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NY-26: Chris Lee Resigns

by: Crisitunity

Wed Feb 09, 2011 at 6:43 PM EST


Holy cow, that was fast. In mid-afternoon, it comes out that Chris Lee sent some schmaltzy beefcake photos of himself to some lady on Craigslist other than his wife; by evening, he's already resigned. (Whatever happened to courageously gutting it out, like David Vitter and John Ensign?)

Married NY-26 Rep. Chris Lee has just announced that he is resigning in the wake of scandal set off by a damning Gawker report of him scamming on chicks on Craigslist....

"The challenges we face in Western New York and across the country are too serious for me to allow this distraction to continue, and so I am announcing that I have resigned my seat in Congress effective immediately."

So much for my earlier proclamations that this wasn't going to endanger his political career. Oh, well, as a wag on Twitter said (regarding his half-assed identity-obscuring efforts on Craigslist):

Now he can be exactly what he had pretended to be -- a divorced lobbyist.

It looks like Andrew Cuomo will be left to call a special election in NY-26, an R+6 district that stretches from the Buffalo suburbs to the Rochester suburbs. With this suddenly on the redistricting chopping block, though, will anyone bother to run? (And you know who's gotta be the happiest about this happening? NY-25's Ann Marie Buerkle!) Will we see another Dem primary standoff between Jon Powers and crazy Jack Davis? (Refer back to our 2008 archives if that doesn't ring a bell.)

UPDATE: In case you were wondering if there were a way for this to get even more hilarious:

A source close to former guv cand Carl Paladino, who is from the district, tells me he's being "heavily lobbied" to run in a special.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Here's a big handy list of potential candidates, in addition to Paladino (for whom being one of 435 may be too small a canvas for his expansive ego):

For the GOP:
• Erie Co. Exec. Chris Collins (who got a bit of gubernatorial buzz in 2010)
• state Sen. George Maziarz (can't see the GOP being happy with the possibility of risking losing their new state Senate majority, though)
• state Sen. Michael Ranzenhofer
• Assemblywoman Jane Corwin
• Assemblyman Jim Hayes
• Assemblyman and Monroe Co. GOP chair Bill Reilich
• Monroe Co. Exec. Maggie Brooks
• Ex-Assemblyman Jack Quinn (the son of the former Buffalo-area GOP Rep.)
• Ex-Rep. Tom Reynolds (one reporter says he's getting "antsy" as a lobbyist, and maybe the stench of l'affaire Mark Foley has worn off)

For the Dems:
• Erie Co. Comptroller Mark Poloncarz
• Eric Co. Clerk Kathy Hochul

And if you're wondering about the special election process, the Governor must call a special election (because this happened so early in the term, it's not comparable to how David Paterson was essentially able to pocket-veto a NY-29 special election in the wake of Eric Massa's resignation until November). The Gov still has discretion about when he calls it, though, and there's a fast turnaround, with the election happening 30-40 days after the Gov's call. As you probably remember from the debacles (for the GOP) in the NY-20 and NY-23 special elections, the nominees are chosen by a weighted vote of the county party committees, rather than by primary.
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NY-26: Chris Lee Resigns | 118 comments
How long does the governor have to call a special election in NY?
Could Cuomo wait until after redistricting is done?

Male, VA-08
From an article
http://voices.washingtonpost.c...

"The power to call the special election falls to Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D). There is no set deadline for a special election to be called but once it is called, it must be held between 30 and 40 days after that date."

24, male, African-American, CA-24, Democrat. Chair of the SSP Black Caucus.

[ Parent ]
Paterson dragged his feet with
Massa's district, iirc, but I don't think that's really fair to residents.
Paterson only did because he knew the Democrats were gonna lose it and he didn't want to hear the "Impending doom" story that comes with the special election.
nt

28, Liberal Democrat, CA-26
[ Parent ]
Who decides if there's a primary or if the county parties get to pick the nominees?


