On March 8th Rep. Eric Massa resigned 14 months into his first term, his personal issues having exceeded his ability to control them.  We wish Mr. Massa and his family well and thank him for his service.  But now it’s time to hold a special election and give the people of the 29th Congressional district the representation they deserve.

To hold a special election, Governor Patterson must declare a vacancy and then issue a proclamation; the election follows in thirty to forty days.  First, Patterson said he would “call it as soon as possible.”  Then Patterson caught a case of the slows, his office repeatedly issuing statements that “no final decision has been made yet.”  The slows must be contagious.  Democrat county chairmen were still vetting candidates when Congress passed a $2 trillion health-care overhaul.  We in the 29th district were unrepresented during this vote. 

The county chairmen, including  Shawn Hogan and Cindy Emmer, issued this statement:  “It’s clear that a special election would prove to be very expensive, particularly considering so many counties in the 29th district are struggling financially.  Similarly, we cannot disenfranchise military voters who are currently serving overseas; we must take appropriate steps to make sure their votes are counted.  Gov. Patterson is rightfully taking these concerns into consideration and we believe he will make a decision that reflects what’s best for Southern Tier/Finger Lakes New York.”

In New York’s 20th district, when Kirsten Gillibrand resigned to replace Hillary Clinton in the U.S. Senate, the special election was held in 64 days.  When John McHugh resigned his seat in New York’s 23rd district, the special election was held in 43 days.  As of  May 1st, it is 54 days since Massa resigned.  If a special is called, it will be another 30 to 40 days until the election.  What are we waiting for?  If no special election is held, we’ll break the record for non-representation in New York’s 29th of 184 days, set in 1827.

We should all contact Gov. Patterson and demand that he call a special election.  Democrat county chairmen and elected Democrats are our friends and neighbors; ask them to support the 654,360 people of the 29th in their desire to be represented in Congress.

Michael A. Morrongiello

Our dissent is rooted in the philosophy which gave rise to our founding, the Enlightenment.  John Locke, a philosopher in that movement, believed truth is found through reason and experience.  If citizens make better arguments than kings or congressmen, the citizens argument wins.  This was on display in tea parties and was seen in recent town hall meetings, where it was obvious that ordinary Americans knew more about health-care legislation than their representatives.

Tea partiers knew the stimulus package was futile and wasteful.  FDR tried this in the 1930’s.  It failed.  FDR’s New Deal didn’t solve the Great Depression, but prolonged it.  Unemployment averaged a painful 18% from 1933, When Roosevelt took office, to the begining of WWII.

Conservatives oppose Obamacare because government programs always cost far more than promised.  Massachusetts-care is similar to the bill Obama crammed through the House.  The people were promised it wouldn’t cost more than $88 million per year.  Four years after its passage, Massachusetts is broke.  Health-care costs have exceeded $4 billion.  Costs for Bay-Staters haven’t gone down; their health-care costs are the highest in the nation, 27% higher than the national average.  The Massachusetts Medical Society says there is a “critical shortage” of primary care doctors.  Bay-Staters are covered, but what good is coverage if you can’t see a doctor?

Fellow conservatives, fear not.  Let the liberals call us every vile name in the book.  Their attacks say far more about who they are than who we are.   Our opposition to Obama and the statist Democrats is rooted in history and experience.  Make your case fearlessly.  boldly stand on principle.  We walk in the footsteps of the founders, Jefferson, Madison and Washington.  We’re in very good company.

Michael A. Morrongiello

Michael Arcuri   1-315-793-8146

Dan Maffei            1- 315-423-5657

Bill Owens             1-315-782-3150

Chris Carney        1-570-585-9988

Paul Kanjersky     1-570-825-2200

To access the names and numbers of representatives across America please go to the NRCC Code Red website http://www.nrcc.org/CodeRed/targets/

We’ve all done great work so far.  Let’s keep up the pressure and defeat this grotesque monstrosity that is Obamacare.

Michael A. Morrongiello

Enter Rep. Eric Massa, who features his commendable military service at every opportunity. This provides him with a veneer of moderation to obscure his liberalism. If he were an ex-ACLU lawyer insead of an ex-Navy man, Massa’s leftism would be more apparent.

