GOP can’t get out of own way in NY27

It seems the election for the 27th Congressional District is heating up. The newly created district will feature a Republican primary between former Erie County executive Chris Collins and war veteran David Bellavia with the winner going on to compete against “incumbent” Kathy Hochul.

I use the quotation marks because with redistricting, Hochul’s district is largely new to her and the power of her incumbency is somewhat diminished. In fact, many GOP think-tank types would have you believe that this race is theirs for the taking since the voter registration favors Republicans so greatly.

Of course, that’s what they thought before Hochul won the special election in the 26th Congressional District against Republican Jane Corwin, Independent Jack Davis and Green Ian Murphy. But never put it past politicians to screw up a sure thing.

Hochul’s victory in that special election was the first sign of life for the Democrats nationally. They had been adrift in “Obamacare” and economic woes. Say what you will, if Barack Obama wins re-election, the Hochul victory last May will have helped to spark it.

I’m just rehashing old news here, but it could be said that Hochul didn’t win so much as Corwin — and the GOP as a whole — lost, choosing insider bickering and party politics over process. Had Republicans gone through the normal process of picking a candidate, Davis (and Bellavia through endorsing Davis) would not have been the nuisance he was and Corwin wouldn’t have had to resort to stupid stunts. She should have won NY26 easily, but her “handlers” screwed it up bad for her.

I bring that up because it looks like the Republican wagons in Erie County are circling again, this time around Collins, who had been circling in his own right (the drain) following a whomping by Mark Poloncarz. But fresh off defeat, Collins decided he still had the political capital to run for Congress.

From my point of view, though, it looks like Collins is only running for Congress in Erie County, a strategy that makes little sense to me.

Of course, he did get the statewide Conservative Party endorsement, something I found out about through Erie County GOP Chairman Nick Langworthy, who was apparently told directly by State Conservative Party Chairman Michael Long. Why Nick Langworthy and Michael Long talk on the phone is anybody’s guess but it reinforces my personal belief that the Conservative Party is nothing but another line for GOP candidates to run on.

The majority of the party leaders in the 27th District, though, have backed Bellavia, including State Sen. George Maziarz. The weight of that endorsement has got to help in Niagara and Orleans counties where Maziarz could probably be emperor-for-life if only he asked nicely.

So what we really have here, it seems, is a battle over the GOP between Erie County and everyone else in Western New York. And while they’re bickering, look for Hochul to make solid gains in a district she should have no business winning.

It all sounds so familiar.

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Speaking of familiar, for the second year in a row, I’m stepping out of character and donning ladies wear for charity. Yep. If you missed it last year, on Saturday you get a second chance to see Scott Leffler in a womens’ clothes.

Tickets for the Second Annual Peaches-N-Crème Fashion Show are available at the Palace Theatre the night of the show, for $15 or for $10 from any of the Mangels (including me) or at the Lockport Maurices on Transit Road in the Home Depot plaza.

Doors open at 6 p.m. so attendees can get a look at the many baskets that will be auctioned off, with the show running from 7 to 10 p.m at the Palace.

#NY26 ... Done and done

It gives me great pleasure to know that this is very likely, almost definitely, nearly beyond the shadow of a doubt my last column in which I mention the special election in the 26th Congressional District.

It annoyed us for a few months and now it’s going to annoy the pundits and major political parties for months to come as they try to discern what it means and each side does everything they can to pretend to learn from it, while eventually overplaying their hand.

For example, shortly after the election last Tuesday, the Democrats had discerned that it was all about Medicare and have already come up with a strategy for 2012: Hang the Paul Ryan budget plan on every Republican member of Congress, as well as every candidate for everything from the presidency to dog catcher in every small town across the United States.

The Republicans, meanwhile were already attempting to claim that their stunning defeat had little-to-nothing to do with the Ryan plan and their plans to change Medicare — even before the votes were counted last week.

They went into overtime trying to downplay the Medicare effect as soon as the election was over, with Speaker of the House John Boehner saying, “When you look at what happened in this election, you’ve got a third-party candidate who spent nearly three million dollars attacking the Republican candidate. I could be somewhat critical of how the campaign was run, but the fact is we didn’t win it. And part of, the small part of the reason we didn’t win clearly had to do with Medicare.”

That’s correct, they’re blaming Jack Davis for the loss. I’ve even seen some people saying that Davis “finally got his wish” to wrest that district from GOP control. These people are either not paying attention or just plain delusional. Well, of course, they are, they’re politicians.

Both Congressman Brian Higgins and Congresswoman Louise Slaughter supported eventual winner Kathy Hochul in her bid to take the 26th District. Slaughter even said afterward that she had a spare bedroom if Hochul needed a place to stay in D.C.

Of course, Democrats support Democrats. That’s what they do. It’s like the world’s most annoying fraternity. But with redistricting coming up in the very near future, I wonder how tight their relationships really are. Odds are, the 26th gets gobbled up by Slaughter’s 28th and Higgins’ 27th, which means Hochul will end up at odds with one of her two supporters, depending on where she decides to locate in the district — unless, of course, one of them decides not to run in 2012.

