Posted on 03/05/2010 12:38:10 PM PST by Former Military Chick
New York Democratic Rep. Eric Massa will resign from the House on Monday, according Massa chief of staff Joe Racalto. While its the latest in a string of bad PR the Democrats have taken this week, Massas exit will actually help House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in her quest to pass health care.
Massa announced earlier in the week that he would retire due to health issues. Shortly after his announcement, allegations of sexual harassment surfaced in the press.
Few congressional elections draw the kind of national attention that Erica Massas did in 2006. Even fewer draw an equal amount of attention when a candidate runs again after a failed first attempt, as Massa did in 2008. Now the 51-year-old representative from New Yorks 29th District is the center of attention again, this time for announcing his retirement just as allegations surfaced that Massa sexually harassed a male staffer.
Four years ago, Massa was a cherished underdog. In a 2006 article titled, They served, and now theyre running, the New York Times profiled a handful of anti-war Democratic veterans who were running for Congress. While the Times played up his military credentials 24 years in the Navy, including stints working under Gen. Wesley Clark Massa argued that there had been a fundamental change in the paradigm of politics since the start of the Iraq War. Veterans like him could publicly oppose the reasons for going to war and still succeed politically, whereas John Kerrys opposition to the Vietnam war sunk his presidential campaign decades later.
Even though opposition to the Iraq War was Massas top issue in 2006, progressives saw him as overly conservative, citing his opposition to new gun control laws and the fact that he was formerly a Republican. Anti-war sentiments were strong enough on the left, however, that Massa raised more than $377,000 online from far-left donors despite their reservations.
Massas conservative cred served him well, too, and the race looked close closer still when Republican candidate Randy Kuhls ex-wife alleged that Kuhl had pulled a shotgun on her not once, but twice.
The 29th was still too conservative for Massa, who lost to a pro-war Kuhl with only 49 percent of the vote.
Following his loss, Massa told Esquire that he was cleaning out his garage when he his family told him that he had to run again. Massa was broke and exhausted, but his memory of the founders, he said, buoyed his spirits.
Look, half the men who signed the Declaration of Independence were either in debt or bankrupt, he told Esquire. The remaining half, most of them lost all their possessions. The only reason Monticello didnt get burned to the ground was that the British patrol missed the road. In South Carolina, among the Revolutionary leaders, all of them were either hung, had their houses burned, or their family slaughtered. You scratch your head and say, They were fighting for the same things Im fighting for, and all Ive got to give is credit-card debt?
In an effort to round out his platform in a congressional district that would ultimately go to McCain, Massa added health care to his list of concerns. His own bout with cancer in the late 1990s became one of his stump subjects.
At my last physical, Massa told Esquire, the doctor said, Doing this again could kill you. And I said and this is true, hand to God My not running for Congress could result in hundreds of soldiers getting killed. So you tell me where the risk balance is. This country is in danger of losing the United States of America in one generation. So its not, Will you run again? its, How could I not?
Such rhetoric served Massa well, and his star continued to rise until March of 2008, when it seemed his campaign would be derailed by Eliot Spitzers scandalous resignation as governor of New York. According to the Washington Post, Massa had accepted campaign funds from Spitzer, and returned the cash but only after the NRCC circulated three freeze-frame photos of Massa and Spitzer together, taken from one of Massas own campaign ads, which featured the words trust, integrity and respect.
Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2010/03/04/a-brief-history-of-eric-massas-short-congressional-career/#ixzz0hKvi8Cky
Was just in the district a couple of days this week.....this seat will most likely go Republican again. It is a fairly conservative district.
Here is the big question “WHO knew WHAT, WHEN!” Wasn’t the Mark Foley incident the beginning of that phrase. Dems just had to know exactly when Hastert was informed about Foley’s indiscretions. For Pete’s sake, I think I recall that they wanted the whole leadership of the Republican Party to resign.
I wish I could believe that. But, I can't. I think this is part of a highly orchestrated dance to get a YES vote in that seat. (Chicago thuggery!)
“Special Selection.”
But the county party bosses get to pick the candidate.
Messa: Asked why he then voted against the House bill, which did have one, he explained that it would have only been available to 2% of the population. Wouldnt you rather accept half a loaf, someone asked. Yes, if the half a loaf isnt laced with cyanide, he replied.
He was a NO Vote, to be replaced by a Yes-Drone on Obamacare
Yep.
They saw what happened up north. I think they are smarter now. At least I hope, but it is NY.
Be interesting to see where the staffer ends up...
You failed to mention that General Clark led the raid on Waco during the Clinton administration. That raid took the lives of 80 plus people, 36 of them being women and children.
Weasely-Massa— Clinton - Reno — What a twisted bunch. And yes...you are absolutely right— we must never forget those inocent victims of Big Brother gone amuk.
Neither here at Waco nor in Serbia.
My first thought was to assume Reed would get the special nomination. (Nothing wrong with him is there?)
More Republicans are now interested since the seat is open.
If Reed is a conservative I’d prefer him since was the only one who wanted to run against Massa.
There might not even be a special. Some are saying it would be a waste of money. The primary for the full term is probably more important than the special election result would be.
if a Republican wins the special, it would tough for Reed or anyone else to continue the effort for the fall primary. I am sure they will fill this seat with a special.
What makes anyone think the NY GOP has anything to learn from NY23? The Albany GOP does not have a candidate for NY20 which they lost a year ago. And they aren’t backing Hoffman in NY23, but rather Will Barclay who is somewhat less liberal than Dede. So, no, they will back one of their own RINO’s. It is up to the county chairs, of course. I am not going to follow their activities too close.
I don’t know enough about Reed, to be honest. I knew Massa was a fluke upset, and wasn’t likely to win a second term. Now we won’t have to worry (unless, of course, if the NY GOP screws up again).
If the Obamacare debate stretches into the summer, that special election could be plenty important.
I would prefer a nominee from the Southern Tier to one from the Rochester suburbs.
House seats have to be filled by an election according to the Constitution; the Senate can be filled by gubernatorial appointment.
Leaving the seat empty is the same as a ‘no’ vote, so hopefully it’ll stay empty.
I kind of doubt the rats engineered this, at least not for the deathcare bill, because there’s no time for a special elecyion before they have their big vote, or at least when they claim they’re going to have their big vote. Now, maybe they knew this stuff about Massa was going to come out and they figured the sooner they booted him the better chance they’d have of keeping the seat for the next congress. They know it’s a conservative district so if they can find what passes for conservative in the rat party who isn’t a queer chasing young men around the halls of government they’d have a better chance. They know that if it’s close, they can steal it with their mastery of vote fraud.
Ouch. Poor little doggy.
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