Corwin emerges as top GOP contender for 26th

The Lockport Union Sun & Journal ^ | February 10, 2011 | Joyce Miles

[Clintonfatigued]

State Assembly member Jane Corwin, R-Clarence, is giving serious thought to running for the vacant 26th District U.S. House seat, she confirmed Thursday.

Corwin, whose 142nd Assembly district includes Lockport and Royalton, said in an e-mailed statement that she’ll decide “within a couple days” whether to try running as the Republican in a special election to fill the House seat vacated Wednesday by Christopher Lee.

“People in this part of the state deserve a representative who knows not only what it takes to create jobs but has actually done it. ... We need a representative who will fight to cut taxes, stop reckless Washington spending and create job opportunities for folks in Western New York,” Corwin said.

[Clintonfatigued]

Jane Corwin seems like a strong candidate electorally. What are her views on the issues? I don’t know anything about her beliefs.

[mrsmith]

This looks good:
http://www.unshackleupstate.com/scorecard-new/assembly-scorecard.cfm?card=35

Not familiar with her or the area myself.

[Clintonfatigued]

That’s a hopeful sign. She’s only been in the Assembly for a short time, so her public record seems to be thin.

[GOPsterinMA]

As long as she stays off CL, she’ll be fine.

[Impy]

The NY Conservative Party rated her an 84 out of 100 for last year.

http://www.cpnys.org/sites/cpnys.org/files/2010_Assembly_Ratings.pdf

75 for 2009.

http://www.cpnys.org/sites/cpnys.org/files/Assembly_09_Ratings.pdf

[Clintonfatigued]

I think she’d be a good choice. Will Governor Cuomo call a special election at all?

[Impy]

Cuomo has no legitimate excuse not to call one. That doesn't mean he won't decide to whine about the "cost" and say that with redistricting on the horizon he may as well leave it empty.

Massa quit in March of last year. That was too long for the seat to be empty. If Lee's isn't filled it would be WAAAAAAAAAAY too long.

I think he will call a special but will take his sweet time. I'd guess it will be fall or close to it before we have a new member in place.

I'd like a federal constitutional amendment with regards to congressional vacancies, mandating timely special elections for House and Senate vacancies with appointed Senators serving only until the special, not for the better part of 2 years like Roland Burris and Jean Carnahan.

What do you think, a period to file candidacies (don't know how long that has to be to be fair) followed by 4-6 weeks for the primary and another 4-6 for the general. That seems like long enough to me. Have the new member in place in 3 or 4 months.

[randita]

Your proposal sounds reasonable, but it would be pretty far down on the totem pole of the constitutional amendment queue.

Even for a regular election, there is usually only a 6 month window from filing to election. Some states are longer, like IL, but most states have May or so as the filing deadline with primaries in Aug./Sept.

States gripe about the cost, but the political games leave whole states or around 600K constituents (cong. district) w/o representation or with “appointed” representation.