State by State
New York
Two New York Democratic assemblymen concluded that Rep. John Sweeney (R-N.Y.) unduly influenced the invitation process to the annual Congressional Winter Challenge, an event organized by the Olympic Regional Development Authority (ORA) and the New York Power Authority.
The report concluded that the Winter Challenge, which is held to attract federal funds, has been “subject to undue influence and the personal political goals of outsiders [namely, Sweeney] and must be substantially reformed.”
Kirsten Gillibrand, Sweeney’s Democratic opponent, seized on the report.
“John Sweeney has mastered how to hang out with his lobbyist friends in style,” said Allison Price, Gillibrand’s spokeswoman. “He has single handedly [has] tarnished its reputation with his inability to recognize behavior befitting a member of Congress.”
Sweeney sought an opinion from the House ethics committee, which advised him in a letter last fall he should be careful to let the Olympics groups invite guests to avoid the appearance of an endorsement by the House.
In 2004, Sweeney invited 50 percent of the invitees to the event and many of the lobbyists invited were “active supporters of, and contributors to, Sweeney, and others were personally and/or politically close to the congressman,” according to the report.
Federal funding had fallen in recent years, and as a result, its purpose as a “fundraising mechanism is failing. If its purposes are primarily social and political, the use of public resources may be inappropriate,” the assemblymen wrote.
But Sweeney, who initially resisted the inquiry, disagreed with their assessment.
“Congressman Sweeney’s efforts to bring federal funds to an important economic engine for the North Country and the surrounding area will continue, as will his commitment to supporting the Olympic movement,” said Sean O’Neill, Sweeney’s chief of staff in a statement. He added that the U.S. Olympic Committee and ORDA always have controlled the invite list.
— Jonathan E. Kaplan
New Hampshire
New Hampshire GOP Reps. Charles Bass and Jeb Bradley enjoy comfortable leads in their races this November, according to a new poll conducted by a newspaper in the state.
The Concord Monitor’s poll of 300 likely voters gives Bass 55 percent and his Democratic opponent Paul Hodes 30 percent with one percent backing Libertarian Ken Blevens.
The polls shows that 56 percent back Bradley and 31 percent support Carol Shea-Porter, who scored a surprising win in the Democratic primary last week.
— Bob Cusack
Pennsylvania
Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) told a reporter from The Patriot-News, a newspaper in Harrisburg, that he was forced to raise millions of dollars “because of the junk you print.”
At a meeting of Republicans in Pennsylvania over the weekend, The Patriot-News reported that Santorum refused to talk to a reporter about Iran. He complained that the paper’s coverage was biased.
“I have to raise tens of millions of dollars because of the junk you feed the people of Pennsylvania,” he said. The newspaper reported that Santorum “used an expletive to describe the coverage and slammed down a newspaper.”
— Jonathan E. Kaplan
Minnesota
For the second time in two months, a Minneapolis Star Tribune poll is showing Minnesota Democratic Senate candidate Amy Klobuchar with a larger-than-expected lead over Republican Rep. Mark Kennedy, and Kennedy’s campaign is again crying foul.
The new poll, released on the paper’s website Sunday, shows Klobuchar leading Kennedy 56-32. The older poll, from July, had Klobuchar up 50-31. Almost every other poll has shown the race in single digits, and it has been labeled a toss-up by political experts.
The Kennedy campaign promptly released a statement roundly denouncing the poll and the Star Tribune for allegedly trying to influence the election by discouraging Kennedy supporters. It points to the fact that Klobuchar’s father Jim Klobuchar was a longtime columnist for the paper and says the poll has a track record of being skewed in Democrats’ favor.
It offered a similar response to the July poll.
“From the start, it’s been clear that the newspaper that employed Amy Klobuchar’s father for 30 years, the newspaper that has failed to provide even the most basic scrutiny of Amy Klobuchar’s job performance as Hennepin County Attorney during a time of skyrocketing crime, will not give Mark Kennedy a fair shake,” Kennedy Communications Director Joe Pally wrote Sunday.
Rob Daves, who conducts polls for the Star Tribune, said the poll is done using scientific methods and that Kennedy’s campaign is “absolutely wrong” if it thinks the paper has an agenda.
“We want to give the voters an impartial, objective view of the race, and that’s why we do the Minnesota Poll,” Daves said.
— Aaron Blake
Ohio
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee launched “The Pryce is Not Right,” a spoof on CBS’s 35-year-old game show, The Price is Right, hosted by Bob Barker.
Visitors to the site
www.thepryceisnotright.com are asked “to see how [Rep.] Deborah Pryce’s [R-Ohio] behavior in Washington is affecting your pocketbook, play our online game: You Paid The Pryce.” Visitors can answer a series of partisan questions about Pryce, such as how much money she has accepted from the oil industry and how many times she’s voted for a congressional pay raise. The site also directs visitors to the website of Mary Jo Kilroy, Pryce’s Democratic opponent.
— Jonathan E. Kaplan
http://thehill.com/thehill/export/TheHill/News/Campaign/091906_state.html