21, male, CA-15 (home and voting there), LA-2 (college)


NY Law
County chairs pick the nominee under law.  
[ Parent ]
maybe
if we're lucky, a Repub State Senator will go for it. Potentially creating an open seat there.
Agreed


Follow the elections in Georgia at the 2010 Georgia Race Tracker.
[ Parent ]
Upon First Glance, Little Legislative Bench Here....
In the 26th, Dems appear to have only two state assembly members who represent parts of the district, Robin Schimminger in the 140th (though he lives in Kenmore which is outside the district) and Dennis Gabryszak in the 143rd, though he also is not a resident of the 26th.

With that said, given the low esteem in which the New York State Legislature is held, that's not a death knell for Dems.

My first thought is that it's not an unwinnable district for Dems, who will, if I remember correctly from the NY-20th/23rd specials (Tediscomania and Scozzafavaed!), be able to handpick their desired candidate. Worth the effort in my book.

Upon second look
Small parts of the 131st and 132nd are in the district as well.
[ Parent ]
Any D Mayors in the district?
Just checked 3, all I see are Rs.
[ Parent ]
At least two town supervisors
Scott A. Bylewski-Clarence (Erie County)
David L. Cummings-Newstead (Erie County)
[ Parent ]
What exactly is a town supervisor?
n/t

Politics and Other Random Topics

24, Male, Democrat, NM-01, Chairman of the Atheist Caucus, and Majority Leader of the "Going to Hell" caucus!

[ Parent ]
It's a position equal to mayor


24, male, African-American, CA-24, Democrat. Chair of the SSP Black Caucus.
[ Parent ]
Very little
As almost everyone here knows - this is (roughly on par with 29th) the most republican district in NY. If party chairs learned their lessons from the past and will agree on non-offensive pragmatic conservative - Democrats will have next to zero chances. But there is always chance for crazy Paladino-like candidate...))))
[ Parent ]
Paladino's involvement
would be a bad thing. He'll run and win, but his notoriety will make Democrats feel compelled to spend there.

Not only that, but he could pose trouble for other D incumbents after redistricting.  

Paladino
 Lost the Gubernatorial election 62%-34% but only because he was crushed Downstate (he lost Staten Island by 17 points.) Paladino did well in Upstate though, losing Monroe County (Rochester) and winning Erie County with 58% and Niagra County with 60% +. The 26th has the most Republican parts of Erie and Niagra Counties. If voters in that election stuck with the far right Paladino, then it is very likely they will stick with him in a special election.  

for more election analysis, visit  http://frogandturtle.blogspot....




17, CA-06,  

[ Parent ]
Yup, he'd win this easily
And probably keeps the district past redistricting.

I'm coming to the view that this isn't really a big deal, though.

[ Parent ]
Jesus Christ, that guy was a screwup
How terrible do you have to be as a Republican to lose Staten Island by 17 points!?

Male, VA-08
[ Parent ]
Paladino is the James Traficant of Republicans.
Though he could win if nominated, I think the GOP county chairs would be wise to pick somebody less flamboyantly insane than Paladino. As we saw in November, his outlandish behavior repels independent voters. If he were regularly putting on his clown show as a member of Congress, wouldn't that hurt the state GOP's 2012 chances in other NY congressional, state and local races?
[ Parent ]
Upstate
He probably only won Erie and Niagara because Cuomo is a typical downstate politician while Paladino tried to play the role of a fighter for Western New York in Albany (against the downstate devils who they think have an outsized role in state government; population and wealth be damned!). A local Dem pol would make it a closer race.

25, Male, CT-01 (home), Perth-Wellington riding (sometimes)
[ Parent ]
I am worried
 About this district. In 2008, Obama did pretty well in Upstate New York and lost only two districts up there. This was one of those districts. He lost it 46/52 and I think it was the most Republican district in New York at that election. Still, the scandal by the Republican may make the Republican party here look bad.

 

for more election analysis, visit  http://frogandturtle.blogspot....




