elmira Star-Gazette has a short announcement about an AAEI rally today in Corning.

Free trade, pork, merit pay for teachers and, oh yeah, the war, were the topics of today's Massa press conference. Read on to learn some Latin and to see what Randy Kuhl and Disneyland have in common.

Let's start with a Latin phrase that should be familiar to all politicians: repetito est mater studiorum, or "repetition is the mother of learning". Since a different set of reporters attends Massa's press conferences, a number of the topics tend to be repeated. I'm going to assume that readers have read previous press conference reports, so I'm going to keep the repetition to a minimum and point readers to previous posts if the answers are similar.

Massa's first topic this week was free trade. Bob Recotta of the Corning Leader asked Massa about the relation between free trade and keeping jobs in the US, pointing out that some critics say that the reason jobs are leaving the US is the high wages of union workers.

Massa pointed out that only 20% of the US workforce is unionized, so blaming the destruction of the middle class on union workers makes no sense mathematically. "I spent 24 years in the millitary fighting for the things unions fought for in the United States", Massa said, and listed the principles of dignity in the workplace, job safety, financial security and training the next generation of workers. Massa saw no reason to sacrifice those principles, which have been defended by 10 generations of Americans, for the profits of a few "mega-billionaires".

Massa's second topic was pork, and the "addiction to pork" that Massa believes is the cornerstone of Randy Kuhl's campaign. Massa made a number of the same points as last week to this new audience. In addition to his proposal to link industry, education and young people through a scholarship program and tax breaks, Massa made a new point: excessive pork, like the $43,000 earmark to study economic conditions in Cattaraugus and Allegany counties is "taking money from our own children", since it adds to the deficit.

After Massa's prepared topics came the inevitable question about fundraising. Massa said he doesn't like talking about money:

This election is not about money. It's about optimism, vision and new ideas. To the extent we've been successful, it's because almost 1,000 of my supporters have stepped up to the table.

Massa distinguished between Union PACs and Corporate PACs by noting that Union contributions can be traced back to individuals -- union members -- whereas corporate donations cannot.

Another reporter (whose name I missed) asked whether Massa will push for clean elections if he's elected. Massa said he's a big supporter of the clean elections approach that removes the "often corrupting influence" of money from our electoral system. He pointed to what's been done in Maine, and suggested that a program of that type should be done nationally.

After money came Iraq. The new topic here was readiness. Massa said the military is "overextended and can't complete the many missions they've been given despite heroic efforts". Massa summed up the divergence between the reality in Iraq and the Administration rhetoric with this quip:

George Bush is living in an alternative reality and Randy Kuhl as bought a ticken on that Disneyland ride.

The next question was one I promised Reader Elmer that I'd ask: what's Massa's position on merit pay for teachers?

Massa said that he had just met with a group of teachers and was going over the pros and cons of what had been discussed. He plans to address merit pay in more detail soon, but his "gut feel" is that "as long as an adequate base pay is met, there may be some merit in merit pay." He noted that a lot of professionals receive merit pay, and his main concern with any merit pay proposal is that it becomes a "incentive for the positives" rather than a "tool for the negatives".

Finally, in response to an immigration, Massa went through his "big three": (1) reform can't be conprehensive, but rather should be individual initatives (like a guest worker program); (2) enforce the laws we have, including deportation for criminal illegals, and (3) secure the borders.

Massa emphasized this last point, pointing out that Al Qaeda's reconstitution (as documented in the recently-released National Intelligence Estimate) makes it more important that we make sure our borders are secure. He cited the example of the failure to inspect 100% of cargo coming in on ships as one instance of our failure to completely secure our borders:

We're spending hundreds of millions of dollars to protect the borders between Syria and Iraq, and Iraq and Iran, but we're not spending it on ourselves.

Today's Elmira Star-Gazette and yesterday's Democrat and Chronicle carry a Gannett News Service story about fundraising in the 29th. Other than the numbers reported here earlier, the story also reports that Massa's honorary campaign chair is Edgar Bronfman, Sr., former chairman of Seagram's and major Democratic donor.

I received an anti-war call from the "Campaign to Defend America", which is the working name for the Americans Against Escalation in Iraq, a MoveOn/Labor coalition. Text after the break:

This is a message from the Campaign to Defend America. I'm John Bruhns, an Iraq War Veteran. On July 12, your Congressman, Randy Kuhl, voted against bringing our troops home. According to Bush and Cheney, Al Qaeda is now more dangerous than ever. Your congressman, Randy Kuhl is wrong on Iraq, and wrong on terrorism. 3,000 soldiers dead, 10,000 disfigured, in a war that's costing $10 billion a month. Now, terrorism, and the War in Iraq are worse than ever. Call Congressman Kuhl at 607-776-9142 and tell him to change his vote on Iraq. We need to protect America first, instead of Iraqi politicians.

