Voters in 29th District to go Without Voice in House For Nine Months

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 Tom Reed reacted to this afternoon’s Federal Court ruling with disappointment that the 29th District will go unrepresented for nine months. “I hope that Governor Paterson will do the right thing and call a special election sooner. To keep the seat vacant that long for purely political reasons is an outrage,” Reed said.

“This seat has been held hostage by the leadership in Washington and Albany for far too long and we had hoped that the Governor will do the right thing and call a special election sooner,” Reed said. “Six hundred and sixty thousand western New Yorkers will have to wait even longer and have no voice in the House on coming issues such as the carbon tax, immigration reform and the on-going appropriations process that will decide the 2011 Federal budget.”

In making the ruling shortly before 5:00PM this afternoon, United States District Court Judge David Larimer said that Governor Paterson must call a special election and cannot let the seat go vacant until Jan. 1, 2011. However the ruling did not compel the governor to hold the special election any earlier than his stated intention of November 2. Thus it is likely that a special election and general election will be held concurrently in November, possibly with different candidates selected by different processes on different lines for different terms.

“It might be a very confusing ballot, but we are confident that our message of no more borrowing and living within our means and less federal government intrusion into our lives will carry both elections in November,” Reed said. “We’ll keep taking our message to the voters as we have been for almost a year. Our momentum and support is growing every day.”

Reed has repeatedly called on Governor Paterson to put politics aside and call the special election immediately. The seat has been vacant since former Rep. Eric Massa resigned over four months ago.

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