17, CA-06,  

not worried
we haven't held it, probably ever

18, Dem, CA-14 (home) CA-09 (college, next year). social libertarian, economic liberal, fiscal conservative.   Everybody should put age and CD here. :)
[ Parent ]
and
i dont think we'll start now

18, Dem, CA-14 (home) CA-09 (college, next year). social libertarian, economic liberal, fiscal conservative.   Everybody should put age and CD here. :)
[ Parent ]
Well, Massa won this district
So I think it's not impossible for another Democrat to win it. I wouldn't take even odds on it, though!

"I'm not a member of any organized political party, I'm a Democrat!"
--  Will Rogers  
[ Parent ]
On second attempt and
in very good Democratic year. That doesn't happen too frequently...
[ Parent ]
And actually, that was in a different district
Anyway, I'm not suggesting a Democratic win is likely, just that it's not impossible.

"I'm not a member of any organized political party, I'm a Democrat!"
--  Will Rogers  
[ Parent ]
I see only one possibility:
IF republicans nominate absolute crazy. Otherwise - even usual "solid conservative" (Reynolds-style) will be sufficient for them to win
[ Parent ]
Yes, or a sudden scandal
Probably so.

"I'm not a member of any organized political party, I'm a Democrat!"
--  Will Rogers  
[ Parent ]
Reynlods didn't overwhelm
As an incumbent, he got 55% in '04 and 52% in '06.

So given a consensus D candidate, it's reasonable to expect a closer race against such an opponent.

[ Parent ]
55 would be normal
(2004 was "normal" year). 52 was in very good Democratic 2006, which will not be repeated soon...
[ Parent ]
In most cases, non-incumbents
can expect fewer votes than incumbents.

So if 55% is normal for a "Reynolds-style" R incumbent in R-26, something less would be "normal" for a "Reynolds-style" first time candidate.

And at that point, a good D candidate is within a gaffe of making it close.

One thing I don't know is long-term vote trends in NY-26.

[ Parent ]
I am also interested in that,
but have vague memoies that it's almost static. 2-3% here or there. Obama did better then Kerry in 2004, but by no more then 2-3%
[ Parent ]
Louise Slaughter
She represented Genesee County and the northern parts of Livingston County with parts of eastern Monroe County in the 1980s after Barber Conable retired.  It was redistricted in the 1990s, probably to strengthen her as she gained a district that was only Monroe County.  In the 2000 redistricting, the current GLOW district was created to support Tom Reynolds.
[ Parent ]
MAFFEI (D) VS PALADINO (R)!!!!
CAN IT HAPPEN?!?!?!?!?!?!

26, Male, Democrat, TX-26
Maffei is from Syracuse
This is a Rochester area district.

24, male, African-American, CA-24, Democrat. Chair of the SSP Black Caucus.
[ Parent ]
I think the reference was to the redistricted possibilities

[ Parent ]
It would be Slaughter or Higgins vs. Paladino

[ Parent ]
David Rivera has been beaten to the punch twice now!


Independent Socialist & Chair of SSP Cranky Indianian Hoosier Caucus, IN-09
Don't feel bad about underestimating this, Crisitunity
I wrote up the RRH daily digest today and didn't even bother to include this because I assumed Gawker=idle gossip. As it turned out, I was very wrong.

20, CD MA-03/NH-01/MA-08
Carl Paladino
is being courted to run says sources to me (I'm a journalist)

This was his best district.  

His if he wants it
On reflection, I don't think this will be too bad. We can't win that seat anyway, and it's going nowhere in redistricting (geography).  
[ Parent ]
Props to Crusitunity
"Now he can be exactly what he had pretended to be -- a divorced lobbyist."

Best...quote...ever...

26 White Male. Born and raised in MN-8, currently living in MN-5.

"A man who stands for nothing will fall for anything."

Unfortunately
that wasn't me, just passing along someone else's tweet.

Speaking of which, here's one that's even better, from the Wall Street Journal's Jonathan Weisman:

Back story on Chris Lee is gonna be juicy. Lots of reporters were chasing it this fall. None of us could break it.

[ Parent ]
Would the Republicans in NY ever even think about picking Paladino...
After his humiliating loss last year? I know he extremely well in Western Upstate New York and didn't end up having any negative coattails, but he really made the state party look bad. I could see him winning a primary easily though...

20, Democrat, Male, MI-06 (Home), MI-02 (College)
Pretty sure he got 60% in this district
so yeah  
[ Parent ]
Maybe higher
 He won 58% in Erie County and the 26th district has the most Republican parts of Erie County.  

for more election analysis, visit  http://frogandturtle.blogspot....




17, CA-06,  

[ Parent ]
Yes and no
It's not really the most-Republican section of Erie County. The small towns of Clarence and Newstead are quite Republican, but Obama carried the large town of Amherst by 11 points and lost by only 3 in Lancaster, the second-largest Erie town in the district.

It would be hard for the GOP to blow this, but not impossible.

29, Male, Dem, NY-20  

[ Parent ]
New York House Members
I'd like to point out here that since 2008, this is the third House member from New York to either resign or decline to run for reelection due to a sex scandal (or something approximating one). There must be something in the water all over the state.

progressive, NY-8 (home), PA-7 (college)
plus
one governor

18, Dem, CA-14 (home) CA-09 (college, next year). social libertarian, economic liberal, fiscal conservative.   Everybody should put age and CD here. :)
[ Parent ]
true :)

It is not understandable.
[ Parent ]
Four
Tom Reynolds retired in 2008 largely because of the Mark Foley sex scandal (although he himself was never caught with his pants down.)

20, CD MA-03/NH-01/MA-08
[ Parent ]
something in the water
Well, Love Canal is less than 10 miles from the 26th.
[ Parent ]
NY Pols give NJ and CT a run for corruption and incompetence...
Let's see: Randy Kuhl, Eric Massa, John "fratboy" Sweeney, all winners from upstate

Tom Reynolds and Sue Kelly (Hudson Valley) were involved in the Foley cover-up.

The city got Vito Fosella and Charles Rangel.

Nan Hayworth and Ann Marie Buerkle seem ripe to be the next loser pols from the state.

And the state senate is even worse!

25, Male, CT-01 (home), Perth-Wellington riding (sometimes)

[ Parent ]
Nan Hayworth and Ann Marie Buerkle the next loser pols?
What have they done?  

"I have never deliberately given anybody hell. I just tell the truth on the opposition-and they think it's hell."--President Harry Truman. President Obama, are you listening?
[ Parent ]
I wou;d also like to know.
It seems to me last days, that though proposed merger is not yet finalized, the flavour of discussion here begin to follow worst DK patterns. And that the quality suffers accordingly.

I caught myself on idea that i begin to write on RRH substantially more, then on SSP, and, frankly, enjoy it more...

[ Parent ]
Unsure
No idea what Hayworth has done.

Buerkle held a town hall meeting with consitutents and seemed to be under the impression that Members of Congress don't get health insurance until she was corrected by staffers.  Makes me wonder if she was in the room when Maryland's new embarassment Andy Harris whined "Where's my government health care?! Why does it not kick in immediately?!" at an freshman orientation session on the subject. Interesting that people so eager to deny health coverage to everyone else can't sort out their own coverage.  

36, M, Democrat, MD-03

[ Parent ]
Well, if so - i don't see any criminal or even embarassing in Buerkle's words
At least - no hypocrisy, so evident in Harris's.....
[ Parent ]
It Doesn't Suggest Criminality
It does suggest she's a low watt bulb. I know that if I get elected to Congress on health care issues, I want to be able to answer what would seem like farily obvious questions about my health care. At minimum, I'm not going to try to score rhetorical points on some issue if I'm flying totally blind.



36, M, Democrat, MD-03

[ Parent ]
Dems should contest
Shouldn't Dems contest this, especially if the nominee is Paladino?  If Dems win, they can force the GOP to eliminate another GOP district upstate.  Plus, they probably won't face a great candidate, since if the GOP wins it's a redistricting target regardless, dissuading stronger candidates from running.
I'd like to see a serious recruitment effort
The DCCC is skilled at winning specials, and the party has done well with upstate NY recruiting. Murphy and Owens came from outside the realm of elected officials, and won their respective specials. Obviously Murphy is now gone and Owens has had circumstantial help, but a win is a win. I'd like to see a serious recruitment effort - ESPECIALLY if Paladino's the nominee. There's always the potential for him to implode some more, and it would be interesting to see a strident social conservative running at at time when the GOP Congress is obsessed with talking about abortion.

I also tend to think Paladino's regional strength was enhanced by the fact that Cuomo's win was always a fait accompli - "he's crazy, but he's OUR crazy, and it's not like he'll win anyway." Some of that might evaporate in a competitive race.  

29, Male, Dem, NY-20  

[ Parent ]
Debt
I would rather see the DCCC focus on debt retirement than spend on this right now.  Keep the powder dry.

From MO-3, college in CT-3, lived in NH-1, NH-2, PA-2, and MA-8 in the 3 years since.
[ Parent ]
What about this guy?
As a potential Dem candidate: http://www.erie.gov/legislatur...

Seems to have a good profile, and resides (and owns a business) in one of the larger towns in the district.  

29, Male, Dem, NY-20  

Good Profile, yes
What's the attitude of rural western NY towards politicos from Buffalo? Yeah I know the guy's from Amherst, but that's a Buffalo suburb.

OTOH, what proportion of the district's population is from metro Buffalo/Niagara Falls? Perhaps a politico from that area is what we want.

[ Parent ]
They elected Lee twice
And he's from the next town over. The GOP label helped of course, but I don't think being from Amherst is a killer. The Erie County towns make up about 30% of the district's population; that's almost all Buffalo metro with a small rural piece thrown in.  

29, Male, Dem, NY-20  
[ Parent ]
Niagara's portion is about 17%
Much of that is rural and not particularly metropolitan, though North Tonawanda (31K residents) is close to Buffalo in both a physical and demographic sense.

29, Male, Dem, NY-20  
[ Parent ]
Paladino?
For real?

Christopher Lee stepped down because of an infidelity scandal.

Carl Paladino kept a second family, fathering a child with his mistress.

Would the Republicans really fail to see the irony of that kind of replacement?

(Yes, I know, they would do it without the slightest sense of irony or shame...)

I wonder if there's a Bill Owens in NY-26
Someone with a good profile not currently in elective office. What bigger companies are there in the district? Any Kodak or Bausch and Lomb execs active in D politics? (I'd suggest David Nachbar, but he's in NY-29.)
Holy crap!
I go to class, come back, and this happens?  Wow!  So fast!

Ad hoc, ad loc and quid pro quo!
So little time, so much to know!
Is There Any Period Of Time
when your country can get through one year without some politician up in Washington getting caught up in a sex scandal, either gay or straight? Chris Lee, Eric Massa, David Vitter, John Ensign, Mark Foley, Tim Mahoney.

Hey, let's all try to guest who'll be next!

lee terry
is known to have many ethical issues.  steven latourette and ken calvert have already had sex scandals back in the 90s.  john ensign's still in office, as is vitter, so you never know.

but my money's on lee terry

18, Dem, CA-14 (home) CA-09 (college, next year). social libertarian, economic liberal, fiscal conservative.   Everybody should put age and CD here. :)

[ Parent ]
Tim Johnson (IL-15) is something of a playboy
He supposedly has fathered multiple children with multiple women.
[ Parent ]
I hadn't read that about him
So much of this stuff about members of Congress sounds like a primetime soap opera.

24, male, African-American, CA-24, Democrat. Chair of the SSP Black Caucus.
[ Parent ]
Do you have a link or anything?


20, Democrat, Male, MI-06 (Home), MI-02 (College)
[ Parent ]
He
has nothing on Congressman Burton who has fathered at least one and more than likely much more. Someone who worked in the legislator at the time told me that he bordered on a sex addict.  

Proud member of the Indiana Democratic Party from IN-9.  
[ Parent ]
Dan Burton of duct taped watermelon fame?


