The Fighting 29th

All about New York's 29th Congressional District

Because he was unwilling to pay a fine or do community service, one of the Bath protesters was sentenced to jail at the trial yesterday.  The other four were let go with fines, community service, and the promise to go forth and sin no more.

Reader Elmer sends Eric Massa's letter to the Corning Leader [pdf], addressing Randy Kuhl's earlier op-ed on Charlie Rangel's tax proposal.   Massa has a slightly different take on what Kuhl calls the "Mother of All Tax Increases".  

Whatever you think about Eric Massa, he sure isn't boring.  Today's press conference was a prime example.  The television writers might be on strike, but Massa writes his own material.  Read on to learn more about Massa's take on Kuhl's junket. After wishing everyone on the call a Merry Christmas, Massa got down to it.  He said that one thing that he learned from the 2007 elections is that it's important to listen to your constituents:

I believe that our Member of Congress is not listening to our citizens.  There's no explanation for a Member of Congress to go on a Congressional junket for 6 days, and to believe that it serves anybody in any way in this district.  Kuhl provided headlines by saying he wasn't elected to go to Congress to raise taxes, but by spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to go on a military chartered jet, and to stay in five-star hotels, Randy Kuhl is doing that

Massa said he heard about the trip because of a call from a reporter.

My response was that this is incorrect information.  There's no way a Member of Congress with as many challenges in his district would be so callous as to get on a military luxury jet and fly to Brazil on vacation, and say that he's doing it to study ethanol.  If you want to study that, might I invite you to go to Iowa.  If you want to know about sugarcane, National Geographic had a full-color story on sugarcane a couple of months ago.  I think it costs $3.50, and I'll buy him a copy.

A reporter (I think it was Joe Dunning of the Corning Leader), asked if he saw any value in the trip whatsoever:

Absolutely not.  What is the connection between the 29th Congressional District and this trip?  Randy Kuhl will say it is to talk about ethanol production.  Like I said, there's a state called Iowa.  It's very close.  Arguably, it's cold, and not very comfortable.  There aren't a lot of five-star hotels.  I've been to Brazil.  Trust me, there's nothing in Rio that connects to New York State.  [I read in the Washington Post that] Randy Kuhl is going to see waterfalls.  There's a place called Niagara...

Question:  "So, if you're elected, and you have the opportunity to take these types of trips, will you?"

Absolutely not.  My life experience has given me the ability to know where Brazil is, or Israel, or Iraq.  If you want to talk with foreign countries, invite them here to meet with you.  They can pay the money to come here.  That's not why we send people to Washington [...]

Randy Kuhl ran against the cesspool in Washington, and then he went there and made it his personal hot tub.

That last remark got Massa a couple of laughs.  He continued:

I was just down at Donna's [a restaurant in Corning], my home away from home.  I go there on Wednesday because she makes the best cinnamon buns.  Donna's was full of people who don't know whether they're going to be able to pay their heating bill next month.  That's no exaggeration.

The home heating assistance money, called HEAP, is in the labor bill.  Randy Kuhl just voted against it.  He voted against people getting federal tax money, that they've paid in, back.  [...]  Then he goes on vacation in Brazil.

If the voters of this district favor me with election, under no circumstances can I see taking one of these junkets, unless it's related to national security.  Last year, or the year before, Kuhl went to Iraq and said that the troops were gaining weight eating lobster.  This year he went to Brazil.  Next year, he needs to be home.

The next question was about Massa's take on ethanol, in general.  Massa said he had learned about ethanol at some kind of lab in Maryland (I missed the name).  He explained that there are two kinds of ethanol, carbohydrate and enzyme-based (cellulosic).

[For carbohydrate ethanol], in the US, you take corn, separate out the corn sugar, distill to alcohol, and burn it as fuel.  [...]  The problem with our current carbohydrate ethanol system is that it takes a much, or maybe a little bit more, energy to make it.

The future of ethanol lies in enzyme-based ethanol.  This is where organic enzymes break down sugars to make alcohol.  That takes a fraction of the heat necessary [for carbohydrate ethanol].  That's why things like switchgrass are so promising.  A lot of work is being done at Cornell extension on this -- it would be a great thing for New York State to grow a crop like switchgrass.

Massa said that Brazil may have achieved petroleum independence using sugarcane because they have the climate to grow it:

I didn't need to go to Brazil and spend $100,000 to figure that out.  Congress didn't need to be sending Members of Congress and their wives on shopping trips.  They actually have a "spouse coordinator" to put together shopping trips.

By the way, I think that the plane they took was a 757, all fitted out with first-class accomodations.  They eat steaks and fancy desserts [...] all paid for by taxpayers money.  The government reimburses the Air Force at the rate of a first-class ticket purchased within 48 hours.

Massa said he'd calculated the cost of that ticket at $11,000, and "that only gets you to Rio".  "He didn't need to go to Rio, just to Cornell".

Along with Joe Dunning, Rob Montana of the Hornell Evening Tribune was also on the call.

Granolabox reports that the protesters who occupied Randy Kuhl's Bath office in August, and who were convicted of criminal tresspass in September, will be sentenced on Wednesday.  Each of the five faces a $250 fine and three months in jail.

Today's Elmira Star-Gazette has an in-depth look at the "glacial" process involved in building a transportation center in Corning.  The grant for the center was approved in 2005.  Construction may begin in 2011.  According to the story, Randy Kuhl was instrumental in getting the grant approved.

Unlike Randy Kuhl's earlier town meetings, the current crop finished on a quiet note.  Besides a feel-good story about home-schooled kids, the only other media notice I've seen is a reprint of a press release by WXXI, Rochester's public radio station.

I'm guessing the reason for the calm is a combination of factors, including the holiday week and the lack of any burning issue coming to the floor of the House in the near future.  Location of the meetings probably wasn't a factor, since meeting places included the Monroe County towns of Chili and Perinton, as well as the neighboring Ontario County town of Victor.  Perinton, the site of Kuhl's northernmost district office, has see protests before.

The Syracuse Post-Standard has a story on a bi-partisan effort to increase Medicare reimbursement for ambulance services.  Chuck Schumer is leading the effort for New York in the Senate, and Randy Kuhl, Jim Walsh (NY-25) and Michael Arcuri (NY-24) have co-sponsored the bill in the House.  (hat tip:  Ontario GOP)

I missed this morning's Massa press conference because if it were fun, they'd call it play, not work.

The Hornell Evening Tribune has the story of some home-schooled kids who attended Randy Kuhl's town meeting in Almond.  They asked him questions like "Have you met the president?" and "What do you do all day?"

Reader Elmer sends today's Corning Leader Editorial Page [pdf], which carries Randy Kuhl's op-ed on taxes. The editorial attacks the Rangel tax plan as the "Mother of all Tax Increases."

As he did in his Friday blog post, Kuhl uses the op-ed to portray the recent AMT cut as part of the Rangel plan. Apparently, his strategy for defending his vote against a tax cut is to say that it's part of that plan.

Reader Vincent writes to point out that Randy Kuhl is one of 135 signers of a letter [pdf] to Secretary of State Condolezza Rice.  The letter urges a more vigorous approach to Israel-Palestinian diplomacy, as well as a more aid to the Palestinian Authority.  It is supported by a bi-partisan group of Senators and Representatives.  More analysis here.