Another key Republican seat, that of retiring Rep. Tom Reynolds (the guy who should have had his hands on the wheel at the NRCC during that whole "financial irregularities" incident) is up for grabs. In the ongoing saga of Republican's inability to recruit top tier candidates for these seats, their best bet to keep it, State Sen. George D. Maziarz, has said no thanks, and taken his substantial war chest with him.

So now some eyes are turning to the football hero, Jim Kelly who most eloquently summed up his political ambitions a few years ago: ‘Nah, I ain’t going small, I’m going to go right to the top," Kelly said.  "No, if I’m going to do anything it’s either Senator or Congressman."

This seat is as key for Dems to pick up as Bill Foster's pick-up of Hastert's seat in IL-14. Knocking off the powerhouse seats seems increasingly doable after Foster's win, and given a healthy fundraising advantage for the Dems.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), which helps fund the campaigns of Democrats who are running for the U.S. House, reported raising $6.2 million in February. That compared to $4.6 million raised by the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), the partisan counterpart to the DCCC, which also filed a campaign report Thursday with the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

The DCCC started the month with $38 million on hand and $763K in debt. The NRCC reported $5.1 million on hand and $1.9 in debt. This race is on the DCCC's target list as brownsox reported yesterday, and the Dems have a great candidate in Iraq war vet Jon Powers.

Race tracker wiki: NY-26

Big News for us New Yorkers

In another sign of how bad things are for the Republican Congressional Caucus this fall, the Cook Report has responded to the retirement of Tom Reynolds with an upgrading of the race...and he throws some love Jon Powers' way.

It's in a district that has been royal red for as long as one can remember; New York's 26th District.

The skinny is after the flip:

I'm here to introduce many of you to the man who can be, with your help, the next Congressman from New York's 26th District, Jon Powers.

I first met Jon while I was organizing the Netroots Candidate's Celebration at YearlyKos last Summer. We had lunch in Manhattan and I was immediately impressed with his poise, sense of self and confidence in his ability to lead. He spoke of the importance of "Leadership by Example" and then laid out his vision of where he wanted to lead the country. Big ideas for a young man.

But, I shouldn't have been surprised, because he had honed those leadership skills during the time he spent as a Captain in the Army; time he spent on the mean streets of Baghdad during the Iraq War.

Retirement number 27 30.

GOP sources confirm that Rep. Tom Reynolds, a Western NY Congressman since 1999 and ex-NRCC chairman, will announce around noon tomorrow in Buffalo that he will not seek re-election this fall. Reynolds spokesman LD Platt did not return an e-mail seeking comment.

Reynolds, who is also a former Assembly minority leader, has been pushing back against retirement rumors for some time now.

But the recent NRCC fraud scandal - some of which took place on his watch - has made his re-election effort that much more difficult in an already tough year (increasingly Democratic state, presidential election etc).

Were he to run, this would be the second election-year scandal in a row for Reynolds. The first, of course, was the Mark Foley page debacle.

There is already one announced Democratic challenger in the 26th CD: Jon Powers, an Iraq War veteran. Independently-wealthy businessman Jack Davis, who ran against Reynolds in 2004 and 2006, is reportedly considering another run.

Iraq War vet Jon Powers is an awesome candidate. Reynolds got lucky last year facing off against bat-shit insane "Democrat" Jack Davis, a wealthy businessman who refused to campaign (and only quit the GOP because Cheney personally insulted him). The nut is thinking about running again, and if nothing else, would serve as good batting practice for Powers in a primary.

This is an R+3.5 district, but getting bluer. Reynolds only managed to eke out a 52-48 victory against crazy Jack Davis in 2006. Given this is a presidential year in a solidly Democratic state, Reynolds saw the writing on the wall. He won't be the last one either. We're at 27 retirements. I predict 36 before all's said and done, or about 20 percent of the GOP's decimated caucus.

On the web:
Jon Powers for Congress

Update: I'm looking forward to some good analysis at the Albany Project on Thursday.

Update II: It's 27 open House seats this November, 30 total retirements, including seats that have had to be filled or will be filled pre-November with special elections, like IL-14.

Race tracker wiki: NY-26

As Paul Kane and Dan Eggen point out in today's Washington Post, the NRCC raised and spent $630 million over the last seven years with virtually no oversight. It is certainly no wonder that a lot of money seems to be missing and now the NRCC is pointing the finger at Christopher J. Ward, former NRCC treasurer, as the culprit.

I'm not ready to buy the theory that Ward was a lone gunman. The NRCC appears to have intentionally destroyed internal controls and removed outside oversight of its finances.

Here is the timeline:
   

When I returned from the war in Iraq, over 300 friends and neighbors of Western New York attended a picnic to welcome me home. Many of them did not even know me, but they came to say thanks to a veteran who was part of this extended family we all feel a part of in Western New York.

(Cross posted at Swing State Project.)

Iraq War veteran and NY-26 Democratic candidate Jon Powers is gaining more and more momentum. In fact, his campaign is at an excellent point right now. On Thursday, Powers was endorsed by the Wyoming County Democratic Committee. This was the fourth county Democratic committee to endorse Powers in his run to unseat Tom Reynolds.

The announcement regarding the endorsement came attached with a list of those who have already endorsed Powers.

(Cross posted at The Albany Project)

This scandal seems to be growing. As this article suggests, there's audit trouble over at the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC). This all has to do with a forged 2006 election audit. First, there was a link to Rep. Jim Walsh (NY-25). Now there could be another link.

A link to Tom Reynolds.

The Tax Foundation released an interesting report about seven months ago that is necessary to bring up now, especially with the grand debate over the Alternative Minimum Tax.

