Gubernatorial primaries

Governor Kathy Hochul is trying to make history as the first female governor elected in the state with just 10 months in office under her belt. She is facing Representative Tom Suozzi and New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams.

Hochul has positioned herself as the frontrunner in the three-way primary field, in part through a relentless campaign fundraising strategy that saw her amass more than $30 million — far outpacing any of her opponents.

The governor’s campaign has blanketed the state’s airwaves touting her record during her short time in office, which includes a gas-tax reduction through the end of the year and a series of gun-control and abortion-access measures she signed into law just this month.

But Hochul’s tenure has not been without controversy. She selected then-state Sen. Brian Benjamin, a Manhattan Democrat, to replace her as lieutenant governor despite questions over his past campaign-fundraising tactics. Within six months, Benjamin was arrested on federal bribery charges and resigned.

Hochul’s opponents have faulted her for spearheading a deal to build a new $1.4 billion football stadium for the Buffalo Bills, which came with $850 million in direct public subsidies. And they’ve latched on to her past positions on gun issues, which earned her an “A” rating from the National Rifle Association when she represented a conservative-leaning district in Congress a decade ago.

Hochul has said her views have changed on the issue of gun control, and she successfully led the effort to boost the minimum age for purchasing a semi-automatic rifle from 18 to 21 in New York after an 18-year-old killed 10 people in a Buffalo supermarket last month.

Suozzi’s positions align with Hochul’s more often than not, so he is campaigning on his track record as a “proven executive,” having once served as a town mayor and county executive during his 30 years in politics. He has framed Hochul, who also held local office and, briefly, a seat in Congress, as unprepared or unwilling to take the necessary steps to improve the state in essential ways.

Williams, the No. 2 official in New York City, is the candidate favored by progressives, including the Working Families Party, the influential third party with a habit of backing insurgent, left-leaning candidates. This is his second race against Hochul; he came within seven percentage points of defeating her in the 2018 lieutenant governor primary.

He has criticized the governor for not doing more to focus on street-level crime in Harlem, the Bronx and other areas susceptible to gun violence.

All the public polling has shown Hochul with a comfortable lead over her two rivals, but the lieutenant governor’s race is much harder to gauge.

The winner of the Democratic primary will face the candidate that emerges from a contentious, four-way Republican primary Tuesday between Representative Lee Zeldin, former Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino, businessman Harry Wilson, and Andrew Giuliani, a former Trump administration aide who is son of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

Zeldin, of Long Island, has the backing of Republican Party leaders across the state, who voted earlier this year to make him their designated candidate — a distinction that gave him an automatic spot on the primary ballot without petitioning.

Giuliani is making his first run for elected office and has made his unabashed support of Donald Trump a central part of his campaign. During a debate earlier this month, Giuliani repeated the discredited, incorrect claim that Trump rightfully won the 2020 election, going as far as claiming a “crime” had been perpetrated on the American people.

But Trump has not formally endorsed any candidate in the Republican race. Along with Giuliani, Trump counts Astorino and Zeldin — both of whom have been staunch defenders of Trump on cable news programs — as allies.

New York has more than twice as many Democrats as Republicans, with independent voters also outpacing the GOP. The state hasn’t elected a Republican to statewide office since George Pataki won his third term as governor in 2002.

It is a closed-primary state, meaning only enrolled members of a party can vote in their respective primary.

The Associated Press reports the proposal falls far short of tougher steps long sought by President Joe Biden and many Democrats. Even so, the accord was embraced by Biden and enactment would signal a significant turnabout after years of gun massacres that have yielded little but stalemate in Congress.

Leaders hope to push any agreement into law rapidly — they hope this month — before the political momentum fades that has been stirred by the recent mass shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde, Texas.

Participants cautioned that final details and legislative language remain to be completed, meaning fresh disputes and delays might emerge.

In a consequential development, 20 senators, including 10 Republicans, released a statement calling for passage. That is potentially crucial because the biggest obstacle to enacting the measure is probably in the 50-50 Senate, where at least 10 GOP votes will be needed to attain the usual 60-vote threshold for approval.

