Thursday, November 12, 2009

New York State Board of Elections Statement Today Raises Questions About Legitimacy of House Health Care Vote on Saturday

On Saturday night, the House of Representatives narrowly passed the Nancy Pelosi backed health care takeover bill, 220-215.

News today from a spokesperson for the New York State Board of Election that it's still too close to certify the victor in last week's special election in New York's 23rd Congressional District now calls into question the moral legitimacy of that vote, if not the actual legal legitimacy.

Bill Owens, the Democrat, held about a 5,000 vote lead with 93% of the vote when Conservative Doug Hoffman conceded at about midnight on election night. Now, due to certain voting irregularities exposed during the re-canvas, the raw vote total differential has declined to about 3,000. In addition, about 10,000 absentee ballots have not been counted.

The New York State Board of Election will not be able to certify a victor in that race until mid-December now, apparently.

How then, was Bill Owens able to cast one of the 220 votes in favor of the 1,900 page Pelosi health care travesty on Saturday?

It turns out that Hoffman's early concession allowed Owens to be sworn in.

And while the odds are very long indeed against a reversal of the final results when all votes are tallied by the New York State Board of Elections in mid-December, it seems highly quesitonable that the outcome of such a critical piece of legislation appears to have been influenced by a vote cast by a candidate who we're not 100 per cent certain was elected by the voters in the 23rd Congressional District.

It all just smells a little too much of dirty Chicago politics and banana republic antics.

Hope and change indeed.

Saturday, November 07, 2009

In NY-23, Newly Elected Democrat Bill Owens' 11th Hour Conversion in Support of Pelosi's Health Care Bill Raises Cries of Foul Play

From his nomination as the Democratic candidate for Congress in New York’s 23rd Congressional District on August 10 until October 30, barely 84 hours before the polls opened in the special election, newly elected Democratic Congressman Bill Owens was adamantly opposed to health care reform bills that included the "public option."

In his first formal interview as a candidate on August 11 with the New York Observer, Owens clearly stated his opposition to the public option:

"Owens took a decidedly moderate line on health care restructuring, saying he does not support a public option available to anyone--the crux of the restructuring put forward by President Obama."

You can read more of the August 11, 2009 New York Observer article here.

Owens maintained this position of strong opposition to the public option for the next two and a half months, until the final debate of the campaign, held in Plattsburgh on Friday October 30, just 84 hours before the polls opened for the special election.

The previous day, on October 29, Speaker of the House Pelosi had introduced the massive 1,900 page HR 3962 Health Care bill that included elements that were far more Left wing than any of the previous House bills.

The next day, Owens apparently latched on to the talking points about HR 3962 provided to him by Speaker Pelosi that allowed him to change his public opposition to the public option components of the bill.

Since the public introduction of HR 3962 on October 29, additional changes have apparently been made, and it is unknown if any of those changes effect the language of the revised public option. For that matter, it is unclear if Owens is even aware of any of the changes made to HR 3962 since October 29.

It's difficult to know, because Speaker Pelosi has refused to publicly post the details of the final version of HR 3962 on which Owens and the other members of the House of Representatives will be voting this afternoon. Both Speaker Pelosi and President Obama had promised "transparency" for all bills, stating they would be available for viewing by the public on the internet in their final form for 72 hours before any votes were held. This promise has been broken repeatedly, and is being broken today on HR 3962.

Owens, then, is left in a position where he has switched to support the Pelosi Health Care bill at the last minute, and now will be voting in favor of something the full details of which he is ignorant.

You can read the rest of this article, a combined effort by Michael Patrick Leahy of The TCOT Report and Nathan Barker of The Gouverneur Times here at The TCOT Report.

Wednesday, November 04, 2009

The Day After, Newt Gingrich Gets the Facts About NY-23 Wrong Again

It's getting to be a pattern with Newt Gingrich.

He can't get the facts right. Yet he insists upon repeating his errors again and again, perhaps thinking that mere repetition will make it true.

The day after Democrat Bill Owens beat Conservative Doug Hoffman in the NY 23 Special Congressional Election, thanks largely to the treachery of Dede Scozzafava, the very liberal RINO Newt Gingrich endorsed, the former Speaker once again falsely characterizes the nomination process that gave Scozzafava the nod:


"I certainly heard from enough friends to know that my decision to support the unanimous vote of the 11 New York county chairs was very unpopular with conservative activists."


As I've documented in several articles, both here and here, this is a factually untrue statement.

Of the 11 county chairs who participated in the selection process that resulted in the Scozzafava fiasco, only 4 supported Scozzafava on the first ballot, and only 9 of the 11 ended up "voting" for her.

Fulton County Chairman Susan McNeil pointedly refused to ever sign a document supporting Scozzafava's nomination.

And though Franklin County Chairman Jim Ellis signed a documenting supporting the nominee ultimately selected by the other chairmen in the tainted process, he did not endorse Scozzafava.

You can read the rest of the former Speaker's statement on his web site here.

