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Good news for Republicans in the race for the 26th CD nomination.  Rick Lewis announced he will be dropping out of the race after party leaders lined up behind Chris Lee.  This is according to the Buffalo News – another paper you have to read if you want to know what’s going on in Monroe County — nice job Democrat and Chronicle!

According to the Buffalo News:

“For the larger good of the party, I’ve decided to leave the race,” Lewis said. “I had been urged by many to wage a primary, but I thought that if I stayed in it would hurt the party’s chances in November.

“I’m a team player, and the larger issue is keeping the seat,” he added.

David Bellavia, an author and decorated Iraq War veteran, is the only other GOP candidate publicly sustaining his candidacy.

Let’s hope Bellavia comes to his senses.  Given the current political climate, if there are two candidates who are war heroes, the Democrat (Jon Powers) is going to win — even if he illegally takes campaign money to pay his rent.

Plus, Bellavia’s inexperience and lack of polish will doom him.  If Republicans are going to have a chance at keeping this seat, they need to unite behind Chris Lee.

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Surprise, surprize — the Democrat and Chronicle reports that Buffalo area businessman Chris Lee has received the endorsement at that meeting of Republican Chairman in Geneseo last night.  I couldn’t find anything in the Buffalo News. 

I’ll be interested in the details of what happened — maybe the Buffalo news will have something later this morning.  I’d like to know how much support David Bellavia received.  He’s the really arrogant war vet who compared Barack Obama to Tiger Woods and he was mad because all the Republican chairmen who didn’t support him were “acting in bad faith.”  Of all of the people who didn’t receive party backing, he seems like the guy with the biggest ego and most likely to force a primary.

We’ll keep you posted. 

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The Republican race for the 26th CD nomination is starting to get interesting.  According to the Buffalo News, Rick Lewis, an executive from the Talking Phone Book, has received the backing of the “Western New York” Conservative Party:

That means Republicans, who are prepared to back rival Christopher J. Lee at a meeting set for Monday night in Geneseo, now face the real possibility of a split ticket against one Democrat in the November general election. It also provides Lewis with powerful leverage with Republican leaders for Monday’s meeting, as well as added incentive for him to wage a rare GOP primary in an effort to provide united opposition against the winner of the expected Democratic primary.

(snip)

The Conservative nod — often the winning difference in close elections — puts the Republicans in a tough spot. They enter Monday’s meeting with five of their seven county leaders supporting Lee, an Orchard Park resident whose family once owned International Motion Control Corp. Though Erie County GOP Chairman James P. Domagalski and his Niagara County counterpart, Henry F. Wojtaszek, support Lewis, Lee has enough districtwide support to gain the endorsement.

There is a big meeting, the proverbial “smoke-filled room”, in Geneseo tonight where party chairmen are going decide on the candidate.  We will be watching the Buffalo News (I doubt the Democrat and Chronicle will cover this) and we will let you know what happens.

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Chris Lee appears to be in line for the designation as the Republican candidate to replace Congressman Tom Reynolds.  According to yesterday’s Buffalo News:

Businessman Christopher J. Lee is on track for the GOP endorsement to succeed incumbent Republican Thomas M. Reynolds in the House of Representatives, but other candidates are keeping their efforts very much alive as they lobby party leaders for their support.

Republican leaders will be meeting soon to decide on a candidate.  It was interesting to note that David Bellavia hasn’t learned anything since his gaffe introducing John McCain — when he compared Barack Obama to Tiger Woods.  Take a look at what he had to say about the Republican Chairman he should be trying to impress: [Read more →]

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No big surprize, but the Buffalo News did a much better job reporting on Democratic candidate for Congress Jon Powers’ violation FEC guidelines than the Democrat and Chronicle — maybe they are less committed to affirmative action than the D&C and hire the best reporters.

According to the Buffalo News:

Powers’ spokesman made the announcement after reporters asked about Powers’ campaign statements showing the rental payments.

“The campaign may not pay for mortgage, rent or utilities for the personal residence of the candidate or the candidate’s family even if part of the residence is being used by the campaign,” according to the Federal Election Commission’s campaign guide for Congressional candidates.