The compromise would make the juvenile records of gun buyers under age 21 available when they undergo background checks. The suspects who killed 10 Black people at a grocery store in Buffalo and 19 students and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde were both 18, and many perpetrators of recent years’ mass shootings have been young.

The agreement would offer money to states to enact and put in place “red flag” laws that make it easier to temporarily take guns from people considered potentially violent, plus funds to bolster school safety and mental health programs.

Some people who informally sell guns for profit would be required to obtain federal dealers’ licenses, which means they would have to conduct background checks of buyers. Convicted domestic abusers who do not live with a former partner, such as estranged ex-boyfriends, would be barred from buying firearms, and it would be a crime for a person to legally purchase a weapon for someone who would not qualify for ownership.

Congressional aides said billions of dollars would be spent expanding the number of community mental health centers and suicide prevention programs. But they said some spending decisions are unresolved, as are final wording on juvenile records and other gun provisions that might prove contentious.

The agreement was quickly endorsed by groups that support gun restrictions including Brady, Everytown for Gun Safety and March for Our Lives, which organized rallies held around the country on Saturday.

The National Rifle Association said in a statement that it opposes gun control and infringing on people’s “fundamental right to protect themselves and their loved ones,” but supports strengthening school security, mental health and law enforcement. The group has long exerted its sway with millions of firearms-owning voters to derail gun control drives in Congress.

The agreement represents a lowest common denominator compromise on gun violence. Lawmakers have demonstrated a newfound desire to move ahead after saying their constituents have shown a heightened desire for congressional action since Buffalo and Uvalde, but Republicans still oppose more sweeping steps that Democrats want and Sunday’s agreement omits.

These include banning assault-style firearms such as the AR-15 style rifles used in Buffalo and Uvalde, or raising the legal age for buying them.

Democrats have also wanted to ban high capacity magazines and to expand required background checks to far more gun purchases. None of those proposals has a chance in Congress.

The last major firearms restrictions enacted by lawmakers was the 1994 assault weapons ban, which Congress let expire 10 years later.

Rep. Tom Reed (R-Corning)

WASHINGTON – Rep. Tom Reed (R-Corning, NY 23) is holding firm to his belief that the federal government should not ban the AR-15 or any other assault-style rifle.

Reed, who represents Chautauqua County in the House and who’s received an “A+” rating from the National Rifle Association, said he is in full support of Second Amendment rights.

During a conference call with regional media on Tuesday, Reed again said that lawmakers need to focus on public policy that addresses mental illness and other causes of gun violence, rather than just  outlaw or restrict gun access to law abiding citizens.

“In some of the most heinous crimes the consistent theme is people with mental disease. That’s the commonality in those situations. Obviously they’re horrific and they need to be dealt with and that is why that needs to be a priority,” Reed said. “But if you look at the other perpetrators, a lot of the gun violence is perpetrated by criminals, by repeat offenders, by people that are involving weapons in drug activity. So that is why this is a bigger issue that just one item of banning X-weapon and infringing on the second amendment rights of everyone else. This is about trying to really move the needle and solving the problem of what is causing this gun violence in the first place.”

The Corning Republican also didn’t shy away when asked about campaign contributions he receives from the NRA and other groups that want to fight gun legislation.

“We do have support from folks who stand with us on the Second Amendment. So that doesn’t surprise me that those types of donations would be some how identified in regards to the NRA support – things that we have received over the years,” Reed said. “The bottom line is, my position on the Second Amendment is the position I have had and I will continue to hold. I think because of that position, that gathers support in terms of people that will stand with us in regards to campaign contributions and elsewhere.”

According to a report from WGRZ, Reed of Corning has collected $10,950 from the NRA since first being elected in 2010.

Reed’s comments came nearly a week after a former student at a Broward County, Florida high school shot and killed 17 people, using an AR-15 rifle. The rifle is also the model that was used in the Las Vegas shooting on Oct. 1, 2017 that left 58 people dead and 851 injured.

John Plumb

BUFFALO – Candidate for Congress John Plumb (D-Lakewood) has picked up an endorsement from the largest news publication in the region.

