The Fighting 29th

All about New York's 29th Congressional District

I received the following robo-call earlier this week:

Hello, I'm calling from Working Families Win. One million homes are now in foreclosure, the most ever. And the average net worth of American households has fallen by 1.7 trillion dollars. Not billion, that's right, trillion. In spite of this housing crisis, Congressman Randy Kuhl voted against the American Housing Rescue and Foreclosure Prevention Act. Meanwhile, Congressman Kuhl continues to ask for contributions from the mortage lending industry, which fed the subprime crisis.

Call Congressman Kuhl at 607-776-9142 and ask him to return the campaign contributions he has taken from the predatory lenders that are killing the American Dream.

Working Families Win is the same group that paid for another robo-call a couple of weeks ago.

Today's Massa press conference talked about the housing crisis, energy and which alter he worships at. Click "read more" to read more.

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.

Eric Massa released his new energy plan at the grand opening of his Corning office yesterday evening.   The plan [pdf] includes a windfall profit tax on oil companies, with the proceeds going to fund American-made hybrid cars; renewable energy through switchgrass ethanol; raising CAFE standards; no drilling in ANWR, and states making the final decision on offshore oil drilling

Massa's plan and office opening were covered by WETM in Elmira and Syracuse's News 10.

Update:  Reader Elmer sends today's Corning Leader page [pdf] with pictures from the grand opening.

Eric Massa released his new energy plan at the grand opening of his Corning office yesterday evening.   The plan [pdf] includes a windfall profit tax on oil companies, with the proceeds going to fund American-made hybrid cars; renewable energy through switchgrass ethanol; raising CAFE standards; no drilling in ANWR, and states making the final decision on offshore oil drilling

Massa's plan and office opening were covered by WETM in Elmira and Syracuse's News 10.

Update:  Reader Elmer sends today's Corning Leader page [pdf] with pictures from the grand opening.

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.

Reader Elmer sends a link from today's Corning Leader, reporting the vandalism of Eric Massa's vehicle yesterday morning. A window was broken on his minivan, which was parked in front of the Massa family home in Corning.

Rochesterturning first reported this yesterday.

WENY has a short story on Randy Kuhl and Maurice Hinchey's [D-NY-22] positions on oil speculation. Kuhl supports the Republican bill that would do a study to determine whether there's been speculation. Hinchey supports a bill that would kick speculators out of the market.

The Albany Project reports that Senator George Winner, who holds Randy Kuhl's old seat in the New York State Senate, will have a serious challenger this cycle. Elmira Mayor John Tonello will apparently be Winner's challenger this Fall. Tonello is in his second term as mayor. Winner won the seat by whopping 19 points in 2004 and ran unopposed in 2006.

A reader who lives in the Southern Tier and attended a town meeting recently reports that Randy Kuhl's inability to deliver earmarks in the South has not gone unnoticed or unremarked. The mostly-Republican group noticed that Randy's had a number of earmarks for Monroe county, but none for his home county, Steuben.

For those living in the Southern Tier, it's also worth noticing that some of Randy's earmarks were due to help from more senior local Congressmen Tom Reynolds and Jim Walsh. Both are retiring, and it looks pretty certain that Walsh will be replaced by a Democrat. If he's re-elected, Kuhl will be a not-very-senior member of the minority party, and he'll be the most senior Republican in the area. It's hard to see how he'll increase the number of earmarks sent to the Southern Tier from that weak position.