Why, in the middle of the election season, is Chuck Schumer appearing with a Republican Congressman in the heat of a re-election battle? Well, nobody seems to know.
Details below the fold, as well as contact information and a way you may be able to help ...
Last night, the story broke on
this local blog-post that Chuck Schumer will be appearing with Bob Johnson's (DrBob) opponent, John McHugh, in Watertown. In fact, local Democrats first heard about it there. Obviously, Chuck Schumer didn't want this widely known, and nobody's even sure yet what the event is. But ... no Democrats knew of this event, at all. Which isn't right.
Maybe Chuck Schumer is trying to quietly fulfill a promise he made when the campaign up here didn't look to be as heated as it is now. Maybe Chuck Schumer doesn't think there's quite enough focus on this race that he needs to back out now.
Whatever his reasons, whatever the event is, he shouldn't be doing it. Now's not the time for any Democrat to give any Republican support. We need to fight every seat, in every district, to take back this Congress.
But, since there wasn't any publicity, you maybe can help derail this and let Chuck Schumer know that his appearance is wrong. Take one second to recommend this diary, then take one minute to call Senator Schumer's Syracuse office at 315-423-5471 and let him know (POLITELY, because we really don't have the whole story) that he should reconsider his scheduling plans today and appear with Democrats instead of Republicans. Or maybe just take in a movie and a nice dinner in Syracuse ... whatever he wants to do. But he shouldn't make any campaign appearances with Republicans, quietly or not.
I'll update this if anyone finds out what's happening ...
update: Thanks to tlh lib, here's the toll-free Capitol Hill switchboard: 866-340-9281 / 866-340-9279 / 877-851-6437. Apparently, Schumer doesn't have voice mail, but it should be open soon ...
update2: I've called all of his offices to get a sense of what's going on. Still nothing. I'm poking around Watertown to try to find out what the event is ...
update3: Here's a comment from eve below:
I was transfered to a staffer who said that Senator Schumer was attending a press event (at 12:30) on "housing issues" - "ways to rehabilitate homes".
I asked why he was appearing with the Republican candidate in election season and I was told that Senator Schumer was doing this as part of regular business for the state and the people of Watertown and that John McHugh invited himself.
Interesting ... John McHugh "invited himself" is what they are saying. Well, that's ... a little better. Senator Schumer's far too smart not to know what having this event in Watertown means politically, but if he continues to walk back the association with McHugh, that's progress. Keep calling him and expressing your concerns; maybe Senator Schumer can see who he should be appearing with in the future.
Honestly, I think Senator Schumer's staff just needs a friendly reminder that we Democrats are serious about contesting every seat. Let's give them that reminder ...
update4: I've said this in comments in various ways, but I wanted to move it up here and say it explicitly: I don't think this was malevolent by Schumer, and I don't think he was doing it to support McHugh. Schumer, whatever his faults, is a pretty partisan Democrat, and he's working very hard as head of the DSCC. I think he just didn't consider the implications of "fighting for every seat" fully, and sort of made a mis-step. Hopefully, he'll now realize this is a serious race, and formally endorse Bob.
update5: Your voices have been heard! Senator Schumer's office has been in contact with me, and they sent me this statement (read to the end):
Today's event in Watertown - which has been in the works for months - is a non-partisan, policy event addressing the dire need for new affordable housing in the area to cope with the influx of families from the impending expansion of nearby Fort Drum. Fannie Mae, a federally chartered housing entity that Senator Schumer charged with developing a plan to jump start the affordable housing campaign, took the lead in forging partnerships with a number of local stakeholders and elected leaders of all parties to finance, build and renovate enough housing to accommodate the flood of military personnel and their families. All these stakeholders will be on hand for today's announcement.
Senator Schumer has been actively working to elect Democrats as head of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, but also on behalf of Democratic Congressional candidates in New York - appearing just yesterday with challenger Kirsten Gillibrand (link), Democratic challenger against Republican John Sweeney. We have more events planned with Democratic candidates throughout the next few weeks. Senator Schumer plans to endorse Bob Johnson as well.
Thanks to all who called. Senator Schumer's office was very cooperative and professional, and we hope we can work with them in the future. When Democrats unite, we win.
final update: I feel the need to put a final update, both thanking everyone for putting our race firmly on the radar, and saying personally that the circumstances of the event and the timing weren't entirely in Senator Schumer's control. It would've been nice for all of us, of course, if we had spoken about this ahead of time, but what's done is done, and Senator Schumer's staff has been nothing but helpful all morning. Thanks to all of you, Senator Schumer and his staff now know very well that we have a real race on our hands in New York's 23rd District.
Judging by his campaign's actions, that's something John McHugh realized about a month ago ...