The Buffalo News gave its endorsement to Plumb in Thursday’s edition.

As part of the endorsement, the News said that voters in the 23^rd Congressional District, which includes Chautauqua County, have a rare opportunity to elect a representative with a combination of good judgment, common sense, expertise and vigor.

In the endorsement, the Buffalo News also commented on incumbent Tom Reed (R-Corning), who it calls a likable and decent man, but whose credentials don’t approach Plumb’s level and who is trapped in the crossfire of Washington’s dysfunction.

Rep. Tom Reed (R-Corning)

The news specifically stated that Congressman Reed struggles with his role in representing the Southern Tier, at one time joining a nonpartisan group dedicated to resolving issues while at the same time voting to close the government at the behest of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz in an effort to defund the Affordable Care Act.

Also on Thursday, Reed’s campaign announced that he has received the endorsement of the National Rifle Association.

In a release endorsing Reed, the NRA said that the Corning Republican has a proven record of fighting for Second Amendment freedoms, earning him an ‘A’ rating from the organization. The NRA gave Plumb a ‘?’ rating, based on his failure to return an NRA questionnaire sent to all candidates.

The NRA released its scores for all candidates running for election in 2016, including candidates running for the 23rd Congressional District.

Congressman Tom Reed (R-Corning) recently received an ‘A’ rating from the NRA, which the organization says grades candidates based on their commitment to protect the Second Amendment and constitutional freedoms.

Reed received an ‘A’ while his opponent, Lakewood area Democrat and Naval Officer John Plumb received a question mark, which the NRA says is given to candidates who refuse to answer the NRA Candidate Questionnaire.

On Friday, a longtime Capital Region activist named Bob Shulz went to Albany County Court to argue that the governor Andrew Cuomo’s use of a “message of necessity” to push the bill through was flawed. The message, which was accepted by the Legislature in passing the bill, waived the standard three-day “aging” period required for most measures. So far, more than 1250 people have signed onto the suit.

State lawyers will now have to appear on Monday, March 11 to explain why the court shouldn’t issue an injunction to halt the law.

In a statement to Albany media, Shulz said he’s just simply interested in holding state lawmakers  accountable.

In the past, state courts have been unwilling to interfere with the legislative procedures used to speed bills through the two chambers. A similar suit objecting to the use of a message of necessity in passing the 2011 bill that legalized same-sex marriage ended in a decision that chided lawmakers and Cuomo for overstating the emergency circumstances at play, but allowed the law to stand.

Also set to come to a state courtroom is the still-pending lawsuit against the NY SAFE Act, filed by the National Rifle Association and the New York State Rifle & Pistol Association.

According to a report in today’s Buffalo News, the county lawmakers from across Upstate New York have called the new law everything from an infringement on Second Amendment rights to legislation stacked with costly state-imposed mandates.

Opposition to the law, which pollsters say has contributed to Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s recent noticeable drop in poll ratings, appears only to be intensifying the emotional debate over gun control.

The New York State Rifle and Pistol Association – which is affiliated with the National Rifle Association – says the issue will not go away and is set to file a lawsuit in the next 10 days challenging the new law. The lawsuit will come about the same time as a rally next Thursday in Albany that organizers say could draw thousands.

The Chautauqua County Legislature will vote on a motion calling for the repeal of the law, which is sponsored by Fred Croscut (R-Sherman) during its monthly voting session next Wednesday night.

The new law expands the definition of banned assault weapons, creates a state database for pistol permits, reduces the maximum number of rounds in a magazine and requires background checks on all gun sales, including those between individuals.

After passing the state Senate 43-18 late Monday night, the bill cleared the Democrat-dominated Assembly 104-43 at the end of an almost-five-hour debate Tuesday.

Not everyone is in support of the newly enacted SAFE Act – including Chautauqua County’s representative in the state Senate. Senator Cathy Young said that she was disappointed with the new law, saying it punishes law abiding gun owners across the state.

Following the signing of the bill, the National Rifle Association released a statement saying it was outraged at the draconian gun control bill that was rushed through the process late Monday night.