ONE WEEK OF SILENCE: WHEN WILL JON POWERS SHOW LEADERSHIP? — Wojtaszek Calls On Powers To Return Tainted Rangel Money
North Tonawanda - Niagara County Republican Committee Chairman Henry Wojtaszek called on Jon Powers to return contributions from Congressman Charlie Rangel. Rangel has recently come under fire for receiving “sweetheart” rent deals and alleged campaign finance ethics violations. Rangel has contributed $9,000 to Powers, and the two are expected to hold a fundraising event together in New York City on August 6th.
“Powers isn’t leading by example; he’s following the model of a typical politician. His ties to career politicians like Rangel, his illegal use of campaign funds, and his questionable acceptance of contributions from outside our district are indicative of the corruption and dishonesty of D.C. insiders,” said Niagara County Republican Committee Chairman, Henry Wojtaszek. “The voters of Western New York deserve a candidate who will bring real leadership and real change, not more of the same Washington politics. It’s time for Jon Powers to come clean, and give Western New Yorkers an answer about his fundraiser and contributions.”
In addition to Powers’ questionable ties to Rangel, Powers recent fundraising report shows that nearly half of his reported contributions came from outside New York State. Powers filing shows large contributions from San Francisco, Massachusetts, New York City, Washington, D.C., and Virginia. Additionally, Powers spent more than $15,000 on travel to places other than Western New York.
“Powers has claimed to have a lot of ‘grassroots’ support from the district, but his contribution filings show otherwise. It’s another example of Powers’ hypocrisy by example,” concluded Wojtaszek. “It’s been a week of silence since Powers was asked about his contributions from Rangel and his fundraiser with Rangel. It’s time for an answer and for Powers to give back the money and cancel his fundraiser.”
* Powers campaign says nothing about returning contributions. “Erie County Republican Chairman James Domagalski called on Congressional candidate Jon Powers to show “leadership by example” and return Rangel’s $9,000 in campaign contributions…Powers campaign had no immediate response.” (Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, Ties To Rangel Under Fire, 07/11/2008)
* Rangel To File Ethics Complaint Against Himself. “House Ways and Means Chairman Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) called … for the ethics committee to investigate his fundraising efforts for a New York City College center that bears his name, denying he abused Congressional resources…Rangel defended his use of Congressional stationary to write to a variety of charitable foundations and private individuals to draw attention to the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service.” (Roll Call, 7/17/08)
* Large Contributions For Powers Come From Outside District. “44 percent of the money Powers raised through the last quarter comes from out-of-state.” (WHAM 13, 7/16/08)
* New York Times Says Rep. Rangel Has Four Rent-Stabilized Apartments In One Building Including A Campaign Office. “While aggressive evictions are making rent-stabilized apartments increasingly scarce in New York, Representative Charles B. Rangel is enjoying four of them, including three adjacent apartments in a sprawling penthouse overlooking Upper Manhattan, courtesy of one of New York’s premier real estate developers. Mr. Rangel, the powerful Democrat who is chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, uses his fourth apartment, six floors below, as a campaign office, despite state and city regulations that require rent-stabilized apartments to be used as a primary residence.” (New York Times, 7/11/08)
* Powers Charged Campaign To Pay Rent. “An Iraqi war veteran running for Congress wrongly charged his own campaign thousands of dollars for renting part of his residence. The candidate, former Army captain Jon Powers, said … he will pay the money back.” (Associated Press, 4/17/08)
* Powers And Rangel Scheduled To Do A Joint Fundraising Event. “House Ways and Means Chairman Charlie Rangel (D-N..Y.) has set up a joint fundraising entity with 10 highly touted Democrats who are challenging Republican House incumbents or are running for open seats…Rangel…will share the money with…Iraq War veteran Jon Powers one of the Democrats running for the seat being vacated by Rep. Tom Reynolds (R-N.Y.).” (Roll Call, 7/9/08)
13 Responses to “ONE WEEK OF SILENCE: WHEN WILL JON POWERS SHOW LEADERSHIP? — Wojtaszek Calls On Powers To Return Tainted Rangel Money”
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I call on Chris Lee to return all money donated by Tom Reynolds, the country Republican committes, and the national republican committee.
This money was in some way at some time tied somehow to Tom Reynolds who harbors child molestors and accountants who embezzle millions of dollars. Chris Lee must be a scum bag for taking this money - he should denounce Tom Reynolds endorsement!
Oh he shouldn’t? Oh it doesn’t show a true reflection of his character? hmmm……
Jackson, you just don’t seem to understand.
The problem with Jon Powers taking money from strip club owners is simple: people who own businesses that others find objectionable shouldn’t be allowed to contribute to the political process. This is an axiom that is as old as American itself.
Freedom of speech (and, by extension, freedom of political patronage) is limited to those who live within the standards of the Republican Party.
Say someone owns a restaurant catering to Middle Eastern food. Obviously, that person is supportive of Middle Eastern values; i.e, TERRORIST values. If the owner of this restaurant gives money to Chris Lee’s campaign, it is akin to Chris Lee supporting terrorists.
How can you not realize that the working people of Western New York will not see this? You must work for RICHard Dollinger.
yea, I know what you guys mean. A politician sodomizes an intern with a cigar, receives oral sex, commits perjury to “protect his family” and we are just supposed to pretend it didn’t happen.
Oh wait that was Bill Clinton — never mind!
I’m sure the Powers Platoon is just weighing its options and will let us know soon Cincinnatus. Maybe they’re on some needed R&R.