The number in the ad is for Kuhl's Bath office, even though I'm much closer to his Fairport office.

Randy Kuhl's office has announced two new earmarks, both of which benefit colleges in the Southern Tier. Elmira College has earmarks totaling $250,000. $150,000 of that amount will go to refurbishing a hall on campus, and $100,000 will purchase science and technology equipment. Alfred University is up for $900,000, which is split into two grants for programs aimed at helping underprivileged youth.

The earmarks are in three different bills. I'll update the earmark page after tracking down committee reports for the legislation.

Labor's scattershot approach to campaign financing is once again in evidence in the Q2 FEC filings. Even after Randy Kuhl's March vote against the main union bill of the session, the Employee Free Choice Act, the contributions kept rolling in.

Of the $6,500 Kuhl received from labor this quarter, perhaps the most interesting contribution is the $2,000 donation from the Machininsts' Non-Partisan League. Like Solomon, the Machinists decided to cut the baby in half by also donating $5,000 to the Massa campaign.

In the bible, the story of Solomon is a parable. In the 29th, it's a reality. So continues the strange tale of union political advocacy.

The conservative blog Real Clear Politics has an overview of the second quarter fundraising numbers, and Randy Kuhl merits special mention for his anemic showing. Kuhl is one of 20 incumbents on the Republican National Congressional Committee's (RNCC) Regain Our Majority Program (ROMP) list. Of those 20, Kuhl ranked dead last in fundraising. The top ROMP list member raised $800K this quarter - an order of magnitude more than Kuhl.

Randy Kuhl's fundraising numbers have been posted by the FEC. During the second quarter, Kuhl raised $68K, $62K of which was from corporate, labor and party-related Political Action Committees (PACs).

Eric Massa raised $158K this quarter. $133K of that total was raised from individuals, the rest from labor and party-related PACs. Massa does not accept corporate PAC donations.

Massa's fundraising totals give him about $50K more cash-on-hand ($153K vs $105K for Kuhl), though Massa's campaign owes $78K. David Nachbar has the most cash on hand of any candidate ($202K) because of his personal loan to his campaign.

The fundraising numbers for Democratic candidates in the 29th have hit the FEC website. The numbers are still in flux, but it looks like Eric Massa has significantly out-raised David Nachbar. Since the beginning of this election cycle, Massa raised about $150,000 in donations and loaned his campaign $10,000. Nachbar raised about $15,000, and loaned his campaign $200,000.

Today's Elmira Star-Gazette carries a story about Randy Kuhl's recent votes against major appropriation bills. As mentioned here last month, Kuhl voted against two appropriation bills that included earmarks he sponsored. Even though he voted against the bills, he still touted the earmarks on his website.

Kuhl's explanation for this apparent contradiction contains some topsy-turvy logic:

"The point is the bills passed, so why shouldn't I tell people about the local projects that were in them?" Kuhl said. "They wouldn't have been in there if I hadn't requested them."

Kuhl said he didn't vote for the bills -- with the exception of one that increased spending for veterans and military members -- because he thinks the Democratic majority is increasing spending too much.

As the article points out, Kuhl is clearly trying to have it both ways by saying that only his pork is worthy. One theory, offered by University of Rochester Professor Gerald Gamm, is that Kuhl will get away with this because "constituents are not paying attention to all the details". That may be true, but I think Kuhl will have a second explanation available later this year, after the Senate amends the spending bills.

Kuhl's vote against H R 2669, the College Cost Reduction Act, is another example of a vote against a popular bill. This bill was opposed by a majority of Republicans, for a variety of reasons. Like last month's vote against the Homeland Security bill, voting against an increase in funding for financial aid financed on the back of banks seems like a stone loser for Kuhl. However, like the other appropriations bills Kuhl opposed, this bill has yet to pass through the gauntlet of the Senate.

In the Senate, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has been making heavy use of cloture rules and the party loyalty of his fellow Republicans to control the agenda of the Senate. The ability of Republicans to block debate on bills is a powerful lever that the Republicans will use to force compromises on the appropriations bills passed by the House. After those bills have been amended, they will go back to the House for a vote. I'll wager that they'll get Kuhl's support the second time around.

The combination of Bush's veto threats, the loyalty of Republicans like Randy Kuhl in the House, and the lack of a 60-vote Democratic majority in the Senate is one that allows the Republicans to exert significant control over the legislative process. When Kuhl is challenged by the press or his opponent to explain his initial no votes, he'll point to changes in the bills to show that his no vote led to a more fiscally responsible bill.

Whether that's true will, indeed, require exceedingly close attention to the details.

Update: The same story made the July 16 issue of the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle.