Rumors of Randy’s retirement
F29th links to yet another article in which Randy Kuhl says he’s not sure if he’s running for re-election in November.
Now, no one seems to believe these rumors. There are a couple reasons why Randy might wish to keep the rumors going, though. First off, it allows him to have his press person, Meghan Tisinger, send out emails attacking Eric Massa without paying her out of campaign funds. Here’s a sample of this (and the fact that it was sent out at 1 pm on a workday means it’s likely it was sent out from a Congressional computer, by the way):
From: Meghan Tisinger [mailto:meghanetisinger@gmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2008 1:02 PM
To: undisclosed-recipients
Subject: Statement from Randy Kuhl: SCHIP VetoWASHINGTON – Jan. 23 - U.S. Representative John R. “Randy” Kuhl, Jr. (R-Hammondsport) issued the following statement today:
“Mr. Massa continues to regurgitate the same ill-informed and incorrect statements about a deeply flawed SCHIP bill. From the levels of expansion to who can access this program, Mr. Massa needs to consult with his friends in the Democratic Party before spewing falsities about this particular bill. I am astonished at the amount of inaccuracies in Mr. Massa’s position since prior to this bill he had simply repeated what Speaker Pelosi had told him to say. A puppet is only as smart as its master, and unfortunately this time the puppet decided to speak for itself and got the facts wrong
Once Randy declares he’s running, it becomes harder to do this on the taxpayer’s dime without getting into legal trouble.
But this doesn’t make much sense economically. A campaign press person costs the campaign at most 15K a quarter. The retirement rumors likely put a much larger dent than that in his fundraising, which has been shockingly lackluster.
It’s possible the Kuhl people have somehow failed to think this through. But I think it’s more likely that Kuhl is using his “indecision” as an excuse not to do any serious fundraising. I can’t say that I blame him. It’s a pretty odious task.
Update:Â F29th since there’s no reason for Kuhl to put off declaring so that he doesn’t have to pay his campaign workers:
According to the rules governing staff conduct, staff are free to “volunteer” their “own time” to work on the campaign. As for what constitutes the employee’s “own time”, that’s determined by the “personnel policies that are in place in the employing office.”  So, as long as his press secretary volunteers, she’s free to write press releases for Kuhl in her spare time.
Related posts:
Wait, isn’t that potentially illegal?
Massa would have to file a complaint. So has he?
Specifically: what is illegal?
It’s illegal to use Congressional offices, equipment, franking privileges, etc. etc. to send out material that is explicitly political in nature, e.g. attacks on your opponent.
What legal body would rule on this? And is such a body ineffective to the point of “why bother”, or does it have real teeth? (I’ll guess the former…)
Is Massa legally Kuhl’s opponent at this time?
Please look here:
http://www.star-gazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080211/UPDATE/302110040
and here:
http://www.fighting29th.com/files/Corning_Leader_A4_2008_02_11.pdf
Any incumbent still has quite an advantage. These two peices were posted and/or printed today
The student art competition article is truly a classic example.
I don’t know what the solution to this problem is. I support changing campaign finance laws to decrease the incumbents’ advantage but I feel even that wouldn’t level the playing ground because of examples like the one you cite.
I don’t know the answer as to who investigates Hatch Act violations, which is what this probably is. If that who is part of the executive branch, then it’s Bush cronies of some kind.
It’s the Office of Special Counsel:
http://www.osc.gov/hatchact.htm
[...] much like Randy Kuhl’s retirement rumors, the buzz around Reynolds will [...]
[...] guess Randy Kuhl’s not the only local subject of retirement rumors (from the Buffalo News via TomReynoldsWatch): The congressman (Tom Reynolds) [...]
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