"I have never deliberately given anybody hell. I just tell the truth on the opposition-and they think it's hell."--President Harry Truman. President Obama, are you listening?
[ Parent ]
Yeah
Also, Dan Burton of "Plexiglas shield around the House chamber" fame, as well as "Too busy golfing to vote" fame.  

Independent Socialist & Chair of SSP Cranky Indianian Hoosier Caucus, IN-09
[ Parent ]
Tim Mahoney
Seems like the only guy recently who's lost almost entirely because of a sex scandal - and he represented a Republican district and with the whole succeeding Mark Foley thing... Hell, Republicans & Conservatives in New York were talking about nominating Vito Fossella again in 2010. Vito Fossella!

20, Democrat, Male, MI-06 (Home), MI-02 (College)
[ Parent ]
Most politicians
are geeks like us who aren't used to being showered with power and temptation. There will be scandals like this for as long as we have a democratic society.
[ Parent ]
and if it's not a democratic society
it's not a scandal, because the "law" says it's not.  

Top ten signs you're an SSPer #1: your favorite song is "Panic At Tedisco" and no one understands what you mean.
[ Parent ]
^this
or until being a political geek is sexy

26, male, Dem, NJ-12
[ Parent ]
I'd settle for a good old fashioned "outing"
of someone R like Drier or Graham....
[ Parent ]
I worry that Dreier
may lose his seat (i.e., not have one) before his hypocrisy can be publicly demonstrated.  
[ Parent ]
Getting rid of Dreier would be worth it
   I would gladly settle for having his sorry hypocritical ass out of Congress, even if not fully exposed. I know that sounds wrong, but whatever, I just want him no longer employed by the U.S. government!

52, male, disgruntled Democrat, CA-28
[ Parent ]
But there is always Patrick McHenry
Or, at least, strong rumors. . .
[ Parent ]
I always forget about him!
But he [McHenry] at least comes across as gayer than a pink unicorn with a clutchpurse full of rainbows.

Behold: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

It could be the accent, but my gaydar, at least, pinged like it would at a prayer session led by the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.

Kansan by birth, Californian by choice, and Gay by the grace of God.

[ Parent ]
My gaydar might be rusty from Japan
but I do hear a bit of gay in his voice.

21, dude, RI-01 (registered) IL-01 (college)
please help Japan. click "donate funds" in upper right and then "Japan Earthquake and Pacific Tsunami." http://www.redcross.org/
[ Parent ]
When you copy and paste Patrick McHenry...
into Google, the first thing that comes up is "Patrick McHenry gay." Second is "Patrick McHenry wedding," and above "Patrick McHenry wiki" is "Patrick McHenry marriage."

Apparently knowledge about Patrick McHenry's sex life is a highly valuable commodity on search engines. Says a lot about America...

20, Democrat, Male, MI-06 (Home), MI-02 (College)

[ Parent ]
Blogactive's Mike Rogers tweeted that
.... he had photos of a "man who spent the night at Lindsey Graham's house", but I haven't heard anything further...

Dreier's going to be hard to out, though, since he's supposedly schtupping his chief of staff, who isn't exactly likely to turn a cache of emails over to Gawker. Well, I suppose we can always hope for a lover's quarrel gone seriously awry. Until then, he'll keep on marchin' in that "moderate" pride parade.

Kansan by birth, Californian by choice, and Gay by the grace of God.

[ Parent ]
Thing with Dreier
is that if he is in fact with his COS, there is a potential major conflict of interest, since Dreier decides how much money his partner is making. I know you have to disclose if someone from your family is on your payroll if you're in Congress, does a similar provision apply even if the law doesn't consider Dreier and his partner "family?" Surely there has to be something that applies if you're dating someone...

22, Democrat, AZ-01
Peace. Love. Gabby.
[ Parent ]
Light in the Loafers
During the 2002 campaign, the state Democratic Chairman said Graham was "too light in the loafers" to succeed Strom Thurmond in the Senate.
[ Parent ]
What about Rick Perry? He seems to be
a possible target for that as well.

18- Hamburg, Germany (non-US-citizen)
[ Parent ]
There's a great comment on that NYDailyNews page.
Little did he know, when he woke up this morning ...
Man, talk about having a bad day!


