Fullervision.net Fullervision Enterprises News Headlines, Analysis, and Commentary serving New York State by Jerry Myrle Fuller Page last updated Monday, March 8, 2010 E-mail: j.myrle[@]fullervision.net ::: AOL IM: J Myrle Fuller ::: Twitter: fullerwx Listen to Talk Radio on WFV ::: Free NFL Radio ::: Weather Page ::: Music Radio ::: Talk Radio Guide

Fuller's Forecast Updated Sat 3.6 9am Today: Sunshine High: 40-45°F Tomorrow: Sunshine Low: 5-10°F High: 40-45°F The next day: Sunshine Low: 5-10°F High: 40-45°F

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3/6: Too strange to be fiction: Flashback to early 2008-- Eliot Spitzer endorses Eric Massa (Courtesy of John Batchelor) 3/4: I'm getting very annoyed at local newspapers. The first few hours had local reporters scrounging together what news they could put together. However, by this morning, everyone cut-and-pasted the AP article, which did not include much of the information that had been posted in various places. Do local writers put any effort into their work anymore? I think I did a better job pulling this stuff together and I don't get paid a dime for this! 2/15: Saturday's Times-Herald had a story on the Little Valley town board's budget whoops. Part of the problem, in my opinion, stems from the fact that town clerk Sue Koch hired her daughter Jill as her assistant instead of the most qualified candidate. Also, pardon me if I am distrustful of any committee led by a key member of the Cattaraugus-Little Valley Central School administration, given their shady dealings in trying to get their building expansion (in lieu of the new building they had promised) passed. 2/11: What do the Pinball Wizard and David Paterson have in common? They're both deaf, dumb and blind. Paterson's deaf to anybody who tells him he has virtually no chance of winning re-election. He's dumb enough to believe the stuff that comes out of his mouth. And he's blind-- well, let's just say that one's obvious.

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UPDATE 3/9/10!
ERIC MASSA (D-29NY) "LESS THAN ONE AND DONE," HAS RESIGNED FROM OFFICE, ACCUSES DEMOCRATIC LEADERSHIP OF BLACKMAIL... ALLEGATIONS CONTINUE TO MOUNT...

Massa leaving Congress after one term, resigns effective Monday at 5 p.m.
by Jerry Myrle Fuller (March 4, 2010)
Updates March 5, 2010 in bold
Updates March 7, 2010 in maroon
Updates March 8, 2010 in dark blue
Updates March 9, 2010 in green

Congressman Eric Massa, the Democrat from Corning who represented New York's mostly rural 29th congressional district, has made an announcement that he will not seek re-election to his post in 2010. Massa, who had a few months prior stated he was in the race, issued the following statement:

"I was briefly hospitalized, kept it private between myself and my immediate family... It was a very intense and personal experience, especially in light of having gone through this before. I'm a very salty guy, a very direct guy and I run at about 100 miles per hour, and my doctors have made it clear to me that I can no longer do that... There are blogs that are saying that I am leaving because of charges of harassing my staff. Do I and have I used salty language? Yes, and I have tried to do better. But these blogs are a symptom of the problem in this city and I no longer have the life’s energy to fight every battle."

Massa has a past history with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma; at one point his diagnosis was terminal, but he survived and was in remission. Massa had stated that the most recent cancer diagnosis, the one sparking his retirement, came in December. Massa made it clear that he will be retiring at the end of his term, not before, and as such, unless his cancer progresses much faster than expected, a special election will not be needed. Correction: This is no longer the case. Massa has issued a statement on Friday, March 5 that he will be outright resigning effective Monday, March 8 at 5 p.m. Governor of New York David Paterson has the option of not calling a special election and leaving the seat vacant until November, but may also choose to call a special election if he so chooses. According to the Hornell Evening Tribune, Massa has requested that Shawn Hogan, the mayor of Hornell, take his place as the Democrat on the 2010 ballot. Hogan has not yet decided whether or not he will do so. Hogan has since stated he will not pursue the Congressional seat, even going so far as to question Massa's sanity. Massa later acknowledged that the cancer diagnosis was based on something that "may or may not be scar tissue."

The harassment allegations Massa alluded to refer to a report from The Politico, a Washington-based online newspaper, that stated that the House Ethics Committee has received a report that Massa allegedly sexually harassed a male staffer; the harassment allegedly included unwelcome sexual advances toward a young man. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer acknowledged that this report has indeed been received. Massa acknowledged this in his resignation letter, stating that "There is no doubt in my mind that I did in fact, use language in the privacy of my own home and in my inner office that, after 24 years in the Navy, might make a Chief Petty Officer feel uncomfortable. In fact, there is no doubt that this Ethics issue is my fault and mine alone." The Washington Post claims that the investigation was to go beyond what he considered "salty language" and in fact involved multiple instances of groping. His resignation forces the investigation to be dropped, since the House can only investigate active members of its own body.

