What a day in NY-26!  From The Buffalo News:

Democrat Kathy Konst is expected to end her congressional candidacy tonight and instead launch a new campaign for the State Senate against veteran Republican Dale M. Volker, a source in her campaign said today.

This is a win-win for Democrats because, as Stlo7 pointed out to me when hearing this news, the threat there is now spreading good Democratic candidates across the field where they’re needed.  Add this nugget to the amazingly great day in the Jon Powers For Congress camp.  It’s possible the DCCC announcement earlier today affected Konst’s decision, given the momentum Powers’ campaign has gained.

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The Chairman of the DCCC, Chris Van Hollen, had this to say today about Jon Powers‘ campaign for Congress in NY-26:

“Jon Powers has assembled a strong and dynamic campaign with strong grassroots support, local labor leaders, and all seven Democratic committees,”…Jon Powers will bring the leadership skills he used in Iraq to the issues facing western New York – bringing good paying jobs to the district and fighting to reduce gas prices for middle class families. The Red to Blue Program will give Jon the financial and structural edge to be even more competitive.”

From the remainder of the press release (bold mine):

Democratic congressional candidates running in open seats earned a spot in the competitive program by establishing significant local support, surpassing demanding fundraising goals and by skillfully showing voters that they stand for change and will represent new priorities. Powers is one of only 18 candidates in the Red to Blue program for open seats.

The Red to Blue program highlights top Democratic campaigns across the country, and offers them financial, communications, and strategic support.

Powers himself had this to say:

“This is a huge advantage for our campaign.  From the beginning, our campaign has focused on bringing the voice of Western New Yorkers back to Washington. Today we are receiving recognition that our message is resonating on a national level.”

This really is a significant development in Jon Powers’ campaign to represent Western New Yorkers in Congress because of the well-funded opposition he faces on both sides of the political aisle.  It’s a classic struggle of moneyed interests vs. the people’s interests—and Powers is fighting to ensure the people’s interests win.  Today’s announcement by the DCCC is one more tool Powers now has in the fight to bring the voice of the people back to Washington.

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This just in from the Jon Powers campaign:

Jon Powers, Iraq War Veteran, former captain in the U.S. Army and the endorsed Democratic candidate in New York’s 26th congressional district, joined with local labor leaders to discuss issues affecting working men and women of Western New York.

Meeting with local labor leaders in Rochester and Amherst, Powers accepted the endorsement of several key labor unions including:

· Western New York Council of the Communications Workers of America

· Plumbers and Steamfitters Local 22

· National Association of Letter Carriers, Branch 3

· UNITE-HERE, Rochester Regional Joint Board

The announcement comes after Friday’s announcement of the New York State AFL-CIO for early endorsement for Powers.

This is turning out to be a great day for the Powers campaign.  The hard work he is doing going door to door and listening to the voters is emblematic of Powers’ approach to leading and labor groups have noticed, as evidenced by these comments:

“We are most impressed by his understanding of the needs of working men and women,” said Richard Lipsitz, Political Action Chair of the local AFL-CIO and member of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local 264. “Jon made a strong impression on us when we saw he truly believed in creating a fair trade environment, a platform for building green jobs and understands that every American needs affordable health care.”

Jim Bertelone, President of the Rochester and Genesee Valley Area Labor Federation AFL-CIO and American Postal Wokers Union Local 215 said, “We finally have a candidate we believe will work for working families.”

This adds to an impressive and growing list of key endorsement for Powers:

:

· New York State AFL-CIO

· International Longshoremen’s Association

· International Organization of Masters, Mates & Pilots

· Sheet Metal Workers, Local 46

· New York State Council of Machinists

· Service Employees International Union, Local 1199

· American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Local 264

· International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Joint Council No. 46

· United Food and Commercial Workers, Local 1

· International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers, Local 3

· United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial and Service Workers Industrial Union, District 4

· International Union of Painters & Allied Trades, District 4

· International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 86

· American Postal Workers, Rochester S/C Area Local

· Niagara County Building Trades

· Transport Workers Union of America

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More great news from the Jon Powers campaign: The DCCC has included Powers in their Red To Blue campaign, which means that he will receive the resources and power of the national party. It also means that the DCCC recognizes how important it is that Democrats take this seat back from the Republicans—and it means they believe Jon Powers is the strongest candidate to do just that.

Update: (btp here)  This is significant.  In reality, even though the DCCC frequently says they like to stay out of primaries, they clearly can take sides when they feel like it. But it’s unusual for them to be this clearly behind a candidate in a crowded field.  To me, this means they believe, as I do, that “Dollar Bill” Davis will not be able to buy his way into the seat and that the grassroots that Powers has built up will win him the primary over Kryzan & Konst.

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The Powers campaign has just announced they have been accepted into the competitive Democratic Congressional Campaign Committees’ Red-to-Blue Campaign. This means the committee will help the Powers campaign with fund raising and also signals they believe the campaign is competitive and has a shot of taking the seat in November.

From the Eben DuRoss of the Powers campaign:

I hope you are all doing well.

I have very exciting news to share with you.