JacksonSmiles,
Do you think you could stop with the Gay Bashing? Assuming you are speaking of Mark Foley, The man is Gay not a child molester. He has paid the political price for it. It is pretty insulting that you continue to refer to him as a child molester.
Could you please offer some intelligent comments or maybe go over to the lefty blogs. There is plenty of thoughtful dissent going on around here that gets posted.
Wizard.. you must be thinking of Senator Craig, but Mr. Foley was found to be attempting to (if not already) engage in sex with an underage minor. I am not gay bashing… I am pointing out the facts of a public case. The person (who happened to be a boy) was 16 years old. I am sorry that you feel this relationship was appropriate.
Shade curtains, hopefully you were being sarcastic. Our government is a Democracy, everyone has the right to the voting process. Just because some people don’t believe in the same values as someone else, doesn’t mean their values are right or better. America is the melting pot. If someone owns a business, which is completely legal, and pays taxes upon that business and personal income, they have a right to vote no matter what that business is. They also have a right to support whom they choose - which could include great Buffalo staples like Shea’s and the Buffalo Zoo.
The connection between Powers and others is as crazy as the connection between a guy who sells middle eastern food giving money to Chris Lee and calling him a terrorist.
That is of course, if Lee ever files his detailed individual donor lists so they appear properly on fec.gov
wiz- why do you like to quiet the voices of people who disagree with you? I believe Hitler tried to do that as well. Good for you.
Jackson Smiles
I think you are on the melting pot or some kind of pot.
JacksonSmiles
Hitler?
Do you need to say something stupid in every comment?
jacksonsmiles, i was gonna respond do you but then i realized that you have no idea what you’re talking about. i think you sorta type whatever pops into your brain first. i would expect you would know better since you comment on every other area blog. i would expect that your comments would get better as you got more experience. once again i’ve been proven wrong. youve shown time and time again you don’t know what the hell is going on. you probably don’t know the first thing about the foley scandal with the exception of what you saw on the nightly news (which we all know are painfully accurate). same thing with the craig incident, be careful if you ever go into a public restroom, who knows how you use the facilities. you speak your party line as if it was brainwashed into you except they didn’t let you learn how to effectivley argue your point. keep accusing people of continuing the third reich, since thats how dignified debate is carried out.
I respond to stupid comments with answers that have been adjusted to the intelligence of the audience. Simple people only understand simple things. Mr. Ex Democrat – the fact that the Wizard of Oz wants to silence people can be related to Hitler. In a Democracy every citizens has the right to a voice and a vote – it’s “We the people” not “Only we who really know what’s going on the rest of you shut up because I don’t agree with you.” Silencing opponents was a tactic of Hitler and the Nazi regime. It was also a tactic of many other political parties throughout the world (even at times right here in our Democracy – remember when women or African American’s didn’t have the right to vote?)
I guess didn’t realize how many people here had the “inside scoop” on Craig and Foley, are you all best friends?
It’s amazing how quick you are to call someone a “gay basher” when in fact they are only attacking grotesque lifestyle choices and not the homosexual lifestyle itself… and this all comes from the same people who prefer an amendment to the constitution to ban gay marriage. There’s a catch 22 to your divine purpose, is there not?
It’s also amazing that according to most of you the things that appear to be true must be a fabrication of a national media conspiracy… unless of course it’s a negative truth about democratic candidates… then all the same news stations are dead accurate!
You can attack me all you want, but you’re just avoiding the issue. It’s just another way for you to hide from the real truth. I’m not saying your opinions aren’t valid, I’m just saying your wrong to deny others their opinions.
& Mr. Carr if people truly wanted dignified debate… this website is the last place they would look.
Jackson Smiles
Look I am going to sit down and speak with you like a Dutch Uncle. This Blog is not the government. It is private media technically no different than the New York Times. You have no right to say anything here. It is with the grace of the moderator/editor that you get posted. I can not get posted with a different opinion at Rochester Turning. So I gave up and accepted the fact it is their blog and they have a right. However on the flip side, I just do not go there anymore. So their opinions mean nothing to me and henceforth I do not consider what it is they say. That is their loss, they are losing the ability to change my mind.
The New York Times recently refused to publish a Op-Ed piece from Senator John McCain. They gave their reasons and we have no choice to accept it. They have a right to do so. The answer is more free speech, it was published elsewhere (including here) and people criticized the Times.
You on the other hand have a right to make comments like you do. People read them and they form an opinion. When you compare someone to Hitler, that is extreme in the ultimate, Hitler murdered 6 million people. (by the way homosexuals were a group he detested) Comparing someone who asks you to stop Gay bashing is nothing like how Hitler operated.
When you make comments that compare people to Hitler it obscures the fact, the point you are trying to make gets ignored and the only thing that is understood is that you seem foolish.
Tiberius - again my point was obscured.
I did not connect gay-bashing to Hitler. I compared trying to silence people to a tactic the Nazi Party used, I also stated in other posts that the US Goverment silenced people with voting rights by not allowing African American’s of women to vote until certain years.
The point I am making is free speech - just how you said the answer is more free speech.
I simply said Hitler did that as well - which has been a proven fact. At what point does telling people not to express their opinions get to the point of the extreme?
Your Republican friends are trying to make the same connections between Iran & Hitler’s Germany in the 1930’s /40’s.
If everyone on here believes Hitler did not silence people, then I’m sorry for you.
You all say “more free speech” but then when someone has a different opinion you say “shut up.”