Powers campaign treasurer Ann Marie Glaser received a letter from the commission on March 13, saying that more detail was needed for the expenses that Power listed on his election forms. [Read more →]

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Wow, this is amazing.  Liberal Democratic darling to replace Tom Reynolds Jon Powers, has violated the Federal Election Commission laws regarding paying yourself rent out of your campaign account.

According to the front page story in the D&C.  

The $500-a-month payments were a violation of campaign law, even if the candidate was using the residence as a base of campaign operations, as Powers was.

According to the congressional campaign guide published by the FEC, “The campaign may not pay for mortgage, rent or utilities for the personal residence of the candidate or the candidate’s family even if part of the residence is being used by the campaign.”

We were the first to tell you last week that the charity set up by Powers — War Kids Relief — the charity all the Democrats were going gaga over — (it showed how compassionate Powers was compared to those heartless Republicans) — appears to be nothing more than a resume builder for Powers.  Do a Google search and the only mention of it is in the context of what a great guy Powers is.  There’s no way to donate money (pretty important for a legitimate charity) and any information links you can find don’t work. [Read more →]

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Not that you would know it from reading the D&C, but Erie County businessman Chris Lee is moving closer to securing the Republican nomination in the race to replace retiring Congressman Tom Reynolds. 

According to yesterday’s Buffalo News:

Lee, meanwhile, is generating more and more talk in GOP circles, especially after Monroe County Republican Chairman Stephen J. Minarik III, former chairman of the state party, said Monday he will back the Amherst businessman.

“I’d like to have him as the candidate,” Minarik said. “If the other chairmen arrive at a consensus for Mr. Lee, he should be the candidate.”

Minarik’s endorsement follows a meeting in which five prospective GOP candidates were interviewed by party officials Saturday.

“I thought the interviews went well, and I feel like I’m building momentum,” Lee said Monday, adding that he is also making a major effort to gain backing from the Conservative and Independence parties. [Read more →]

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A Democratic friend of mine told me the other day she was really excited about their congressional candidate to replace Tom Reynolds, Jon Powers, a war veteran from Erie County.  I asked her what she liked about him and she told me about this charity Powers started called War Kids Relief. I think the real reason she liked him is that he wasn’t a Republican.

I decided to look into this organization.  All my friend knew about the charity was it helped kids in Iraq.  My first thought was that there were plenty of kids in the United States needing help — but I was going to try and keep an open mind.

The funny thing is when I did a Google search for War Kids Relief, 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:

http://www.vvaf.org/programs/war-kids-relief/

http://www.warkidsrelief.org/

http://www.vvaf.org/

http://www.vvaf.org/programs/immap/iraq/

Funny, when I did a Google search on Jon Powers for Congress, I found the following links and they all worked:

http://www.powersforcongress.com/

http://www.actblue.com/entity/fundraisers/18111

So here is my conclusion.  Jon Powers knows something about websites — he is quite good at self promotion.  But what about that charity my Democratic friend told me about?  I’m starting to think that it was a resume building activity that Jon has left in the dust.

Let’s hope someone in the media asks him about this — he needs to come clean on this explain what’s going on. 

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Did you catch 26th Congressional Candidate David Bellavia compare Barack Obama to Tiger Woods when he introduced Senator John McCain?  Pure and simple it was a dumb statement.  The longer he refuses to admit he made a mistake, the worse it gets.  Plus, the stumbling delivery wasn’t very impressive.

Comparing the two most famous Americans of mixed race is an amateur mistake. Saying it was unintentional is hard to believe.  Take a look for yourself. 

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I saw an article in yesterday’s D&C about NOW having a problem with Democratic Congressional candidate Jon Powers because he received an award from the Ancient Order of Hibernians — a group with beliefs tied to the Catholic Church (Gasp!).  I couldn’t find the link on the D&C website — so this is from the hard copy I pulled from my recycling bin.

Evidently, the Hibernians state on their website that “no one who holds views that contradict the teachings of the Catholic faith can be publicly honored by the group.”  That would mean he believes that homosexual marriage is wrong (imagine that — a marriage needing one man and one woman — what a neanderthal) and he is pro-life.  But wait, his campaign manager said he is pro-choice and that “same-sex marriage is an issue for states to deal with.”

What!? Well Joe Meleca-Voigt, the Democratic leader of Greece Democrats and one of the local poster gals for gay marriage, must be all over Powers on this one, right? [Read more →]

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