The Fighting 29th

All about New York's 29th Congressional District

Protests at Randy Kuhl's Fairport and Bath offices received coverage in local newspapers and television. The Bath protest resulted in arrests. The Elmira Star-Gazette coverage lists the names and home towns of the five arrested. One of those arrested lives in the district (Hector), one lives Trumansburg, and three live in Ithaca. The Syracuse News 10 coverage also quotes a counter-protester at the Bath office.

In Fairport, some quick police work kept protesters out of jail. The Democrat and Chronicle story describes it this way:

In Fairport, six members of the group occupied Kuhl's Packet Landing office for more than seven hours.

They left Kuhl's office after Fairport police Sgt. Matthew E. Barnes invited them to walk with him to police headquarters.

Once outside, Barnes locked the door and told them they were free to go.

Update: Rochester Indy Media has photographs and coverage of the Fairport protest. Apparently, three protesters were detained for a short period of time then released after being served with a trespassing summons.

Update #2: Reader Elmer sends stories from the Daily Messenger [pdf] and Corning Leader [pdf]. The Leader story says that two of the arrested protesters were from Trumansburg and three from Ithaca, which would make them all from out of the district.

Reader Elmer writes to point out a Star-Gazette article about a sit-in today at Randy Kuhl's office. The story doesn't say which office, so I assume it's the Bath office.

Today's Elmira Star-Gazette reports that Finger Lakes for Peace will deliver 3,000 petitions to Randy Kuhl's Bath office tomorrow. The wording of the petition can be seen on the group's website [pdf].

The gesture of delivering the petitions en masse will probably draw some media attention. But if I were to set out to design a document with less appeal to the 70% of the population that opposes the war, I'd be hard-pressed to beat the following short paragraph:

I am strongly opposed to the illegal war of aggression against Iraq. I believe the war betrays American values, violates the will of the Iraqi people, fuels anti-Americanism, and makes us all less safe. I believe the best way to stop the war is to stop its funding. I call for a formal apology to the people of Iraq and for funding to be provided by the U.S. for the rebuilding of Iraq, by the Iraqi People. I call for an immediate redeployment and phased withdrawal of our Troops. I call upon you to vote AGAINST President Bush’s Supplemental Appropriations Bill in September, and use Congress’ power of the purse to end the Iraq War.

I've been against the war from the beginning. I think it was an ill-advised, risky overreach into a country that had a peripheral (at best) role in the support of those who attacked the US on 9/11. Even so, I'd have a hard time signing this righteous document, for the following reasons:

• The war isn't illegal, since it was authorized by Congress. And, even though it's now clear that many of the justifications for going to war are false, the war began as one of self-defense. The current occupation is the result of very stupid actions on our part (such as disbanding the Iraqi Army), but "war of aggression" is still too broad a brush.
• I don't think that the "will of the Iraqi people" at the time of the invasion was overwhelmingly against the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. That will has changed over time, but we should at least acknowledge that some Iraqis might have been with us at the beginning.
• Calling for an immediate apology to the Iraqi people, whose elected representatives have been bickering among themselves, and many of whom have been engaging in a civil war, is premature at best. Apologies for wars are best given after emotions have cooled.
• We've funneled billions into Iraq for rebuilding. Though some of that has been wasted by inefficient and corrupt contractors, a lot of it has been thwarted by the Iraqi People, who are fighting a civil war that blocks reconstruction projects.

In order to sign this document, I need to sign on to an extreme, negative view of American power. Though I'm disillusioned and ashamed of much of what we've done in Iraq, I'm just not ready to supply an abject apology, nor am I willing accept the notion that the war was solely an ill-intentioned, callous exercise of imperial power. Moreover, I can't endorse the characterization of the Iraqi people as innocent victims which seems to underly this little tract. There are too many of those purported innocents using AK-47s to shoot our troops and each other.

Some people wonder why there isn't more marching in the streets, or more vocal protests against this unpopular war. I think at least part of the reason has been the shrillness and self-regarding righteousness of the war's opponents. Members of this group seem so invested in being right that they disregard their main political aim: to organize a generally centrist majority against the war. That majority, which I believe exists, probably doesn't see a formal apology as a first step toward ending the war.

3,000 petitions will not change Randy Kuhl's vote. But thousands of letters from supporters turned opponents because of the war will. The anti-war "movement" has done little that I've seen to mobilize this latter kind of real, effective opposition.

I had to miss this morning's Massa press conference, so those looking for Massa news will have to be satisfied with two endorsements: The Chemung County Democratic Committee announced its endorsement, as did Rep Jerry Nadler (NY-8).

Randy Kuhl made the Elmira Star-Gazette, albeit peripherally, due to a column about a career soldier from Elmira who was called back from retirement to serve in Iraq.

Rochesterturning reports that today's Democrat and Chronicle printed a letter to the editor with a major error. The letter accused Eric Massa's staff of using sealed court documents to embarrass Randy Kuhl. Of course, the staff of Sam Barend, Kuhl's 2004 rival, did that, not Eric Massa. Massa has gone out of his way to avoid the issue of Kuhl's divorce, which I agree is not germane to the election.

Longtime readers might notice that this is the first mention of a letter to the editor in this blog. That's on purpose, because I find the letters sections of newspapers pretty much useless. Even the reasonable letters are edited down so much that they're almost unintelligible.

