The Fighting 29th

All about New York's 29th Congressional District

Randy Kuhl's Veterans' Mental Health Caucus rates a skeptical editorial from the Messenger-Post, hometown paper for the Canandaigua VA center specializing in psychiatric care. Nut graphs:

An honest discussion of troops’ mental health begins with the decision to engage in two long-term occupations halfway around the globe with an all-volunteer military and continues with the wait and red tape to get services once they return. We hope this is not a broader task than the members of Kuhl’s House caucus had bargained for.

Awareness is fine, but conviction and action would be more appropriate here.

Reader Elmer sends a link to a Rasmussen poll showing that the approval rating of Congress is now in single digits.

Any Republican reading that poll should be worried, because Democrats have not been in control for very long. Though Republicans are definitely spinning each and every problem as the fault of the newly-elected Democrats, most of what we're reaping today was sown before Democrats took over last year. That said, any Democratic challenger reading the poll should conclude that running against the system, which includes opposing some current Democratic positions in Congress, is a smart move.

Update: I missed this earlier, but despite the 9% overall Congressional approval rating, Democrats still have a 12% lead in Rasmussen's generic Congressional ballot question.

Reader Elmer sends a link to Randy Kuhl's interview with the Corning Leader editorial board. The main topic is energy, with Kuhl expressing concern about the effect of the high price of heating oil on those with fixed budgets.

Kuhl also makes the following new claim:

Kuhl disputes that notion saying that while tapping into places such as ANWR would take several years, areas do exist where oil could be reached and refined in a matter of months.

Even Kuhl's latest mailer, which was full of overstatements about the consequences of ANWR and offshore drilling, made no claim about other untapped oil fields. Kuhl has been spinning ever more fanciful stories about short-term fixes to our long-term energy problems. It's hard to see how this new fabrication will help his case.

Rochesterturning has images of Kuhl's new gas mailer. Anyone who hasn't seen the mailer should take a careful look.

Being a Member of Congress has always been an eternal campaign, and over the years we've all become accustomed to abuse of the franking privilege by incumbents. Even at that, this one surprises me. It's indistinguishable from campaign literature. It's completely partisan, and full of falsehoods. The main claim Kuhl makes is that drilling and refinery-building that will take at least a decade to come online will immediately affect the price of gas.

In other incumbent news, the Corning Leader reports on a leadership conference attended by Kuhl and other Southern Tier incumbents in Elmira.

Dr. Denny at Scholars and Rogues has a long takedown of Randy Kuhl's latest energy mailer. I haven't seen the mailer, but it includes an energy plan that relies almost completely on new drilling and refining, and is based on completely specious arithmetic.

For example, his plan assumes $.70-$1.60 reduction in the per-gallon cost of gas from drilling in ANWR and other domestic sources. But the Department of Energy says that ANWR could reduce oil prices by $.75 per barrel.

Denny also looks at the Republican Energy Bill supported by Rep. Kuhl. It contains provisions like the following:

Prohibits the Nuclear Regulatory Commission from denying an application for nuclear waste disposal on the grounds of present or future insufficient capacity.

The whole piece is worth a read. If I get the mailer, I'll scan it and post it.

Reader Elmer sends two articles from today's Corning Leader. The longer piece [pdf] covers the controversy over a Massa campaign mailer which highlighted Randy Kuhl's use of a SUV to travel between DC and the district.

The Massa campaign pointed out that Kuhl's use of the SUV cost taxpayers over $15K. Kuhl's spokesman says that he's reimbursed for mileage, not gas, so the kind of car he drives doesn't matter. Until one of the two is featured on "Pimp My Ride", I don't think this will have a big impact on the Fall campaign.

The front-page story [pdf] involves the Corning sewage treatment plant, which is being upgraded due to a grant "obtained by" Randy Kuhl.

That story illustrates the payback from the constant deluge of press releases from Congressional offices. As I've explained before, Randy Kuhl or any other Member of Congress cannot obtain a grant. But Kuhl's drumbeat of grant announcements often leaves the impression that he's pulling all the strings in DC.

Update: Thanks to the anonymous reader who pointed out that the grant is what sounds like an earmark. Here's the 2005 press release which calls it a grant but says that it was specifically appropriated in a bill.

The Olean Times-Herald has a story on Randy Kuhl's call for more drilling. It contains an interesting fact: 75% of the calls coming into his office are about gas prices

In addition that facts, Kuhl goes over the same drilling territory he's covered before. He also says that wind and nuclear must be part of the energy solution. That's a difference with Massa, who opposes expansion of nuclear power and has been critical of wind projects in the 29th, where those projects have faced local opposition.

Kuhl also says that Massa's energy plan will raise the price of gas because it raises taxes. He leaves the impression that Massa wants to raise taxes on gas by saying that Massa wants to "raise taxes on a product." Massa wants to raise taxes on oil company profits. It doesn't follow that the price of gas will go up if oil company profits are taxed more than the .28% (that's point 28 percent) they are now.

Randy Kuhl has filed a discharge petition in an attempt to force a vote on HR 5656, a bill which repeals a ban on use of alternative, more polluting sources of energy for government vehicles. Kuhl's petition is part of an effort by Republicans to paint Democrats as “worshiping at the altar of radical environmentalism”, in the words of Minority Leader John Boehner.

The repeal bill, sponsored by Jeb Hensarling [R-TX-5], applies to the recently passed energy bill. It's based on the Air Force's desire to fund research into fuels derived from coal gassification, oil shale and oil sands. However, as Hensarling's own press release admits, it's not even certain that the provision his bill is trying to repeal applies to the military, and it's also not certain that the alternative fuels would be more polluting.

If the Republicans were seriously concerned that the energy bill restricts the military's power to research alternative fuels, they could have worked with Democrats on a clarifying bill. Instead, they wanted to give John Boehner a talking point, and here you have it.

Update: According to this article in the Hill newspaper, the issue raised by section 526 has already been addressed in an amendment to the Defense Appropriation bill that passed last month. The solution was bi-partisan, with Dan Boren (D-OK-2) offering the amendment in the House, and James Inhofe (R-OK) planning to do the same in the Senate. So Kuhl's discharge petition and the Hensarling bill look like a solution in search of a problem, and a way to make some noise.

Eric Massa is quoted in today's Messenger-Post, calling the Iraq war operations vote "disappointing". Randy Kuhl supported the bill, and his press release is here.

Massa also explains, in detail, why he'd have voted against the FISA bill that recently passed the House, with Randy Kuhl's vote. Massa's reasoning has to do with the Fourth Amendment, which is only taken seriously by 128 Democrats and one Republican in the House. Randy Kuhl's excuse for his vote is posted here.

Eric Massa is quoted in today's Messenger-Post, calling the Iraq war operations vote "disappointing". Randy Kuhl supported the bill, and his press release is here.

Massa also explains, in detail, why he'd have voted against the FISA bill that recently passed the House, with Randy Kuhl's vote. Massa's reasoning has to do with the Fourth Amendment, which is only taken seriously by 128 Democrats and one Republican in the House. Randy Kuhl's excuse for his vote is posted here.

Reader Elmer sends a story [pdf] about a new federal grant for the Corning/Elmira airport, which was announced by Randy Kuhl.

Kuhl also makes the Wellsville Daily Reporter story about a state loan to fix the Belfast water system.

It's become a custom for the local Member of Congress to announce every federal grant that hits his district, whether or not his office had anything to do with that grant. But the Wellsville Daily Reporter just established a new standard by quoting Kuhl in a story about a state loan, especially since there's no indication that Kuhl was connected to it in any way.