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Audio Feature: WGXC Congressional Report 20181016
Oct 13, 2018 9:45 am
Here's the week in the news for Rep. John Faso (R-Kinderhook), the District 19 Congressperson for the WGXC listening area. The Fivethirtyeight.com website currently reports Faso votes with Donald Trump's positions 89.2 percent of the time, the same as last week. Fivethirtyeight.com also currently predicts Faso has a 43.6 percent chance of winning re-election, rating Democrat Antonio Delgado at 56.4 percent. Click here to download or play an audio version of this report (14:58).
• Television watchers and internet users locally may be familiar with Catskill resident Andrea Mitchell, who has been featured in ads from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee against Rep. John Faso. Just after Faso took office in January 2017, protesters at his Kinderhook office marched down to his nearby home. Faso came out to talk with them, and Mitchell, who has several health issues, asked him not to vote to eliminate allowing pre-existing conditions in the nation's healthcare plan. "I promise, I promise," Faso said, although later he would vote for the Republican American Health Care Act that would have reduced coverage, though it failed by one vote in the Senate. Now Mitchell says Faso is attacking her personally. "Last week #CongressmanJohnFaso in #NY19 posted a header on his website that was my name, personally. Not an attack on another candidate, or a policy, but a direct attack on a private citizen and constituent," Mitchell wrote on Twitter. She posted a YouTube video as a response.
• William J. Kemble in the Daily Freeman reports on the campaign of Diane Neal, the actor who is one of several candidates challenging Rep. John Faso, the first-term Republican now representing New York's 19th Congressional District. Neal is running on her own party line. The story contains one startling sentence: "Neal is a registered Democrat but said she has made several attempts to change her registration to a non-affiliated." So she is running for Congress, but has not been able to fill out the form to change her party registration? Neal says infrastructure is among the district's biggest issues. “Since our district is often neglected, what is of immediate importance are the infrastructure that we need,” she said. “Specifically we need ... internet that is affordable and reliable, at competitive speed and connectivity.” Democrat Antonio Delgado and the Green Party's Steve Greenfield are also running against Faso on the Nov. 6 ballot. Neal is best known for playing Assistant District Attorney Casey Novak on the "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" television show. “Without any kind of internet service to the majority of the district, people can’t do their homework, just can’t,” Neal said. “You can’t do any online education. You can’t take advantage of any kind of online retail opportunities, or remotely [tele]commute into work.” Read the full story in the Daily Freeman.
• Janaki Chadha is reporting for Politico New York the New York Hotel and Motel Trades Council is spending $2 million to boost Democratic candidates five House races. Approximately a quarter of the funding will come from the council's national counterpart, Unite Here. The union represents 40,000 hospitality workers in the region. The ads, which began running October 9, in New York, target Republican incumbents John Faso, Claudia Tenney and John Katko. “Everything our union has fought for over the last few decades is at stake,” council President Peter Ward said in an emailed statement, citing immigration policy, labor rights and affordable health care. The ads will condemn the Republican candidates on their health care records. A television spot focused on both Faso and Tenney, denounces their 2017 votes in support of the Republican bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act. The ads will run on local radio stations, broadcast and cable television, as well as social media channels and other digital spaces. Faso campaign manager Tom Szymanski said the ACA "failed to deliver on its promises" and cited Faso's work on a "bipartisan 'Problem Solvers Caucus,' where we have focused on developing a solution that protects Medicare, covers pre-existing conditions and makes health care more affordable and accessible for every American." Read the full story at Politico New York.
• The Daily Freeman reports that two of the four candidates for New York's 19th Congressional District seat will take questions from AARP members over the phone this week. Republican incumbent John Faso, from Kinderhook, takes calls from 2 to 3 p.m. Oct. 11, and Democrat Antonio Delgado, from Rhinebeck, fields questions from 11:10 a.m. until 12:10 p.m. on Oct. 12. Only AARP members who received an invitation can ask questions, but anyone can listen in by phoning (877) 229-8493 and using PIN 18948. Green Party candidate Steve Greenfield and independent Diane Neal are not involved in the telephone talks. Faso held a telephone town hall of his own Oct. 11, and also spoke with Holly Tanner and Justin Weaver on the WGXC radio show "Something to Talk About." Click on the WGXC Newsroom HERE to download or play the WGXC interview with Faso.
• Television watchers and internet users locally may be familiar with Catskill resident Andrea Mitchell, who has been featured in ads from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee against Rep. John Faso. Just after Faso took office in January 2017, protesters at his Kinderhook office marched down to his nearby home. Faso came out to talk with them, and Mitchell, who has several health issues, asked him not to vote to eliminate allowing pre-existing conditions in the nation's healthcare plan. "I promise, I promise," Faso said, although later he would vote for the Republican American Health Care Act that would have reduced coverage, though it failed by one vote in the Senate. Now Mitchell says Faso is attacking her personally. "Last week #CongressmanJohnFaso in #NY19 posted a header on his website that was my name, personally. Not an attack on another candidate, or a policy, but a direct attack on a private citizen and constituent," Mitchell wrote on Twitter. She posted a YouTube video as a response.
• William J. Kemble in the Daily Freeman reports on the campaign of Diane Neal, the actor who is one of several candidates challenging Rep. John Faso, the first-term Republican now representing New York's 19th Congressional District. Neal is running on her own party line. The story contains one startling sentence: "Neal is a registered Democrat but said she has made several attempts to change her registration to a non-affiliated." So she is running for Congress, but has not been able to fill out the form to change her party registration? Neal says infrastructure is among the district's biggest issues. “Since our district is often neglected, what is of immediate importance are the infrastructure that we need,” she said. “Specifically we need ... internet that is affordable and reliable, at competitive speed and connectivity.” Democrat Antonio Delgado and the Green Party's Steve Greenfield are also running against Faso on the Nov. 6 ballot. Neal is best known for playing Assistant District Attorney Casey Novak on the "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" television show. “Without any kind of internet service to the majority of the district, people can’t do their homework, just can’t,” Neal said. “You can’t do any online education. You can’t take advantage of any kind of online retail opportunities, or remotely [tele]commute into work.” Read the full story in the Daily Freeman.
• Janaki Chadha is reporting for Politico New York the New York Hotel and Motel Trades Council is spending $2 million to boost Democratic candidates five House races. Approximately a quarter of the funding will come from the council's national counterpart, Unite Here. The union represents 40,000 hospitality workers in the region. The ads, which began running October 9, in New York, target Republican incumbents John Faso, Claudia Tenney and John Katko. “Everything our union has fought for over the last few decades is at stake,” council President Peter Ward said in an emailed statement, citing immigration policy, labor rights and affordable health care. The ads will condemn the Republican candidates on their health care records. A television spot focused on both Faso and Tenney, denounces their 2017 votes in support of the Republican bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act. The ads will run on local radio stations, broadcast and cable television, as well as social media channels and other digital spaces. Faso campaign manager Tom Szymanski said the ACA "failed to deliver on its promises" and cited Faso's work on a "bipartisan 'Problem Solvers Caucus,' where we have focused on developing a solution that protects Medicare, covers pre-existing conditions and makes health care more affordable and accessible for every American." Read the full story at Politico New York.
• The Daily Freeman reports that two of the four candidates for New York's 19th Congressional District seat will take questions from AARP members over the phone this week. Republican incumbent John Faso, from Kinderhook, takes calls from 2 to 3 p.m. Oct. 11, and Democrat Antonio Delgado, from Rhinebeck, fields questions from 11:10 a.m. until 12:10 p.m. on Oct. 12. Only AARP members who received an invitation can ask questions, but anyone can listen in by phoning (877) 229-8493 and using PIN 18948. Green Party candidate Steve Greenfield and independent Diane Neal are not involved in the telephone talks. Faso held a telephone town hall of his own Oct. 11, and also spoke with Holly Tanner and Justin Weaver on the WGXC radio show "Something to Talk About." Click on the WGXC Newsroom HERE to download or play the WGXC interview with Faso.