By the way, there was much ado made on Election Day about the fact that Hochul doesn’t live in the district she’s about to represent. She didn’t have to. She doesn’t have to. And the fact that her residency was the GOP’s closing argument told me long before the polls closed that Hochul was going to win it.

•••

I hope you had yesterday off of work. I hope you enjoyed it with loved ones. I also hope you appreciated it. This country exists because of the sacrifices of brave men and women throughout our history. Their sacrifices make everything else possible.

Finally it's time to move on

It’ll all be over soon.

Like most people in Western New York — especially the media, I have to presume — I’ve been looking forward to today for quite a while. After tonight, we don’t have to worry about commercials for or against any of the candidates in the special election for the 26th Congressional District. After tonight, I don’t have to worry about Kathy Hochul and Jane Corwin blowing up my email. After tonight, I can delete the #NY26 saved search on my twitter. After tonight it’ll all be over.

I hope.

I thought the same thing a week ago today about the school budget votes, particularly the sports complex vote in the Lockport City School District. And last Wednesday afternoon, I still wasn’t sure if that proposal had passed or failed. So there is a possibility that tomorrow morning, I’ll still be waiting, wondering and watching as candidates bring in high-priced lawyers from Washington much like George W. Bush and Al Gore did in Florida in the 2000 presidential election.

The polling numbers lately in the 26th district seem very close, with one poll over the weekend showing Democrat Kathy Hochul with a 4 percent lead, which was within the margin of error, and a second showing her a six-point lead, just outside the margin of error. Please, God, don’t let there be a recount. The voters of Western New York have suffered long enough.

For members of the media, especially those covering the election — which I’ve done a bit of this time around — election night is an awesome thing. I enjoyed election nights when I worked in radio, but there’s something about working in a newsroom on election night. Waiting for polling numbers to come in from places you’ve never heard of.

I’ve heard “jokes” before that war is God’s way of teaching us geography. Elections do the same thing for members of the media. Analyzing congressional districts might not sound fun to you, but there are maps of the 26th district on people’s desks in newsrooms across Western New York.

I’ve enjoyed seeing stories I’ve written picked up by other news outlets across the state, as well as seeing stories written by people I know and respect spread out across the state.

Because of the nature of this election and the potential implications, all eyes are on us today. Media outlets I love to watch and read have been talking about the same things I’m talking about. The same things you’re talking about. It all makes the world very small, and more importantly, centered around us.

There have been days in the past few weeks where I have wished that Chris Lee had just kept his shirt on, but what’s done is done.

It’s time to move on.

Thankfully.

Hopefully.

The politician who stole Christmas

All good things come to an end.

And so it was with my enjoyment of the race for the 26th Congressional District.

I said some time ago that this whole race was like Christmas. As it turns out, it was like that Christmas nightmare where you didn’t get any presents. Or that one birthday that went so wrong that you hate your birthday from then on.

I am so sick of hearing Jane Corwin whine. Even sicker with the knowledge that all that whining will likely land her a seat in Congress.

I’d love to hear what Corwin is going to do for us, but her camp is far too busy talking about the taxes that Kathy Hochul raised.

Now, to be fair, I don’t know anything about Kathy Hochul. I’ve never met her. And I doubt I’d vote for her.

I have, however, met Jane Corwin. And I liked her. She’s as smart as she is attractive. But the beauty she holds physically is matched by the ugliness in which she’s conducted herself in this campaign.
From day one, the Corwin camp has talked about Kathy Hochul being “Nancy Pelosi’s hand-picked candidate.” I’ve never heard Hochul mention Pelosi. Nor have I heard that Pelosi has mentioned Hochul — or for that matter, has any clue who she is.

And yet, it’s Corwin bringing in Speaker of the House John Boehner to stump for her. Hmm. Disingenuous, much?

Now, of course, it’s the Democrats complaining about Corwin’s plan to bring Boehner in. Frankly, that’s equally disingenuous. If there were a Democrat that was able to come save them, they’d surely bring that person in.

And to top it off, Len Lenihan and his ilk are claiming that the reason they’re opposed to Boehner coming to Western New York is because of Friday’s amendment on aviation safety that seems to be unanimously opposed by the families of the Flight 3407 tragedy. Also disingenuous. Lenihan opposes Boehner being in his backyard for purely political reasons and any other explanation looks petty … and is an affront to the families of the victims of that plane crash.

The thing that struck me the most is my genuine belief that the amendment passed Friday would not have come to fruition if Chris Lee was still in office. And whether Jane Corwin, Kathy Hochul, Jack Davis or Ian Murphy wins this special election May 24, the voters of that district will not have half the congressman they had in Chris Lee.

I’ve been looking forward to May 24 as though it were Christmas. Now I’m looking forward to it as though it were tax day, a day to get past.

It’s truly a shame that people couldn’t run for election based on what they’re going to do for us as opposed to scaring us about what their opponents might do.

If terrorism is the act of making people conform to your will through fear, what does that make politics lately?

All good things come to an end. And I fear that with this race, my love of politics does, too.
I can only hope I’m wrong.