Ad hoc, ad loc and quid pro quo!
So little time, so much to know!
WOW.
This is out of the blue. And I thought Webb would be the big news of the day. I did not think he would resign, this is definitely a shock. Really I think he could have recovered from this. At the very least he could have served out his term. This is a good thing as it balances out Harmon's lost vote in Congress. Though the thought of Crazy Carl in Congress is not particularly appetizing. Though it would be kind of fun to see him swinging that bat on capitol hill.  

Proud member of the Indiana Democratic Party from IN-9.  
So
people are now saying he used his real name on wikipedia. Is there any truth to this? Wow, now that would be stupid.  

Proud member of the Indiana Democratic Party from IN-9.  
Yes, that would be really stupid
If he's that dumb, he did his constituents a favor by resigning so they aren't represented by someone who isn't too bright.  

24, male, African-American, CA-24, Democrat. Chair of the SSP Black Caucus.
[ Parent ]
Oh no, it's even worse than that
According to Gawker: "It's the same Gmail account that was associated with Lee's personal Facebook account, which the Congressman deleted when we started asking questions." [emphasis mine]

Yeah, he didn't even bother to create a fake-ish email address for his cruising, he used his actual Gmail address. How techno-dumb do you have to be, etc., etc.?

Kansan by birth, Californian by choice, and Gay by the grace of God.

[ Parent ]
Kathy Konst
Add another couple of Dem names?

Kathy Konst, an Erie legislator, considered running in the Dem primary 26th in 2008, but instead ran and lost for State Senate. Now an appointed commissioner in Erie.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

Since 2008, Jon Powers has served as Chief Operating Officer at the Truman National Security Project, and has been active in Netroots. Here's a couple of videos of him:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

Paladino won't run
http://www.capitaltonight.com/...

Update:
Buffalo TV Station WGRZ just tweeted this: "Carl #Paladino says he will not run for Rep. Chris Lee's spot. He says many people pushing for NYS Assemblymember Jane Corwin."

24, male, African-American, CA-24, Democrat. Chair of the SSP Black Caucus.

Just saw her on TV tonight
I think it was pre-taped as they were talking about state and local issues, but she could be a formidable candidate if interested.
[ Parent ]
Barring something unpredictable - she would win
(and rather easily) over any democrat mentioned... As far as i know - she is of "pragmatic conservative" type - that's fits district well and must be more then enough for victory...
[ Parent ]
No Doug Hoffman for the Republicans?
No need to reside in the district. Ruin their chances a third time./s
Legal citation?
I can't find anything that actually says the governor of NY actually has to call a special election to fill a congressional vacancy, just that the election must be held within 30 to 40 days after he does call for one.

The operative law appears to me to be the Public Officers Law, particularly this bit:

3. Upon [irrelevant material elided] the occurrence of a vacancy in any elective office which cannot be filled by appointment for a period extending to or beyond  the next  general  election  at  which  a person may be elected thereto, the governor may in his discretion make proclamation of a  special  election to  fill  such  office,  specifying  the district or county in which the election is to be held, and the day thereof, which  shall  be  not  less than thirty nor more than forty days from the date of the proclamation.
 4.  A  special  election  shall  not  be held to fill a vacancy in the office of a representative in congress unless such vacancy occurs on  or before  the first day of July of the last year of the term of office, or unless it occurs thereafter and a special session of congress is  called to  meet  before the next general election, or be called after September nineteenth of such year[non-relevant portion elided]. If a special election to fill an office shall not be held as required by law,  the  office  shall  be  filled  at  the  next  general election.

I Am Not A Lawyer and so on, but the key bits I see are "the governor may in his discretion" in paragraph 3 and the lack of any actual timeframe specified in paragraph four, which only specifies the conditions under which a special election may NOT be held. Paragraph 4 doesn't actually say "If these conditions do not apply then a special election MUST be held," they just say "under these conditions a special election MAY NOT be held."

Could he just leave the seat vacant for the next two years and deny the Republicans a House seat?

