The Fighting 29th

All about New York's 29th Congressional District

The Elmira Star-Gazette reports that the anti-war protesters arrested last month will go on trial Friday in Bath.

The Democrat & Chronicle reports that Eric Massa will speak at a press conference this morning, prior to Rochester's Labor Day parade.

Guest workers, including Randy Kuhl's support of a guest worker program, was the subject of an Elmira Star-Gazette editorial yesterday.

Cyril Mychalejko, the Southern Tier organizer for Americans Against Escalation in Iraq, has a guest column in the Sunday Steuben Courier.

Rochesterturning discusses the DCCC's decision to run ads against 15 Republican Members of Congress. Jim Walsh (NY-25) is one of the targets. Randy Kuhl is not. Apparently, the DCCC has a top tier and a tip-top tier.

The Rochester Democrat & Chronicle has a story on the earmark totals for five area Members of Congress. Randy Kuhl ranked last in the list. At the top of the list, Jim Walsh (NY-25) had $35 million in earmarks compared to Kuhl's almost $10 million. According to my tally, $1.2 million of Kuhl's total is attributed jointly to Kuhl and Walsh.

In other news, I missed a story about Massa and the DCCC which appeared earlier in this week's City Newspaper.

Unlike every other political conversation today, public restroom etiquette was not a subject of today's Massa press conference. Instead, the topics were Iraq, jobs and the DCCC.

Massa led off with the subject of his recent op-eds in the Corning and Elmira papers: the "Vietnamization" of the Iraq War. Massa said that President Bush's comparison between Iraq and Vietnam "really got me going". He contrasted Bush's "images of boat people, torture and prison camps" with the recently signed free trade agreement with Vietnam. Massa noted that Kuhl also voted for that agreement.

Massa acknowledged that his many references to Iraq would probably lead to him being called a "one-issue candidate" by Kuhl, but he believes that voters should expect more from their Congressman. "Any Member of Congress can make sure potholes are filled. That's baseline...job 1." Massa thinks that Kuhl owes constituents a clear explanation of his position on Iraq. "It comes down to a single statement: do you think it's wrong or not, and when are we going to get out?"

In response to a question about Kuhl locking his offices, Massa said:

Locked doors are not only an overreaction, they're also an attempt to portray concerned individuals as radicals. His strategy [seems to be] that these outside agitators are limiting his ability to meet with his constituents.

Massa noted that "last night more than 100 people stood outside his office, and most of them are from the district." He said that when you get that number of people standing outside a Congressman's office in Steuben County, "trust me, almost everyone knows someone in that crowd." Massa noted that he has nothing to do with the protests, and that he's prohibited by law from interacting with the organizers, but "all those people wanted was a phone call or meeting with Kuhl."

Massa contrasted Kuhl's attitude towards the anti-war protesters with Massa's recent meeting with Joe Klein, of Klein Steel. Klein and others in the meeting were trying to convince Massa to change his position in support of the Employee Free Choice Act. Massa characterized some of the participants in that meeting as "upset and angry", but pointed out that "as a Member of Congress, you sit and listen and learn from everyone."

In response to another question, Massa detailed his jobs plan. That plan was discussed in previous press conferences. What was new this time was a concrete example: Schweitzer Aircraft (now Sikorsky) has a contract that requires them to hire 200 people in the next [few] years. Massa's view is that there should be a public/private partnership between Sikorsky and area colleges and BOCES. In return for scholarships facilitated by tax breaks, engineers and skilled machinists would sign a contract obligating themselves to four years of service at Sikorsky.

Massa contrasted his plan with the "continual stream of small dollar pork barrel grants that will not rebuild the economy of the 29th district." He also said that:

Earmarks are unpredictable and unsustainable. Earmarks are a way for a Member of Congress to get votes. After that, the earmark has no value. There needs to be a longer-range more optimistic vision.

On the topic of economic development, I asked Massa what he and Joe Klein agreed on:

We agree that free trade is killing us, especially free trade with China: the lack of food safety with imports from China, and product safety from China. We agree that we need to fix our educational system.

Massa said that "Joe Klein's aversion to organized labor is no secret to anybody...The question is about the aggregate: how we sit at a table, agree to disagree, and move forward."

Finally, I asked Massa about what he thinks the concrete effect of being a top-tier race for the DCCC will be. He said, "last year, nobody said that about us anywhere, ever." Though he wasn't sure what the DCCC endorsement would mean in terms of tangible support, he said:

It does mean that people now know that we have a viable and competitive race, and a battle-scared and campaign-tested candidate, who knows what needs to get done.

The other participant in today's press conference was Joe Dunning from the Corning Leader.

The lockdown story got some more press on Elmira's WETM. Their short story puts the blame on "authorities".

Eric Massa's op-ed, which first appeared in the Corning Leader, also made the Elmira Star-Gazette.

The Americans Against Escalation in Iraq meeting that was the subject of an earlier protest happened last night. The Star-Gazette announced the meeting, but I haven't seen any other media coverage.

Last but not least, an item I missed yesterday: Rochesterturning reviews the latest fundraising numbers for the Democratic and Republican Congressional Committees. The DCCC has a 10:1 edge on the RNCC.

The Elmira Star-Gazette reports that Randy Kuhl has locked his district offices, to protect them from "future, more radical protesters".

The S-G also covers the visit of Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) chair Rep. Chris Van Hollen. During that visit, Van Hollen pledged that the 29th campaign will be a top priority for 2008.

The Massa Campaign sends Eric Massa's editorial in today's Corning Leader [image]. The subject is the Bush Administration's comparison between Iraq and Vietnam.

Yesterday's court appearance by anti-war activists, who entered a plea of not guilty and will represent themselves in court, was widely covered in local media. Reader Elmer sends the Corning Leader front-page coverage (here [pdf] and here [pdf]). The Elmira Star-Gazette story was reprinted in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. And Syracuse News 10 has video of the accompanying demonstration.

US News and World Report has an in-depth story on Americans Against Escalation in Iraq (AAEI), the group sponsoring some of the ads and protests in the 29th. It includes some details on the internal debates of the group, which is trying to engage rather than just protest. One of the tactics considered (and apparently discarded) was to have protesters wear flak jackets and helmets after Kuhl's "packing" comment.