We just found out today that we are joining the DCCC’s Red to Blue Program. This means that the national party recognizes the preiment importance of our race and will put the resources and power of the national party behind Jon Powers.

Unfortunately I am going to have to postpone today’s conference call, but I will send around an updated call in with agenda tomorrow. The call will most likely take place later this week.

Thank you for your patience and your continued support. This day wouldn’t have come without your help.

Best,

Eben

For weeks now there have been rumblings in the conservative groups around town about the status of War Kids Relief, a charity for children founded by Jon Powers, Democratic candidate for Congress in NY-26.  I received this from the Blue Mass Group in my Inbox last night and I think it will clear things up (I’ve corrected the original message’s link to childrenscultureconnection.com because it is incomplete):

Your comment bothered me, because as a vet, I was concerned that lingering doubt was detrimental in so many ways.

Thank you for raising this question. I hope you find this response from Jon Powers satisfactory. If not, he has invited further inquiry.

Jack Mitchell
sleeping.giant.stirs AT gmail DOT com

Thank you for sending the information about the War Kids Relief email because I want to address the issue.

War Kids Relief has been reorganized under Children’s Culture Connection and led by Charles London. It is continuing the same mission and I will remain involved, but we wanted to separate the program from me so that there was no conflict of interest once I am in Congress. http://www.childrenscultureconnection.com…

This is something that we definitely want to address [since] the website came down. Please share this email with the folks. Anyone with any concerns can contact me at 716-633-6068 or CCC through the website.

Thanks,

Jon

Jon Powers
Congressional Candidate NY-26
www.powersforcongress.com
T: (716) 633-6068

There is a War Kids Relief link on the Children’s Culture Connection site that can be viewed here.  The site states:

Now in partnership with Children’s Culture Connection, War Kids Relief is harnessing the creative potential of children in both Iraq and the US to make a lasting positive change in their lives and communities.

For Fall 2008, War Kids Relief is developing programs that help American children learn about Iraq’s culture and history, and building on that knowledge, to encourage them to foster peace with their Iraqi peers by sharing their own unique culture with them.

Through specially designed care packages and activity kits (including letters, artwork and videos) that will be taken to Iraqi students by US servicemen and women, American youth will have the opportunity to share their benevolent spirit with the children of Iraq. From there, the US troops will help the Iraqi youth to create their own care packages to send back to their new friends in America.

I hope this quiets the rumblings because when a veteran wants to give back to his country by starting a charity for children, it is something we should applaud, not tear down.

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Today marks the last day of fund raising for the final full quarter before the primary, so expect to see last minute appeals from both local and state/federal candidates around the country. The Kryzan campaign sent out this pitch last night:

Dear Friends,

Kelly Miller here – I manage the operations for Alice’s campaign, including tracking your contributions to the campaign. It’s been a great few days, with checks from all around the district flooding our mailbox!

Monday the 30th marks the end of our “media month” fundraising drive, and the end of the last full fundraising quarter of the primary election cycle. We have a goal of bringing in an additional $5,000 by the end of the quarter. Your contribution of $50, $100 or even $500 today will help us reach that goal!

So far in this campaign, we’ve distributed over 20,000 pieces of literature about Alice’s positions on the issues. We’ve knocked on more than 15,000 doors. We’ve built a grassroots network across the district of people who are sick of politics as usual, everyday people who are concerned about rising energy costs, the lack of affordable health care, and making sure their kids grow up in a healthy environment.

It is everyday people - like you - who are supporting our campaign. We have raised more of our money in Western New York than any other Democratic candidate for Congress in NY-26.

But we can’t stop there, because the millionaires and special interest money that will be flooding this race could drown us out without your help. Our volunteers are working hard, but we need to fund our media program as well to get our message out on an even bigger scale.

Please contribute today, I don’t mind the extra work!

Yours,

Kelly Miller
Director of Operations
Kryzan for Congress

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.

There’s an interesting dispute developing between the Massa and Kuhl campaigns over Randy Kuhl’s SUV. Kuhl claims that

In a mass email to supporters, my opponent wrote that I drive a ‘taxpayer funded, gas guzzling SUV.’ Well, as inconvenient as the truth is for him, I do not lease my car on the taxpayer’s dollar. In fact, I drive a flexible fuel vehicle specifically designed to run on gasoline blended up to 85% ethanol (E85). Just like his confusion on the source of funding for my car, my opponent is equally as lost when it comes to offering real solutions to lowering the price of gas.

It is true that the lease for Kuhl’s SUV is not paid for with taxpayer money. However, he does bill the cost of fueling the car to taxpayers, as the Massa campaign points out. You can see a pdf detailing travel reimbursements to the Kuhl campaign here — you’ll see over $1000 dollars billed as “private mileage usage”. during three quarters of 2007.
The Massa campaign also points out that:

Kuhl boasts of using an E85 ethanol SUV, however the closest station that has E85 is in Rochester New York, about an hour and a half north of Randy Kuhl’s hometown of Hammondsport.

and that

Randy Kuhl has received $35,100 in Big Oil campaign contributions.

Now, are the details of this debate the most important thing in the world? No, but details do matter and Kuhl has played loose with them on energy and ethanol specifically before.

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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.