The Fighting 29th

All about New York's 29th Congressional District

Chuck Schumer and Randy Kuhl are worried about high energy costs and school buses. Kuhl is encouraging constituents to fill out at web-based survey on the issue.

In rural areas, where busing is necessary, higher gas or diesel costs will have a major impact. Suburban districts have an easier solution: stop running close-in bus routes. In Pittsford, every student can take the bus to school, no matter how short the trip.

One of the good things about higher energy prices is that it gives us a chance to re-evaluate some government programs that are wasteful and perhaps even harmful. Rising childhood obesity didn't get close-in busing canceled. Perhaps high gas prices will.

Today's Massa press conference concentrates on the Foreclosure Prevention Act.

Reader Rich sends news that the Yates County Democratic Party will be opening its campaign headquarters on Saturday, with Eric Massa in attendance. Yates, the smallest county in the 29th, went Kuhl by 8 points in 2006.

Reader Tom asks if Randy Kuhl took any money from indicted Senator Ted "Hulk Tie" Stevens [R-AK]. The answer is no, as far as I can tell from Kuhl's finance reports.

Randy Kuhl was the only Western New York Republican to vote against the Foreclosure Prevention Act. An Olean Times-Herald story includes his explanation for the vote, and Massa's critique.

Kuhl repeats the Bush Administration line that one portion of the bill, $3.9 billion in grants for towns to secure foreclosed housing, was too generous. Unlike the Bush Administration, Kuhl also opposes the federal bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Kuhl's opposition to the Fannie/Freddie bailout makes sense. Even though those institutions are a weird federal/private hybrid, they issue stock, and the stockholders should lose that equity before any bailout. We have a quaint little tradition in this country called "capitalism", which seems to have been forgotten of late by the supposedly conservative, market-driven Bush Administration. The market is operating just as it should by devaluing Freddie and Fannie stock. There's no tragedy there.

But Kuhl's opposition to the $3.9 billion in grants makes no sense. It is in our national interest to help towns and cities where a lot of foreclosures have taken place. Those towns didn't create the mortgage crisis, and allocating money to let those towns board up or demolish abandoned homes is no different from helping after a flood or tornado.

If we were feeling the heat of the mortgage crisis in the 29th, this vote would have been political suicide. As it is, I think it will be forgotten, despite Massa's best efforts to make it an issue.

Both the Kuhl and Massa campaigns continue to open local offices.

Last week, Kuhl opened an office at 15 State Street, in Pittsford, which is next door to Massa's 2006 office. I don't remember a Kuhl office in the Monroe County area last cycle, certainly not in Pittsford.

Yesterday, Massa opened an office in Horseheads, Chemung County. Chemung was the closest Southern Tier county in the 2006 race, with Kuhl winning by 4 points.

WETM carries Randy Kuhl's call for his constituents to mail gas receipts to Nancy Pelosi. Kuhl's justification is that "Democrats have failed to take any action on lowering gas prices."

Setting aside the question of whether Congress can do anything to affect gas prices in the short term, it's also true that Republicans have failed to take any action on gas prices. Here's Minority Leader John Boehner's address, for those who want to waste time and stamps on this idiotic venture:
1011 Longworth H.O.B.
Washington, DC 20515

In other news, the Hornell Evening Tribune has a story about Massa's new plan for Veterans, and Kuhl's mental health caucus.

Kevin Frisch, who I think writes for the Messenger-Post, has a long riff comparing Kuhl's Fix Washington program to American Idol. A taste:

MANDEL: “Next contestant: Chester Drawers from Dry Heaves, Fla.”

CHESTER: “Let’s outlaw taxes!”

JACKSON: “Dawg! You’re crazy! You’ve heard the phrase ‘death and taxes.’ You wanna live in a world where it’s just ‘death’?”

ABDUL: “Outlaw taxes? Wouldn’t that be, like, against the law?”

COWELL: “Did I say the last idea was stupid? It’s as if you ate that whole pot of cooked stupid and then washed it down with a pitcher of stupid.”

In more serious news, Jane Flasch at the 13WHAM blog has crunched the money numbers and found that Eric Massa is the top fundraiser in Rochester.

Grievous Angel at Rochesterturning has a follow-up piece to yesterday's Massa press conference. It looks at TRICARE, the federal program for those who are ineligible for VA benefits, such as National Guard and Reserve. Massa's plan would expand VA benefits to include Guard and Reserve vets.

The Buffalo News has a backgrounder on the recent mortgage rescue bill. Randy Kuhl was the only member of the area delegation to vote against that bill. Though the Bush Administration had issued a veto threat, they backed down after Congress agreed to the Freddie Mac/Fannie Mae line of credit.

The Messenger-Post has a scathing editorial criticizing Nancy Pelosi and Randy Kuhl's arithmetic. Randy's plan is up for the harshest criticism.

The Hornell Evening Tribune has a piece on Kuhl's "Fix Washington" plan.

Eric Massa's new VA plan has already made the New York Observer.

Randy Kuhl's list of constituent ideas for fixing Washington is out. The Messenger-Post has a story on the effort.

Voting is now open, and Kuhl will introduce the highest-voted idea as a bill later this year.

The most commonly-suggested idea was term limits, which speaks for itself.