Last week, Cincy reported on a communication sent to us regarding concerns about where Jon Powers is getting his campaign cash from. Reader villager brought up some questions regarding the information we were sent. So, in the interest of proper reporting (folks, you won’t see this from the liberal blog(s), who intentionally skirt the truth-line) we postponed the story and are reviewing Power’s financial report more in-depth.

Oddly enough, three writers from Monroerising met on this and each one found a separate problem with Power’s campaign filings after checking out the link (although, at least he does them). We’ll have more, but Jon Powers definitely has some esplainin’ to do to the voters in the 26th CD.

You remember Jon Powers, the former substitute teacher who uses campaign donations to pay his rent, takes money from men who exploit women, hasn’t done any mail yet, and likes to hand out Buffalo Bills schedules at veterans’ ceremonies, and oh, yea, did I mention his charity that appears to be little more than a resume builder for his congressional run? (This paragraph seems to get longer and longer)

Well, while you’re all waiting for our in-depth report, here’s something I found on the D&C blog. Kudos to Joseph Spector. At least sometimes a story will be written that’s not totally slanted to favor the Democrats. Here’s Spector’s report in it’s entirety:

“Republicans Zap Powers Over Out-Of-District Campaign Funds (Updated)”
The National Republican Congressional Committee is attacking Democratic congressional candidate Jon Powers, claiming his campaign contributions come mainly from outside the 26th District, where he is running to replace retiring Rep. Thomas Reynolds, R-Clarence Erie County. 

The NRCC says Powers’ FEC report shows:
$80,050 from New York City
$44, 050 from Massachusetts
$30,300 from Virginia
$24,550 from California
$23,770 from Washington, D.C.
$15, 400 from New Yorks 26th Congressional District

“The numbers don’t lie,” said NRCC Press Secretary Ken Spain. “Based on these numbers, one would think that Jon Powers is running for Congress in Manhattan, not New York’s 26th Congressional District. Next time Jon Powers claims to have substantial ‘hometown support’ someone might consider checking out whether his hometown is in New York City, Massachusetts or even California for that matter.”

Earlier this week, Powers and some Democratic leaders called on the party to unify around his candidacy and avoid a likely primary in September.

Updated — Here’s the response from Powers’ spokeswoman Victoria Dillon:

“What the NRCC isn’t saying is that 75% of Jon Powers’ donors have given $50 or less. People from all over the district are chipping in to bring change and real leadership to Western New York.

“This attack by the NRCC is a desperate ploy to distract Western New Yorkers from a sagging economy, a war spiraling out of control in Iraq and unaffordable health care. This is more of the Washington, D.C. two-step that Western New Yorkers have grown sick of.”

posted by Joseph Spector

run with local, grassroots support, he is definitely getting the bulk of his campaign cash from outside the district, from outside the region and from outside the state.

Power’s political defender spokesperson claims that most donors give $50 dollars or less. My question is, is she counting the people who gave $26 or $50 three, four and sometimes, five times or more? If so, then “Dave G.” giving five separate contributions of $50 really gave $250. Breaking up one large contribution into many smaller ones is just repackaging. To count his money as five individual contributions under $50 is misleading, if that’s the case.

Developing…