The Fighting 29th

All about New York's 29th Congressional District

The D&C covers last night's town hall stimulus meeting. According to participants, 30,000 new jobs should be created in the Rochester area.

The issue of immigrant farm labor is heating up again, with the Obama administration looking to roll back a Bush administration reform.

Massa is "leery" of the spending involved in the Geithner plan.

Massa, Louise Slaughter and Kirsten Gillibrand will host a forum tomorrow to discuss the impact of stimulus funding.

Eric Massa and Steve Israel at GM
Eric Massa and Steve Israel [NY-2] toured the GM facility in Honeoye Falls today. Jeremy Moule at City Newspaper has a story on the visit. Photo courtesy Massa's office.

Update: WXXI has a story also.

Yesterday, Eric Massa had an "emergency" press conference to discuss a Veterans' Administration proposal to have vets private health insurer pay for disability-related health care. Jeremy Moule at City Newspaper reports that Massa said the proposal is "dead on arrival" in Congress.

Eric Massa was one of 10 Democratic Representatives who signed a letter to the state Democratic Party chair, telling her not to promote Senator Kirsten Gillibrand over other possible candidates.

The Buffalo News describes how Route 219, which runs through Cattaraugus County, lost funding because of a delay for an environmental study.

Douglas Turner, a News columnist, explains how the Employee Free Choice Act is "Marxist". At some point, there's going to be a corollary to Godwin's Law that covers Marxism and socialism.

Massa's reluctance to support the budget is the focus of this WETM story.

The Hill discusses 2010 strategy for both parties, noting that Massa is part of the Democrat's Frontline program, which is designed to defend tight races.

Eric Massa's disappointment with limits on farm funding in the budget is present in the Star-Gazette.

But, interestingly enough, he's absent from this D&C story about a Federal Trade Commission investigation of gas prices in Western New York.

The Corning Leader covers Eric Massa's decision to back increased funding for stem cell research.

Congressional Quarterly analyzes the "clout" of the upstate New York delegation, including Eric Massa.

Massa attended a protest in Washington, DC yesterday, outside a meeting of AHIP (America's Health Insurance Plans). The Huffington Post has the story, and video of the protest is embedded below.

Reader Stan sends in a snippet of subscription-only Roll Call's latest election guide for the 29th.

Outlook: Leans Democratic

Massa, a retired Navy commander, ousted Rep. Randy Kuhl (R) in 2008 after falling just a few thousand votes short two years earlier. He’s a prime Republican target in a conservative district, but how hard he’ll have to work will depend on the quality of the GOP nominee. State Sen. George Winner (R) probably has right of first refusal, but it isn’t clear yet if he wants to run.

The LA Times quotes Eric Massa saying that the $500K/year proposed revenue limit for farm benefits excludes "every single farm" in the 29th.

Buffalopundit has an interview with Assemblyman Sam Hoyt about high-speed rail. The Roaring Republican also makes the good point that a link to Niagara Falls could be a major selling point for rail.