As for whether the D&C has a duty to fact-check letters they publish, I think that's a gray area. Whether or not they should have caught this error, they do have a duty to print one of the inevitable corrections from their readers, and to allow those corrections to be long enough to fully explain the issue.

Update: According to Rochesterturning, the D&C printed a correction in their paper edition.

Update: Eric Massa's letter to the editor was published on August 2. (Thanks to Rochesterturning, who reads the LTE page.)

Rochesterturning has video of David Nachbar claiming that he was encouraged by the DCCC to run for office, and they also have a categorical denial of that claim from the DCCC.

One thing is clear from today's Massa press conference: Eric Massa has a job.

Massa's comment on his employment status was sparked by Monday's Hornell Tribune article, where Randy Kuhl said, "Mr. Massa, as far as I know, doesn't have a job". Massa took umbrage at that remark, noting that he was retired after 24 years in the military. Massa said that Kuhl's remark showed an "absolute lack of understanding and gross disrespect." Massa pointed out that his retirement after 24 years of service was about half of what Kuhl received after 20 years in the state legislature "raising our taxes and sending our jobs overseas".

Massa then focused on Kuhl's recent votes against appropriation bills. He began with Kuhl's vote against the Homeland Security bill. As reported here earlier, Kuhl's office had issued a press release touting his "Yes" vote on the day he voted "No". Massa said that Kuhl's explanation that the bill's appropriation was too large, didn't hold water, since Kuhl voted for a Homeland Securty bill two years ago that had a bigger appropriation. Massa also said that it "shows no integrity" on Kuhl's part to be railing against spending increases while at the same time touting earmarks in the bills he votes against.

Massa then turned to the farm bill, which is up for vote this week. He said that he'd attended a meeting in Hornby and some residents there were concerned that Kuhl would vote against the farm bill, because of his record of opposing spending legislation. Massa pointed out that Kuhl won't disclose how he's going to vote for this bill, since he never discloses that information.

The discussion then turned to last week's topic of merit pay and tenure for teachers. Massa said that he had done a lot of reading and thinking on this issue in the last week, and was ready with his final position. In general, he thinks attacking merit pay and tenure is going down the wrong road:

The biggest single challenge facing teachers is that students who fail come from dysfunctional, broken homes. Teaching is a collaborative effort between the home environment and the school environment. If there's not a good home environment, no matter what the teacher does, it's not going to be the same as if the student has positive enforcement of the educational environment.

Massa used the example of how his family enforced study habits for his kids. "For children without that mentoring, the hill is extremely steep, whether or not the teacher has tenure." Massa concluded by saying that arguing about teachers is arguing at the margins, "the 5% of the problem instead of the 75% of the problem." Massa said he had become concerned that merit pay is going down the same "slippery slope" as No Child Left Behind. He also believes that, given low teacher salaries, he doubts that there are many teachers who have failed simply because they feel secure and not answerable once they have tenure. (I believe his point was, in other words, there are easier ways to make a buck.)

I followed up with a more general question: what does Massa have to say to traditional conservatives who might disagree with some of his positions. Why should they vote for him?

Massa began by saying that there's merit in sending a Democrat to Washington who "speaks Republican". Massa believes he does so in critical areas. He's a fiscal conservative who believes that deficit spending is hurting our children. In foreign policy, he believes that we shouldn't get into debacles that have no strategic benefit for us. He also believes there's merit in the Republican party of Teddy Roosevelt, who believed in saving the environment from land profiteering.

Ultimately, Massa said, the difference between today's Democratic and Republican parties boils down to one thing:

Tom Delay Republicans -- including Randy Kuhl -- believe that government is evil and incompetent. That's why George W. Bush's administration has become incompetent and evil.

Like John F. Kennedy and Franklin D. Roosevelt, Massa said he believes that government can do good for the people of the country. Massa identified Kuhl's support of open-door free trade, specifically the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) as one counter-example of government doing good for the country.

I reach out to Republican, Independence and non-aligned voters and ask one simple question: What values do you want represented in Washington, DC? When you ask your Representative a question, don't you think it's important that he answers it?

Yesterday's Hornell Tribune has a story featuring Randy Kuhl's responses to a DCCC press release. That release alleged that Kuhl's vote against H R 3043, the Labor, HHS and Education bill, "failed America's children." Kuhl's response was that the bill had a 13% spending increase, which was too much. As mentioned here earlier, Kuhl has 5 earmarks in that bill.

The earmark page has been updated with all available information about recent earmarks. Last week, Kuhl was criticized for voting against a bill while trumpeting the earmarks he inserted in the bill. Undeterred, he's done the same thing this week. He voted against the Labor, HHS and Education appropriation bill, yet he's also issued a press release touting an earmark for MCC in the bill. Kuhl had five earmarks worth over half a million dollars in the Labor and HHS bill.

Kuhl has also announced a couple of grants (not earmarks) for area projects. In Troupsburg, the announcement was for a new water system, and in Watkins Glen, Seneca Harbor will get some upgrades.

Yesterday's anti-war protest in Corning made the Corning Leader (pdf here, thanks to Reader Elmer). This is the first protest story I've seen that quotes Republican veterans against the war.