On March 7, the day prior to the resignation taking effect, Massa took to the airwaves on WKPQ 105.3 in Hornell to accuse the national Democratic leadership (specifically White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel) and labor unions of blackmail, exposing his indiscretions and bribing him with campaign contributions in an effort to get their health care reforms passed, and are using him as an example to intimidate other freshman Democrats into supporting their efforts. He says he will also rescind his resignation if this becomes a national story (WGRZ). With Massa's no vote gone, it reduces the number of votes needed to pass the legislation and negates the recent loss of John Murtha, who died last month. Though his rant did indeed make national headlines, Massa decided not to rescind his resignation, and he left office at 5:00 this afternoon. He has not closed the door on running for congress again, but according to CNN (I haven't had a chance to listen to the whole show yet) all indications are that he would run as an independent. (Side note from me. The fact of the matter remains he acknowledged indiscretions and furthermore acknowledges that an investigation would reveal things that would tear his family apart. While I have no doubt that these strongarm tactics could very well be true, I believe that at this point he would be far better off becoming a sacrificial lamb and just walking away. Normally I'd recommend running for another office but he's a Democrat in a Republican area so that may be more difficult, especially since his focus is national issues. It will be very amusing to see one of the more left-wing members of Congress become a darling of the right wing, which could very well happen.) White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs dismissed Massa as "crazy," "silly and ridiculous," Hoyer dubbed the claims "absurd," and Nancy Pelosi has also denied everything.

Massa, born in 1959, was a Navy brat from Charleston, South Carolina. He joined the Navy in 1981 and served for twenty years before relocating to Corning, New York in 2001. He changed his party affiliation from Republican to Democrat in 2003, and began to work on the short-lived Wesley Clark campaign for President. He announced his entry into the race for the 29th congressional district against first-term incumbent John "Randy" Kuhl in early 2005. Kuhl defeated Massa by a narrower-than-expected 51-49 margin in 2006, but Massa declared a rematch shortly thereafter. As a result of a vote shift in Cattaraugus County (possibly the result of DCCC advertising in the Buffalo market), Massa won his rematch with Kuhl in November 2008 by a nearly identical 51-49 margin.

Massa was a vocal proponent of single-payer health care, and voted against the current health care reform proposals because he did not believe they did enough to control costs. He voted in favor of the stimulus bill. A media favorite, he had a radio show on WHHO in Hornell prior to that station losing its license in January 2010 (the show continues on WKPQ) and appears semiregularly on cable news shows. Massa is slated to appear on Glenn Beck TV on Tuesday, 5:00 p.m. on Fox News Channel, to discuss his departure from the race. He will later appear on Larry King Live at 9:00 p.m. (CNN).

Businessman David Nachbar, who had abortive primary runs against Massa in both of the last two elections, has been speculated as a potential Democratic Party candidate. Three assemblypersons have been mentioned as potential candidates on the Democratic side as well if Hogan declines to run.

On the Republican side, Tom Reed, the former mayor of Corning and the lone remaining candidate still in the race, issued the following statement:

"I was saddened to hear that Congressman Massa’s health will preclude him from running for re-election. While the Congressman and I disagreed on political issues, I respect his military and public service and wish him the best. Our campaign continues moving forward with a message of smaller government and resistance to government takeovers of health care and private enterprises. We began this campaign to bring common sense and financial responsibility to Washington and we will continue to November. I have spoken with county Republican chairs and all have pledged continued support for our campaign. We look forward to welcoming a Democratic candidate to the race."

With Massa's departure from the race, Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks and former congressman Randy Kuhl, who held the seat from 2005 to 2008, have both stated they have received overtures to enter the race; they also said they are both considering doing so. Brooks is considered a star in the local GOP and has also been mentioned as a potential lieutenant governor running mate for Rick Lazio. As of July 2009, Brooks had put her support behind Reed. As of yesterday morning, prior to Massa's announcement, former congressman Amo Houghton and state senator Catharine Young had both put their support behind Reed; Young had been mentioned as a potential candidate for the seat in early discussions but stated she was not interested. Young, according to a report in the Olean Times Herald, is also weighing entering the race, though she says her priorities right now are focused on running the State Senate Republican campaigns in an effort to win back the state senate in time for redistricting. Young has now stated she is out of the race, citing her focus on the state senate, though she says that the calls to run are "very tempting" (WGRZ, WLEA).  Then there's Brian Kolb. Despite the fact that Kolb lives in Geneva-- outside the district (if barely)-- and that he has already declined both this seat and a potential U.S. Senate run, there seems to be speculation that he'll hop into the race. Though living outside the district is not an automatic disqualifier (see, for instance, Doug Hoffman), don't expect to see him change his mind, because every indication has been that he's content with his position as assembly minority leader. Correction: Kolb is from Canandaigua, not Geneva, and thus does reside in the district. Nonetheless, the Canandaigua Messenger-Post is reporting that a Kolb staffer indeed says he won't run. There have been a few other names tossed around, but there hasn't been any indication on whether or not any are interested. As of March 9, indications have been that Brooks is leaning against running on account of the pending redistricting, which takes effect after the 2012 elections (Brooks is located only a few miles from the home of another Congresswoman, Louise Slaughter). Kuhl, however, appears to be leaning toward challenging Reed.