Consider Massa’s position on health care. He opposed HR 3962, which was a government takeover of private insurance companies. But he supports HR 686, a government run single-payer plan. In a single-payer system, you pay for everybody’s health care and they pay for yours. This is as collectivist as you can get. Massa said, “I support the idea of a single-payer health care system in which the doctor-patient relationship remains personal and private, but costs are centrally managed.” These are the ideas of central-planning socialists. This country was founded on the polar opposite – principles of individual freedom and free markets. Single-payer is not working out well in Canada. They have 8 life-saving MRI’s per million people, to our 27. If you need an MRI in Canada, wait in line. The Premier of Newfoundland, Danny Williams, recently bypassed the Canadian system to have heart surgery in the U.S.

Massa occupies the far left in a leftist party. We judge our leaders by their results. In Massa’s case, the evidence is damning. Despite all the historic evidence that government stimulus doesn’t work, he voted for it anyway, stimulating nothing but debt and unemployment. He markets himself as an independent thinker, yet his policies foster dependency. It’s time we see Massa clearly: a liberal in moderate’s clothing.

The Democrat Party, as in the mid-19th century, is a ruling elite, leeching the work of others. The most frequent visitor to the Obama White House is Andy Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). Public sector union members now make up 51% of all union membership. As the ranks of bureaucrats swell, Democrats reap cash and votes from grateful union members. It is not in their interest to meet freedom’s challenge. Congress has spent freely for years. Now, Democrats are spending wildly. Their spending will crush us, reducing our standard of living and that of our children. Here are the trends.

As of 2004, the average federal employee earned $100,178 compared to the average private sector employee, who earned $51,876. Between 1990 and 2004, federal employee compensation exploded 115%, versus private sector compensation’s growth of 69%. At the state and local level, government employees grew from 13.9 million to 15.7 million as of 2004. We are now in servitude to the government that is supposed to serve us. Sadly, Republicans were in charge of the federal government during much of that time. They betrayed the principles of their party, lost the confidence of the people and were thrashed in two elections.

We’ve been here before, and always for the same reasons. In the 1930’s President Hoover tried to tinker and spend his way out of the Great Depression. President Bush spent freely, added entitlements and extended federal control of education. Each time, in the ensuing elections Democrats seized control. They are now poised to scrap freedom, control our lives and shackle us in permanent servitude.

There is reason to hope. An answer to freedom’s challenge and a road map to victory exists, and it works. In Ronald Reagan’s speech entitled “Let them go their way,” he said, “I do not believe I have proposed anything that is contrary to what has been considered Republican principle. It is, at the same time, the very basis of conservativism. It is time to reassert that principle and raise it to full view.” Let the raising begin. Here are some proposals to reverse the free-fall to servitude.

ONE. Local activism is critical. Stay informed. Use the internet. Write letters to the editor and columns for the newspaper. Run for local office – city council, school board, etc.

TWO. Congress disregards the Constitution with willful contempt. We must pass the Enumerated Powers Act, which requires legislators to cite the Constitutional authority to enact what they propose. This will force Congress to reconnect with the document that gives them the authority to govern. It will only pass if Congress is hearing from the American people – call and write your legislators.

THREE. We must support charter schools, school choice and home schooling. Parents pay for public education. They should be treated like customers. Their money should follow their children to the schools of their choice.

FOUR. Support a flat tax or a national sales tax. The current tax code punishes hard work. It is a magnet for special interest abuse and social engineering. It’s incomprehensible,sapping billions of dollars from the economy in compliance costs.

FIVE. Free market principles should be applied to health care reform. It should be consumer-centered. Expanding Health Savings Accounts is one way to accomplish this.

Ronald Reagan said, “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction… it must be fought for, protected and handed on to {the next generation} to do the same.” If the Republican Party returns to its roots, it will restore itself and save the country.

However, we are here because of Congressman Massa’s foolish comments about the solution to the banking collapse. He indicates in his announcement speech that if we had unionized Wall Street the collapse would not have happened. Seriously?!

So was there any questions on exactly how to perform this unionization of Wall Street. Or maybe how such a unionization would have stopped people.