First off, my "representative" is Tom Reynolds. Reynolds is obsessed with this issue. He says he wants to protect "middle-class taxpayers" from paying what he calls the Stealth Tax. In fact, Reynolds might be painting a false picture, as are many other critics of the AMT.

Here in New York's 26th congressional district, we have two interesting races developing: A Democratic primary which will decide who gets the right (and/or privilege) to challenge Rep. Tom Reynolds in the 2008 elections.

Those of you who attended YearlyKos know that Iraq War Veteran Jon Powers is one Democratic candidate. I met Jon at the Orleans County Democratic Party picnic in July. I conducted an interview with him at the time for the Journal-Register. It was at that time that I extended my hand and told him that I wanted to work on his campaign.

Powers declared in June and has since traveled throughout the 26th congressional district spreading his message to people. Thanks to his hard work, he already has netted two local endorsements plus a huge national endorsement.

It's hard to believe that it has been just over a year since Mark Foley's "problem" came to light. And just over a year since Tom Reynolds (R, NY-26) decided he needed to hold a press conference to point out that he wasn't in the wrong for not doing anything about Foley's solicitation of children. The denial of any wrong-doing was not so surprising (he does have an R after his name, afterall, and denials are as free flowing for them as de Nile). What was bizarre was the number of children he surrounded himself with at the press conference. This was blogged by a number of people (see http://tpmelectioncentral.com/...
or http://www.americablog.com/...  if you want to see the pictures or clips from the event. This occured about a week after the Foley scandal broke on Sept 24, 2007.

Now, fast-forward one year and one day to September 25, 2007 and the roll call vote for the SCHIP bill in the House. Seeing that he is so pro-child, his vote on this bill? NAY. Do uninsured sick kids make better props?
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Those who read my blog and another site I write for, Tom Reynolds Watch, know that I've been trying to organize a protest of Tom Reynolds' office in Williamsville, NY for Reynolds' continued support of the Iraq War. It hasn't gone as planned.

I've received some invites to take part in protests at his Greece office (in Monroe County) which I will attend. However, I've received little or no interest in a protest of Reynolds' office in Williamsville. With the month-long recess from Congress, this is "prime-time" to protest any of the Republicans who continually support this war.

Thus, my question: Why not protest Tom Reynolds? On my blog this morning, I mentioned that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) faced protesters in Kentucky, Vice President Dick Cheney faced protests at home in Wyoming, Sen. John Warner (R-VA) also heard from the voices of the local anti-war movement. And of course, on a more local level, Rep. Randy Kuhl, who represents the 29th District in New York, also faced resistance for his stance on the war. Yet, when it comes to Reynolds, I haven't had the best of luck rounding up a group of people to head with me to Williamsville.

To the east of the suburbs of Buffalo that rest in southern Niagara County and northern Erie County in New York and to the west of Greece in Monroe County, sits one of the most conservative parts of New York State.

I like to call it "Conservative Alley," as parts of five counties (Genesee, Livingston, Monroe, Orleans and Wyoming) who make up the central and eastern part of the 26th District have a strong Republican base that has supported President Bush in both 2000 and 2004.

Of course, President Bush is a huge concern. But for progressives and concerned citizens of the 26th District, Rep. Tom Reynolds poses a much larger concern.

(Cross-posted from my blog, An Enduring Democratic Majority.)

2006 was a very tough year for New York Republicans, especially for Tom Reynolds of NY-26. Though Reynolds was able to survive his toughest reelection bid yet (he was able to defeat Jack Davis by the skin of his teeth 52-48), his leadership as the chair of the Republican Party's House reelection efforts was dismal. Not only did Reynolds preside over the Democratic ascension into the majority, but under Reynolds three upstate NY Republicans lost their seats.

While Tom managed to save himself, his luck may run out in 2008. His new opponent is Iraq War Veteran and Clarence native Jon Powers.

(Crossposted from the albany project)

I say "just might" because he isn't an announced candidate yet, but, should he officially throw his hat in the ring, I think he's got an excellent chance of ridding us of the child predator enabling, pedophile coddling Tom Reynolds, who just happens to be the most recent chair of the NRCC. The Buffalo News reports that Iraq War vet and founder of War Kids Relief, one Jonathan Powers is mulling a run at him for New York's 26th Congressional seat. I really like what I see.

So, just who is Jonathan Powers? Find out on the flip...

The Republican fund-raising machine is back to some old tricks: the bogus, telemarketed "National Leadership Award" pitch/scam dating back to at least 2002 and ethically-challenged former Congressman Tom DeLay.

A friend of mine in the corporate world received this voice mail in mid-March 2007, as related to him by e-mail from his administrative assistant:

Heather Yolan from Congressman Tom Cole’s office called and said they would like to recognize you with a National Leadership Award, and would like to talk to you about a press release ASAP...their number is 1-877-213-0603.

There is an excellent article by Rick Klein in yesterday's Boston Globe that explores the relationship between the NRCC (National Republican Congressional Committee) and Republican congressional candidates in November. The NRCC operates independently of the campaigns; its primary goal is to raise tons of money and use it to smear Democrats. Over 90% of their budget goes to vile attack ads.

The independent expenditure operation spent $77 million attacking Democratic House candidates, while spending $6.6 million in positive ads boosting Republicans, according to FEC disclosures.

One of their best known smear jobs was the ad against Michael Arcuri of New York whose aide accidently called a sex hot line, realized he had misdialed and immediately called the same number with a different area code. The ad backfired; Arcuri won and his opponent Ray Meier is mad, claiming he tried to stop the NRCC from running the ad but they wouldn't.

"They weren't just attacking my opponent -- they were, bit by bit, destroying a reputation that I had spent years and years building.

This diary details the likely top battlegrounds in the Northeast for control of the House of Representatives in 2008.