Tag: Randy Kuhl
SSP Daily Digest: 3/4 (Morning Edition)
With the Daily Digest turning a year old (and starting to get pretty portly on a regular basis), we thought we’d experiment with splitting it into two parts. This may not happen every day, just on an as-needed basis. But with the campaign season really heating up, we may need to do this a lot! Without further ado:
The Dem bench, as Crisitunity noted, is hella thin in these parts, but apparently Assemblyman David Koon is putting out feelers. Hornell (pop. 9K) Mayor Shawn Hogan has also been mentioned as a possibility.
Also of note, several outfits now report that Massa informed Steny Hoyer about the sexual harassment allegations against him a few weeks ago. Yet before anyone jumps to conclusions, this is no Mark Foley scandal. Hoyer told Massa to report himself to the Ethics Committee, and Massa did just that.
Given the absurd number of races on the ballot in Texas, I’m sure Green wasn’t the only maniac to do well last night. In fact, Dems have at least one problem of their own: Kesha Rogers, a LaRouchie who won the nomination in TX-22 (Nick Lampson’s old seat) on a platform of impeaching President Obama. Says Rogers’ website:
The victory in the 22nd Congressional District yesterday by LaRouche Democrat Kesha Rogers sent an unmistakable message to the White House, and its British imperial controllers: Your days are numbered.
Fortunately, a spokesperson for the Texas Democratic Party said, “LaRouche members are not Democrats. I guarantee her campaign will not receive a single dollar from anyone on our staff.” Or pounds sterling.
NY-29: If Anyone Shouldn’t Be Bragging About His Shotguns…
It’s, well, “Shotgun” Randy Kuhl. Here he was on Wednesday:
Area students got a taste of national government as U.S. Rep. John R. “Randy” Kuhl Jr. visited Cattaraugus County Wednesday.
The 29th Congressional District Republican spoke to class of Cattaraugus-Allegany County BOCES county government students who meet weekly at the Cattaraugus County Center. …
The congressman said he had an “A” rating from the National Rifle Association and owned nine shotguns. (Emphasis added.
Just how did Shotgun Randy earn his nickname? It’s not a pleasant story:
A member of the New York State Legislature who is running for Congress pulled two shotguns on his wife at a dinner party in 1994 and threatened to shoot her, according to her divorce complaint. …
“In or about 1994, while the parties were hosting a dinner party at their home, the defendant (Kuhl) took out two shotguns and threatened to shoot plaintiff (Kuhl-Peterson),” the papers say.
Ms. Kuhl-Peterson filed for divorce in late 1998, charging that Mr. Kuhl had endangered her “mental and physical well-being and rendered it unsafe and improper for the parties to continue to reside together.” The divorce was completed in 2000 in an agreement that allowed Mr. Kuhl to keep the house and directed him to make two financial payments to his wife.
If you are known for making violent threats against women while brandishing not one but two shotguns, I’d think you’d want to shut up about how many of those things you own.
Blue Majority: Eric Massa For Congress, NY-29
(From the diaries – promoted by James L.)
The next addition to the Blue Majority page is a candidate returning from 2006: Eric Massa, who is running against Shotgun Randy Kuhl in the NY-29.. Please, give to Eric Massa today.
Eric is a true netroots favorite, evidenced by the tags NY-29 and Eric Massa being the most common tags for a congressional race and congressional candidate respectively, on MyDD. Eric is extremely energetic and hard working, as I have seen upclose in my visits to the district on several occasions. His energy rubs off on his grassroots supporters, who were able to close off a corporate Democratic primary challenger this past summer through relentless blog pressure, securing the support of virtually every local precinct captain in the district (including two family members of mine who joined the silent revolution in Update New York), and lots of small-donor, in-district fundraising. Now, he is set to take on Randy Kuhl who, separate occasions, has threatened both his ex-wife and his constituents with firearms, even though he claims he was just joking about the later. But he seriously doesn’t like his constituents:
That is, he doesn’t like his constituents unless they are Republican donors trying to build new bowling alleys in the district.
This is the “reddest” district in New York, which Bush won with about 56% of the vote in 2004. However, is it turning blue, like the rest of New York state. But Eric Massa is not your typical red-district Democrat who will let you down. As a progressive, he will fight for you, pledging to oppose FISA and watered-down withdrawal from Iraq, something few Democrats from a district this “red” have done. After losing by only 4% in 2006 despite no help from national committees, Massa is well poised to take the seat in 2008.
Support Eric Massa for Congress on Blue Majority. He is another example of more and better Democrats.
NY-29: Massa Is In
The fine folks over at The Albany Project have some good news for Democrats in New York’s 29th Congressional District: Eric Massa is in for a rematch against “Shotgun” Randy Kuhl. According to the Star-Gazette:
Democrat Eric Massa, who nearly unseated incumbent Rep. John R. Kuhl Jr., R-Hammondsport, last November, will seek the 29th District Congressional seat again next year.Massa announced today that he is officially opening an exploratory committee to prepare for the contest.
“I was going to be very happy to stay in retirement,” Massa said. “But the issues of today underline the need for an honest debate of the issues.”
Massa, a retired Naval officer who lives in Corning, said he is starting from “ground zero” to build a campaign staff, raise money and establish a headquarters.
Massa, a former Naval officer and aide to General Wesley Clark, was an incredible candidate in 2006. In particular, he was one of the most proactive candidates in terms of his enthusiastic use of the netroots to generate interest and support for his run. One only needs to look at how quickly his highly-readible diaries are catapulted to the recommended list over at DailyKos to see the mark that his run has left on the blogosphere. He also raised over $400,000 on Actblue.com (including nearly $60k from the Dailykos/MyDD/SSP Netroots Candidates page), using the power of the internet to outraise his opponent–not an easy feat against an incumbent.
Massa had a couple of bad breaks towards the end of his campaign–he caught some unfortunate press coverage due to some unprofessional antics of his short-lived original campaign manager, and for reasons which I’ll never quite understand, the DCCC chose not to answer the NRCC’s $600,000 hit job against Massa in the final weeks of the campaign. Since Massa ultimately lost by a mere 3 points, one has to wonder if history would have been different had the DCCC been more aggressive.
But 2006 may not go down as Eric’s last best chance. According to the Fighting 29th, the district’s conservative base has been sniping at Kuhl–and giving him the ultimatum of lurching even further to the right, or facing a possible primary challenge (and some speculate that maybe even a general election challenge on the Conservative line could be in the works). With the local GOP infighting and Iraq spiraling out of control, Eric could make another race of this.
Race Tracker: NY-29