As much as some Republicans wish it, the TEA (Taxed Enough Already) Party is NOT going away. Six Term US Senator Richard Lugar (R-Ind) appears headed for defeat tonight in today's primary at the hands of Richard Mourdock, who was backed by Tea Party members. Surely his support for the UN's Law of the Sea Treaty, which was supported by both Bush and Clinton administrations, did not win any support among Tea Party members who view the treaty as an affront to US sovereignty.
In our own backyard we have a Tea Party Challenge to Representative Richard Hanna on the Republican ticket June 26 by Michael Kicinski of Earlville. The OD (unsurprisingly) merely reported that Kicinski was running in a short blurb today not mentioning that Kicinski fought off a challenge to his petitions by the Oneida County Republican Establishment.
Unreported by the OD whatsoever is the fact that long-time local Conservative leader Julie Miller of Utica also filed petitions to challenge Mr. Hanna on the Conservative line. You have to read the Binghamton Press-Connects to find that out.
Mr. Kicinski may seem like a long shot -- but maybe not. Mr. Hanna won with Tea Party support in his last run, but cannot count on that support now. The Tea Party favors limited government and fiscal responsibility, and abhors politics-as-usual. It thought it had a champion in Mr. Hanna who was not a politician. However, Mr. Hanna not only has sounded very much like a politician after taking office, he has disappointed many with his votes to increase the debt ceiling three times and for more government programs. He gives no comfort to those who fear that government has simply become too intrusive into every-day lives, nor to those who fear that our national debt will become this nation's undoing. Mr. Hanna could be viewed as an out-of-touch "1% er" -- in tune with the "global elite" compared to Mr. Kicinski who unabashedly admits to being unemployed on his web-site -- who like many others, has been the victim of an economy that has been shedding jobs to overseas locales under policies promoted by Democrats and Republicans alike.
This could be a very interesting primary.
3 comments:
Local media underreports a lot.
Not surprised that details could not be found in the O-D.
The local media is sandbagging this election in favor of Hanna. There's absolutely no other explanation for not reporting extensively on an incumbent facing TWO primaries next month. They should be ashamed. But they likely don't care.
The OD is, in effect, one reason why incumbents are so successful here. The paper and also some of the TV outlets, WKTV in particular, are in bed with the political establishment. The ties are social and economical. An outsider has little chance for decent coverage. That means that only money can overcome the bias. Which brings us to Hanna. Most did not realize from the outset that he has always been a Boehlert Republican. In other words, he did not warrant tea party support for the outset. But, a vote fopr him was far preferable to a vote for Arcuri. Voters will wind up with a similar Hobsen's choice this fall; yet another reason why DC never seems to change. Here, the basic problem is the local Republican establishment which is not at all wedded to conservative Republicanism. They are only wedded to money and power.
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