Among Democratic candidates, with Hogan out, the focus shifts to assemblyman David Koon of Perinton, who is so far the only one to express interest in running for the seat. Joseph Morelle, the chairman of the Monroe County Democratic Party, has been actively recruiting candidates, with only limited success. Koon is the only one to have responded positively. Monroe County D.A. Mike Green declined. Assemblywoman Barbara Lifton, who lives in Ithaca (outside the district), gave it serious consideration, but again declined, citing a desire to stay in the assembly. Lifton is unabashedly in favor "big government" and very friendly with the labor unions (Lifton is, by trade, a teacher); she decided to stay in the assembly on behalf of them to try and fight off any cuts to the health care, education and service-labor sectors. The other name Morelle contacted, Susan John, hasn't responded. Cattaraugus County Democrats could not name any potential candidates (Cattaraugus County being one of two counties that voted a majority for Massa in 2008 but not 2006, Chemung County being the other). (Side note from me: Lifton actually said with a straight face that she believed her message of big government would resonate with the heavily taxed, rural, comparatively fiscal-conservative Southern Tier. I couldn't imagine someone being more out of touch with the economy, the times, or the politics of the region.)
 
In the event of a special election, party chairmen from each county will assemble and select their respective candidates. This would most likely benefit the Republicans, who have a longer and stronger list of potential candidates and the convention process would avoid an awkward primary. The lone drawback is that the Republican and Conservative Parties could disagree on their nominees, such as what happened in the 23rd district in the North Country when the Republicans picked Diedre Scozzofava and the Conservatives balked, picking Doug Hoffman and causing a rift that let Democrat Bill Owens win the seat. That's not so likely to happen this time around: the most liberal member of the potential candidates is Young (who isn't even in the race anymore), and even she has had consistent Conservative Party support. A regular election in November poses more problems: Reed has only $120,000 on hand; though this is more than the $0 raised by any other candidate (under law, candidates cannot carry over funds for state political campaigns to federal campaigns), it was less than a fifth of the over $600,000 that Massa had raised by the time of his resignation. Though the Democratic side is unlikely to be able to match Massa's totals (indeed, the general consensus on the liberal blogs of the area is that the district is a lost cause), the Republicans would likely be very uncomfortable with Reed's low numbers and may pressure for a better candidate. That would either require negotiations behind closed doors to push Reed out of the race, or a potentially divisive and counterproductive primary. The DCCC is an X factor: though they will likely try and run ads against the Republicans in the race, they likely won't run ads in Buffalo again. This is because they ran ads in Buffalo in 2008 as part of a package deal, running ads attacking both Kuhl and Chris Lee in the same market. Lee is not expected to face a competitive race this year, which could be enough to put the DCCC at bay. That lack of advertising has the potential of pushing Cattaraugus County back into the Republican column, after an aberration in 2008 led to the county swinging from Kuhl to Massa. In the event of a special election, the special interest groups will likely intensify their efforts over the seat, which would mean ads in Buffalo and possibly even Erie, PA (WSEE and WICU are carried in portions of Cattaraugus County).

The New York Republican Party responded with this release; note that this was before he acknowledged the harassment allegations:

"Eric Massa became the latest in a growing list of New York Democrats to abandon public life under a cloud of suspicion and corruption. First, Massa took more than $75,000 from disgraced Congressman Charlie Rangel and then refused to return the cash after the House Ethics Committee found Rangel violated ethics rules. Now, new allegations of sexual misconduct are dogging the soon-to-be former congressman. Like so many other New York Democrats, his personal and professional behavior has left Massa scrambling for self-preservation rather than focused on public service." (Side comment from me: Is it any wonder why the New York GOP is considered so inept? The man has cancer for crying out loud. To criticize corruption is justified, but to dismiss cancer as "scrambling for self-preservation" really makes someone look classless.)

The 29th district was established in 2002. Largely a work of gerrymandering, it was created from the base of the former 31st District that covered most of the Southern Tier from Elmira westward, but chopped off the western end (Chautauqua County, now in Democrat Brian Higgins's 27th District) and added Democratic Party-leaning suburbs of Rochester, formerly in Louise Slaughter's district (Slaughter's district had been readjusted to absorb that of John LaFalce, whose district was eliminated due to population losses; at the time, the current 27th was held by Republican Jack Quinn, and state legislators wanted to avoid forcing two incumbents, LaFalce and Quinn, to face off for one seat). In addition to portions of Monroe County, the district includes Cattaraugus, Allegany, Steuben, Chemung, Schuyler, Yates, and most of Ontario Counties (excluding Geneva). The district leans Republican, and voted for John McCain over Barack Obama in 2008.

The general election will be contested on Tuesday, November 2, 2010.

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