TO: Joseph “the Cat Whisperer”Morelle, Len Lennihan and The Other Democratic Leaders In The 26th CD
FROM: Cincinnatus@monroerising.com
SUBJECT: Picking Candidates
I can only imagine how you folks feel. Jon Powers spent over a year running for office, raised over a million dollars, had the support of all of the “progressive” bloggers and lost to a lady none of you know.
As a public service, I’m going to offer some free advice. More detailed analysis and other services are available for a fee.
As most of us in the business world know, sometimes job applicants exaggerate their background and qualifications. We undertake a process called “vetting” where we actually check up on people’s claims before we hire them — or in your case back their candidacy for public office.
At the risk of sounding egotistical, I think I was the first person to question Jon Powers’ claims on War Kids Relief — the activity he used to “credential” himself as a congressional candidate. Using a technique called a “google search” I looked in to War Kids Relief and all I found was pr info on what a great guy Jon Powers was. I reported on this on April 13, 2008:
…all I found was references to how it was created by Jon Powers. Stuff put out by his campaign. I went to youtube and again, the only reference to War Kids Relief was in the context of Jon Powers creating it — again stuff put out by his campaign.
I found all of the following links by doing a Google search on War Kids Relief. The only problem is that none of them work:
Then you are all aware of Jon not having a job, hence the need to attempt to violate FEC regulations to keep a roof over his head. After reading these reports, one question appeared obvious to me. If he viewed his campaign as his personal expense account, could it be he gained financially from War Kids Relief?
I posted on this on April 19, 2008:
“This campaign is going to be a case study on whether or not Mr. Smith can still get to Washington,” Gerken said.
He said the payment will show up in Powers’ June election report.
Gerken said Powers is traveling today and unavailable for comment.
Three things jump out at me. First, in Mr. Smith goes to Washington, I’m pretty sure Mr. Smith had a job and didn’t try to get others to pay his mortgage.
Second, Powers was traveling and unavailable for comment — I’d like to know where he was and why his cell phone (probably paid for by his campaign) didn’t work there.
And finally, did he ever draw a salary from that charity he set up — War Kids Relief. If he thinks his campaign account can be used to pay his mortgage — why not dip into the “charity” for personal expenses? If he was a substitute teacher, what kind of savings is he living off of? I don’t think the Army pays enough to accumulate savings so you can be a full time candidate for congress for over a year. Take a look at our previous post on his “charity”.
One final thing. Take a look at Rochesterturning.com’s post on this. Would it be the same if Randy Kuhl did something like this? They are outrageous.
Come on Jon! Come clean on this “charity” and explain your role in it and why it doesn’t appear to be in existence anymore. It’s starting to look like this was nothing more than a ploy to show your compassion when you decided to try and be a full time politician.
There were other things that should have set off bells and whistles like Jon’s reluctance to take a stand on core issues. I can’t quite put my finger on why, but something really sounded odd, almost hypocritical, to me when he said gay marriage was an issue for states to deal with.
Then he gave people the impression he was pro-life. Then he said he was pro-choice. He also stumbled and bumbled on where he stood on many other issues. The he also appeared to have little knowledge about local projects and issues.
And all of that out of district money. Over $1.1 million raised from Washington insiders and the Hollywood elite. Then hiring John Gerkin, Jack Davis’ old campaign manager. Gerkin appeared to be little more than a hired gun who would say anything for a paycheck.
In closing, your problems were compounded by your previous endorsement of Davis in the previous two elections. When you allow someone to run because they are self funded (crazy old guys running out of spite in particular)– and then take large sums of money from him during the election cycle leading up to this one — trying to bone him because you have a better candidate can be problematic. Davis getting pissed off and running a negative campaign against Powers is something that should have been factored into the equation.
In the end, you might have actually ended up with a better candidate in the general election. Our money is still on Chris Lee, but Alice Kryzan will be a formidable candidate.
Tags: Alice Kryzan, Articles, Cincinnatus, Jack Davis, Jon Powers, Local Congressional Races by Cincinnatus
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