A footnote in my NY election law text
says (in reference to legislative seats) that POL § 42 does not, by its text, appear to require a special election, but that (as of 2009) the author knows of no circumstance where one has not been called.  
[ Parent ]
BTW, the rules came up
[ Parent ]
I'm pretty sure he could
I seriously doubt it considering the resignation happening barely a month after the convening of Congress. Only if it was decided way in advance that this district would disappear would Cuomo consider such an action, and even then it just seems too political not to mention unfair to the residents of the 26th to go nearly 20 months without a representative compared to about 7 months for NY-29 after Massa resigned. And of course the fact that completely eliminating the district could be quite tricky as some other commentators have said based on population shifts.

Nonetheless this is a Republican held district (compared to the NY-29 Dem held one) and Cuomo and the other Democrats don't have anything to lose by scheduling a special election.  

[ Parent ]
Hmmm?
Don't you mean it the other way around? It's a Republican-held district that is now vacant, so by scheduling a special election they give Republicans an extra seat. It might not be terribly meaningful given the current margin in the House, but we did also see a couple of situations this week where a relatively small number of Republican votes did matter. The only people who would get particularly exercised over not holding a special would be the politically-aware Republicans in that district, who aren't going to vote for Democrats anyhow.

Yes, it would be rather petty and so on, but so what? You know if it was a Republican governor and a Democratic seat that opened up, they wouldn't hesitate to take total partisan advantage of the situation. The Netroots complains all the time about Democratic officeholders refusing to play hardball; this would be an excellent time to make a partisan move.

[ Parent ]
By depriving 660,000 people of representation?
Or did I miss what you meant by "hardball"?


29, Male, Dem, NY-20  
[ Parent ]
Matter of perspective
Alternatively, depriving 262 Republicans a 263rd. If New Yorkers wanted to mandate an election, they've had a few hundred years to put that into the law. At the very least he should declare that he'll hold off until redistricting is complete - and then use the threat of refusing outright to hold one as leverage in the redistricting process.
[ Parent ]
Patterson delayed Massa's replacement special election for months
Massa resigned in March 2010, and the special election was delayed to coincide with the regular November 2010 election.

Cuomo could, theoretically, delay the election until November 2012 -- but it would be politically stupid, by inviting significant upstate resentment against Democrats (who have made huge upstate inroads in recent years). If the balance in the House was only a couple of seats, that might be worth the risk, but with Democrats wanting to regain the state Senate and make the most of Congressional redistricting, there is no need to antagonize upstate voters unnecessarily.


[ Parent ]
There's got to be more to this story...
If this is all there is, I don't think its enough to resign your seat in Congress. This must be the proverbial tip of the iceberg.
sounds like
there is more, according to Jonathan Weisman:

Back story on Chris Lee is gonna be juicy. Lots of reporters were chasing it this fall. None of us could break it.

[ Parent ]
This thread needs...
a picture of (the actor) Christopher Lee in Dracula getup right away, there's just too much fun in this.

25, Male, CT-01 (home), Perth-Wellington riding (sometimes)
On a similar note
For a while in my head I kept nicknaming the guy "Saruman", not because of anything nefarious, but just because he was so anonymous as it was and that I needed a way to identify him. Guess that won't be necessary anymore.
[ Parent ]
he just doesn't want to be a Congressman anymore
This seems like an excuse to do something he wanted to do anyway. If he wanted to stay in Congress he could easily ride this out.

26, male, Dem, NJ-12
Unless THIS is something more than it currently seems,
which there are currently vague clues is the case.

34, WM, Democrat, FL-11
[ Parent ]
What a shame
If that is true, then he ought not to have run last November.
[ Parent ]
Why retire when you can make the state pay for a special election?
like a good Republican, he has good family values and prizes fiscal responsibility.

21, dude, RI-01 (registered) IL-01 (college)
please help Japan. click "donate funds" in upper right and then "Japan Earthquake and Pacific Tsunami." http://www.redcross.org/
[ Parent ]
NY-26: Chris Lee Resigns | 118 comments

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