The House campaign in New York's 19th District is now making national, regional and local news on multiple fronts, with regard to developments in: the House Page scandal, the emergence of 527 participation in the race over the past 24 hours (UPDATE: Dem 527 group pours $500,000 into NY-19 ads! Here's the link--http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061013/NEWS/610130386), and in terms of incumbent Republican Sue Kelly's campaign just plain freaking out over the debilitating press coverage of the past week. Here's the skinny:
1.) FoleyGate/PageGate Update: We already know now, based upon scores of news reports over the past 10+ days, that Arizona Congressman Jim Kolbe, House Clerk Jeff Trandahl and Page Program Coordinator Grace Crews were all aware of issues regarding former Congressman Mark Foley's predatory behavior with House Pages in 2000, when Sue Kelly was Chair of the House Page Board. But think about the political timing of this back then folks?!?!? (See comments on the jump page here.)
(1. FoleyGate/PageGate Update, continued) All three will testify before the House Ethics Committee in coming days. before this is over. And, while Kolbe has now stated that he didn't tell Sue Kelly anything in 2000, the bottom line is virtually EVERYONE around Kelly, then Chair of the House Page Board, knew about Foley's actions. And, Trandahl refuses to talk with the press; and Crews is barely even being mentioned (although her participation was critical). Either one, in one sentence of sworn testimony, could implicate Kelly, in terms of her (almost obvious) knowledge of this matter. And, we (and the press, a bunch of natural-born-skeptics if nothing else) are supposed to believe that Kelly didn't know what was going on at the time?
Or, could it be that this ultra-loyal, rubber stamp Republican would be the last person on the planet to upset the "Family Values" mantra of the Republican Party, coming fresh off of a Monica Lewinsky scandal during a Presidential election year in 2000? The very last thing the Repub's needed then--not that anytime is a good time for it--was a sex scandal of their own. (Perhaps equal to, or even greater than, what Clinton had just been through.) Think about this, folks! We're talking Gore winning the election if anyone had said ANYTHING at the time. Hardly anyone has referenced the context of the period in their coverage of Foley's actions in 2000. But, consider the implications. Kelly would have done LESS damage switching party affiliations in 2000, than she would have done if she DID HER JOB and handled the matter. Kelly had a choice in 2000, the moment she heard word one about Foley's actions: end her own political career or shut up and act like she didn't know about it.
2.) Press Relations: Kelly's office is now starting to just hanging up the phone on press calls this week! They're not even bothering to say, "No comment."
Rye, NY-based RNN-TV (Regional News Network) has been attempting to contact Kelly's offices to ask questions about the Page scandal, as well as to question why she won't participate in their sponsored debate with Democratic opponent John Hall. Apparently, according to reports coming directly from RNN-TV, and now out of http://www.Take19.org today, Kelly's office has now gone beyond not saying anything. They're just hanging up the phone cold!
3.) The 527's are here in NY-19 race now. At least one of them, anyway. "Majority Action," a Democratic 527 with a multi-million dollar national media budget has implemented their first buy in NY-19. This writer saw a spot on the largest cable network in the district last night. Check it out on [http://www.take19.org]. It's powerful stuff.
4.) The Kelly campaign is now displaying signs of a true bunker mentality. Additional information from the RNN-TV story, mentioned above, includes the fact that her Congressional offices aren't even acknowledging their campaign offices exist, let alone passing along the Kelly campaign address and phone numbers.
5.) The Hall campaign treasury will demonstrate that it passed the $1,000,000 mark in September according to upcoming FEC filings due October 15th. This is notable for a variety of reasons, with perhaps the most striking number being $2,000,000, which is the total minimum amount of money Dem's will have raised and spent in 2006 in NY-19 by November 7th. All this from a district that was deep, deep red just 10 months ago; and where a Democratic effort in the past decade was considered decent if the challenger could scrape together $100,000.