Monday, November 02, 2009

Huckabee a Day Late, a Dollar Short, and a Dial Tone Off in NY 23

Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee had been on a roll, but he's stumbled badly in his very very late endorsement of Conservative Doug Hoffman in NY 23. After a series of very savvy moves over the last year, the most recent 2012 Presidential horse race poll had Huckabee in first place over rivals Palin, Romney, and Pawlenty. From his weekend Fox TV show to his aw-shucks well received daily radio updates, Huckabee had been doing all the right things.

Until NY 23.

While Sarah Palin was the first major Presidential candidate to endorse Hoffman, Huck held his endorsement back until after Scozzafava withdrew on Saturday. Her subsequent treachery and endorsement of the Democrat in the race makes Palin look like the brave visionary, and Huckabee and Romney look like....well, Huckabee and Romney.

To compound matters, today in the email in-box comes this little gift from Huckabee:

Today I am emailing to ask if you will take a moment now to make phone calls to voters. We have set up phone banks for Bob McDonnell, Doug Hoffman and David Harmer and you can begin calling voters immediately. Even if you can only make a call or two, you will help make a positive difference in the final hours before votes are cast TOMORROW. Also, if you know friends or family who will have a chance to vote on Tuesday for one of these candidates please make sure they do. Huck PAC volunteers have already made over 20,000 calls in Virginia and helped Bob immensely. I know if we make these final calls today we can do more of the same.

Mike Huckabee

You can read the rest of the story at The TCOT Report.

The Gingrich-Scozzafava-Duprey RINO Branch of the Republican Party Keeps Getting it Wrong

Having documented repeatedly and in great detail at The TCOT Report the self serving cronyism of Clinton County RINO Assemblywoman Janet Duprey, the woman who threw the NY 23 Republican Congressional nomination to fellow RINO Dede Scozzafava, I am getting very tired of hearing former "smartest guy in the room" Newt Gingrich repeatedly and shrilly misrepresent the facts of the nomination process in NY 23.

The former Speaker is rapidly turning into an intellectually lazy talking head who doesn't do his homework, and keeps repeating his foolish "Big Tent" mantra.

For the thousandth time, Mr. Speaker, here are the facts:

1. The majority of the Republican County committee members in NY 23 wanted to nominate a conservative candidate. They did not want Dede Scozzafava. Scozzafava was nominated only because her Republican establishment pal and fellow RINO Janet Duprey, who is likely to be challenged by a real Republican in the 2010 Assembly primary in her district, IGNORED THE WISHES of virtually every Clinton County Republican committee member who attended the Plattsburgh, NY candidate forum that immediately preceeded the nomination.

2. NY 23 is not Maine, where a RINO such as Susan Collins might actually reflect the desires of the populace. Almost 60% of the 2008 Maine vote went for Obama. Only 52% of the 2008 NY 23 vote went for Obama, one of the few times in history a Democrat has taken the district. NY 23 has much more in common with Ohio than it has with Maine.

Mr. Speaker you are doing a real disservice to the Republican Party and the conservative movement by constantly misrepresenting the facts. Time for a heart felt mea culpa. Or better yet, time to stop talking about matters on which you are completely uninformed.

Sunday, November 01, 2009

Local Republicans Charge Corruption in NY-23 Scozzafava Fiasco

Local Republicans in NY-23 are publicly wondering if the Obama White House promised Dede Scozzafava, the former Republican nominee, a plum job to endorse Democratic candidate Bill Owens.


"In my opinion, you've got a corrupt deal going on between the Obama White House and Dede Scozzafava. It's Chicago politics in the 23rd NY Congressional District."
Jim Ellis, Franklin County New York Republican Chairman


"I don't think that Dede Scozzafava's endorsement of Bill Owens will influence one vote other than maybe hers. This whole process after her selection has been sickening. What she's doing is sad, other than it shows what kind of a person she is, and what her true allegiance is."
Paul Mauron, the NY-23 Congressional Candidate who lost the nomination to Dede in a process that has subsequently been documented to have been tainted

"Is she that mad? I thought she was a patriot. She is just turning her back on a lot of the values of her constituency in this district."
Sam Villanti, Lewis County New York Republican Chairman

"There was something that I felt was wrong with Dede Scozzafava all along anyway after we went through the nomination process. She's showing her true colors now. If she was a true Republican, she would not be doing this, endorsing the Democrat Bill Owens who will support Nancy Pelosi."
Susan McNeil, Fulton County New York Republican Chairman

You can read the rest of the story at The TCOT Report.

Local Paper in NY 23 Reports Scozzafava Encouraging Supporters to Back Democrat Owens

The Watertown Daily Times this morning reported that Dede Scozzafava is encouraging her supporters to back Democrat Bill Owens.

"During the day Saturday, [Dede Scozzafava] began to quietly and thoughtfully encourage her supporters to vote for Democrat William L. Owens," the paper said.

When contacted this morning by The TCOT Report, former Scozzafava Campaign spokesperson Matt Burns was unable to confirm the Watertown Daily Times Report.

"That's a question you should be asking DeDe," he said. "As of yesterday, I am no longer affiliated with Dede Scozzafava or her campaign."


Meanwhile....as this story was breaking Sunday morning,
Newt Gingrich was on Fox News stating Scozzafava was supporting Hoffman.....

You can read the rest of the story at The TCOT Report.