From Hotline OnCall:
Rep. Eric Massa (D-NY) will resign Monday at 5pm, a source close to the embattled incumbent tells Hotline OnCall.
Massa has been pressured by House Dems to step aside amid an ethics controversy that caused him to announce earlier this week he would not run for a second term.
So when will the special election be? Check out N.Y. Pub. Off. Law § 42 ¶ 3:
[U]pon the occurrence of a vacancy in any elective office which cannot be filled by appointment for a period extending to or beyond the next general election at which a person may be elected thereto, the governor may in his discretion make proclamation of a special election to fill such office, specifying the district or county in which the election is to be held, and the day thereof, which shall be not less than thirty nor more than forty days from the date of the proclamation.
In short: it’ll be David Paterson’s call. (Or Richard Ravitch’s — who knows who will be the Governor of New York on Monday.)
UPDATE: Reid Wilson has some more details on possible Democratic candidates for the seat:
On the Dem side, Massa’s pick appears to be Hornell Mayor Shawn Hogan (D), but he has yet to decide on a bid. Assemb. David Koon (D), though, told county chairs he’ll run. And several other legislators are also taking a look at the contest.
Seat is gone.
Massa was a no vote on Obamacare. With Deal waiting to resign she needed 217 votes to get it passes which they didnt have. With Massa out the magic number is back to 216.
Having Massa resign is like picking up a vote for Obamacare.
It also makes me think their is more to the sexual harresment charge than they let on and they want him out the door and out of the news ASAP!
and go on manhunt like everyone else.
Who knows who will be running New York on Monday?
There, I said it. Its time to stop acting like he was a bad governor. He was a great AG and as governor just screwed up his own life. Not his fault Patterson is the worst governor ever.
If Cuomo is too much of a pansy to announce, I want Spitzer in. Let Pataki and Giuliani try to make a comeback…
We really don’t know the full story, so I created comments to the Congressman for the three possibilities. They are if he truly has cancer and the scandal is just BS, one for if the scandal is true and he has no cancer and one for if the scandal is true and he has cancer.
*Congressman I have dealt with family members with cancer and know your pain. Thank you for your service, and please keep fighting like you never fought before.
*Massa why would you screw us like this? Do you have any common sense? You dream and dream of being a Congressman and you manage to royally fuck it up. Thanks for nothing!
*I wish you well with your fight, and I hope you make a full recovery. However this doesn’t make up for your actions and you will have to live with the personal and political consequences of them.
let’s hope the Repubs can pull a hat trick at royally messing up upstate NY special elections. 🙂
Dont’t count the seat lost yet, John Randy Kuhl has hinted his interest in reclaiming his old seat, and would be supremely capable of losing to a Democrat,in light of his own personal baggage.
I take it that the county parties pow-wow and select their respective nominees, in the same manner as the other two special elections we had in Upstate NY this past year. Am I correct?
IF his (albeit vague) version of things is accurate, it really doesn’t sound all that horrendous. It certainly doesn’t seem in any way comparable with the Foley scandal, though details have yet to emerge so we should probably reserve judgment.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/201…
My guess is that it was truly a combination of the ethics investigation, the cancer, and the overall sucky political environment that led to this decision.
Does Paterson (or Ravitch) even need to call a special election at all? I didn’t read any specific stipulation to that end in the law.
Eric Massa is a strange man. I once wrote to him expressing my disappointment about his opposition to cap and trade. He responded personally (points for that). But instead of justifying his position in his own words, he quoted another opponent and then attacked the bill’s sponsor, Henry Waxman, my former Representative and a man I respect. I’m not sure how an attack on Waxman was supposed to persuade me that Massa’s opposition to cap and trade (like his opposition to health care reform later on) was principled.
In my letter I mentioned that I had contributed a small amount to his campaign through Act Blue. I hoped that would establish a bond and assure him I was in his corner. He responded: “The statement that you contributed to my campaign implies that somehow I owe you something.”
So honestly, even without knowing how he treated his staff member, I’m already happy to say “goodbye Eric.” I want to add, of course, that I hope he resolves his health issues and lives a long and useful life.
Generally speaking, if there’s an ethics controversy, the person doesn’t run for re-election.
Resigning is kinda…strangely fast.
Monroe County (Rochester & suburbs) Executive Maggie Brooks is making noise about running for the seat, but she was very much counting on having until November to put her operation together, especially because she lives out of district. If Brooks can get the nomination, the seat is definitely gone. The Rochester suburbs which elected Massa love Maggie, and she’d swamp us in Ontario county where we’d also need to run up the score. I think it’s a challenge for her to get nominated, but I bet you the NRCC starts to lean heavily on folks to hand it to her.
David Koon is a great guy. His daughter was abducted and killed many years ago, and he got into politics as a result. He began by representing fairly Republican eastern suburbs of Rochester, but the area has trended a bit more Democratic in recent years. His son got elected East Rochester mayor at a very young age a few years ago, and it was just a disaster. It kind of hurt the luster of the Koon name. I’m not positive that he lives in the district, his house might be up in the 25th. However, throughout the southern tier, his name ID is near zero. It would be difficult for him to get elected in such a truncated election calendar. He might do pretty well in Ontario County. But overall, Koon is a terrifically smart, attractive candidate. He just may not fit the district.
I don’t know Shawn Hogan, but the setup of the district makes me think that our best shot is with a southern tier Democrat like him. Someone who is generally known in the lower counties and who can rile up the Rochester suburbs quickly with TV and radio ads.
It’s going to be tough, but I’ll tell you this- our best shot to keep the seat is if Randy Kuhl is the nominee. He’s already got a negative definition in the district’s population centers, will motivate a lot of suburbanites to vote, etc. A number of counties in the 29th were in his state senate district, and I’d bet he has the loyalty of a lot of the county chairs who will select the nominee.
Also, just the opinion of one local- Eric Massa was a strange, strange dude. I know he set many a progressive heart aflutter with his foot stomping, but up here he just acted real abrasive and always seemed headed on some kind of crash course. He wasn’t the best politician and whatever his progressive intentions, he voted like a Republican on the big bills. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sad to lose the seat, but either way we won’t be in the position of protecting the seat of someone who is IMO not worth it.
Throw out those old redistrcting maps from a six weeks back and make up some new ones. It’s not entirely a bad thing since it seems like we were drawing things that had the potential to be dummymanders anyway.
This part of upstate seems to be where the population loss or at least population non-gain seems to be most concentrated.
This is all another way of saying that this seat seems like an obvious candidate for elimination in 2012 no matter who wins since they’d likely have the least seniority in the delegation, sort of like the currently vacant PA-12.
Has there ever been a congressman who left voluntarily after serving less than 14 months?! Massa must be setting some kind of record.
http://politicalwire.com/archi…
So the Democrats are so desperate for a one-vote shift on healthcare that they engineered a story that cost them at least a negative news cycle. OK Eric.
That said, the comment that Massa allegedly made sounds like bad locker room humor. It does not necessarily suggest to me that he’s (a) gay or (b) actually coming on to the male staffer. I guess I would have had to have been there and know Massa better to divine his intention.