Casey Seiler is reporting at Capitol Confidential Assembly member Pete Lopez is criticizing opponent John Faso for his absence from the public conversation around many of the challenges faced within the 19th Congressional District in recent years. Republicans Lopez and Faso are hoping to win their party's nod in the race for the district seat, current held by Kinderhook Republican Chris Gibson. Lopez told Fred Dicker in a radio interview Mon., Nov. 30, Faso "certainly has name recognition, and John has served the community, but, I’ve spent the last decade here, and John...has not been present during these other critical issues that have been in the district.” Faso is a former Assembly member and the party's 2006 gubernatorial candidate. When Faso was a member of the Assembly, Lopez ran his district office. “I guess what I’m saying is, Where was he during the floods? Where was he during (the) SAFE Act?” Lopez said. Lopez has served the largely rural district for more than 10 years, and did his best to draw comparisons between himself and Gibson during the interview. A spokesman for Faso responded to Lopez's comments saying, “I can think of no one who’s been more consistently active in working to get New York’s economy back on track than John Faso. At the same time, it’s important to note than John has both private and public sector experience.” Lopez was asked about his view of Gov. Andrew Cuomo. “I take the governor issue-by-issue,” he said. On the natural gas drilling technique known as hydrofracking, Lopez said that while he thought it could potentially be done safely, “we’re not there yet.” Read the full story at Capitol Confidential, a Times Union blog.