A freshman Democratic incumbent from Utica. Two Republicans: An Oneida County businessman and a self-employed handyman from Garrattsville.
Those are shaping up as choices for voters in the 24th Congressional District for the November 2008 election.
The freshman Democrat is Rep. Michael Arcuri, who succeeded Republican Sherwood Boehlert in 2006. Boehlert retired after 24 years in office. In winning the 24th District seat, Arcuri was among the 30
Democrats who replaced Republicans in that midterm election. To win back any of those lost seats, Republicans will need more money and support, say experts.
The two potential Republican candidates for fall election are Richard L. Hanna, who runs a construction company in Cooperstown, and Raymond Gorton of Garrattsville, who has told local newspapers of his interest in challenging Arcuri.
The Republican party has not yet chosen its nominee. The general election is Nov. 4, 2008.
The 24th district covers Chenango, Cortland, Herkimer and Seneca Counties and parts of Broome, Cayuga, Oneida, Ontario, Otsego, Tioga, and Tompkins Counties. It has a population of 654,361, as of the 2000 Census.
The district has a history of strong support for Republicans. It was one of the four districts in New York that voted for Republicans George W. Bush for president and Rick Lazio for senator in 2000. Arcuri is the first Democrat to have held the 24th congressional seat since 1983.
Arcuri won the 2006 election with 54 percent of the vote. He defeated Republican Raymond Meier and Libertarian Michael Sylvia. It was a fierce and expensive campaign with both sides funneling resources into vicious attack ads.
Now, as the incumbent, Arcuri will likely have an advantage in the fall, said Danny Hayes, a political scientist at Syracuse University. Incumbents’ advantages often include name recognition and a track record of legislation. “They’re better known than their challengers because they’ve actually been in office,” said Hayes. “Every time there’s a story about something going on in Washington, the candidate, or incumbent’s, position is made known to the public.”
For the Republicans, a spokeswoman for the National Republican Congressional Committee expressed hope that Hanna, the Cooperstown businessman, would decide to run. “Richard Hanna would make an excellent candidate should he decide to make an official run for Congress,” said Betsy Andres, a spokeswoman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, in an e-mail. The National Republican Congressional Committee had not heard of Gorton, said Andres.
For his reelection campaign, Arcuri has raised at least $897,684, according to the Federal Election Commission.
Arcuri’s early fundraising success will certainly be an advantage, said Jeff Stonecash, a political scientist at Syracuse University. But, he said, Arcuri’s going to need it. Candidates need political money, said Stonecash, to try and combat any negative image the opposing party will try to brand them with.
“You raise money in anticipation of what might happen,” said Stonecash. “He’s a Democrat running in a traditional Republican district.”
Here’s an early look, as of April 29, at the possible candidates for the fall:
Michael Arcuri (Democrat, incumbent)
Michael Arcuri was always interested in political life. So after serving 13 years as the Oneida County District Attorney and becoming frustrated with policies on the federal level, he said, he decided to run for Congress.
“I think the spark was always there,” said Arcuri in an e-mail interview. “When I started to see the failed policies of this administration and the poor decisions and planning that went into the decision to get into Iraq, it made it more evident than ever that it was time for new leadership and new direction in our country.”
Arcuri was born in Utica. He graduated from the State University of New York in Albany and then went to New York Law School, in New York City. After school, he returned to Utica and opened a private law practice. In 1993 he was elected district attorney of Oneida County and served until he was elected to Congress in 2006. He lives in Utica with his wife, Sabrina, and their three children.
Arcuri is a self-described family man. “My family is the most important thing to me in the world and when I’m not in Washington or traveling around the district my favorite thing is to have a quiet diner with my kids,” he said.
Scott D. McNamara, district attorney for Oneida County, worked with Arcuri for 13 years during Arcuri’s time as district attorney. For six of them, he worked directly under Arcuri. He considers Arcuri a close friend, he said.
In the district attorney’s office, said McNamara, Arcuri was a tough boss and a friend who always left his office open for people to come and talk. “You could always come in,” McNamara said. “Whether it was a work problem, a family problem, a personal problem—the door was always open.”
As district attorney, Arcuri extended his role in the community beyond prosecuting criminals, said McNamara. For example, Arcuri set up a drug-prevention task force and a child-advocacy center.
“If he sees something he believes is wrong, he will fix it,” said McNamara. “If he sees something that needs to be done, he’ll do that.”
McNamara described Arcuri as “one of the hardest working individuals” he’s met and said he rarely took time off or vacation. Arcuri has continued this trend in his time in Congress. He has missed less that one percent of the votes since taking office. That’s a better record than 90 percent of the House of Representatives.
In Congress, Arcuri serves on the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and the House Committee on Rules. He has sponsored 22 bills since taking office. Of those, 18 made it out of committee, according to GovTrack.us, an independent site for government statistics. But none of the bills were enacted.
Arcuri’s views and voting records are consistent with those of other Democrats. He has voted with the majority of Democrats 97.3 percent of the time, according to GovTrack.us
On some of his key votes since taking office, Arcuri voted:
- For raising the federal minimum wage to $7.25 (Passed).
- Against expanding the power of U.S. spy agencies to monitor terrorism suspects without a court order (Passed).
- For requiring the president to begin withdrawing troops from Iraq (Passed but president has said he will veto).
- For expanding the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, which provides health insurance for children whose parents cannot afford it (Passed but vetoed by the president).
- For lowering the interest rates on federally subsidized student loans from 6.8 percent to 3.4 percent over five years (Passed).
On upcoming issues, Arcuri opposes New York Regional Interconnect’s proposal to run a power line across upstate New York. He supports increasing federally-funded stem cell research with embryos that would otherwise be discarded. And he supports a timetable to bring troops out of Iraq, according to his Web site.
“Whatever the issue is,” he said in an e-mail, “the most rewarding thing is when people stop me in the grocery store or when I’m out running errands to say ‘thanks for fighting for me.’”
Richard Hanna (Republican)
When Richard Hanna found himself in trouble, he worked his way out of it from the ground up.
His father’s death, he recalled, left him and his family in debt. Hanna, then 20 years old, left school to work to support his mother and sister.
“The best day of my life was when I was flat broke,” said Hanna. “Because up ‘till then, I owed money.”
Now, Hanna, a 56-year-old businessman from Cooperstown, sees Central
New York in trouble. He’s unhappy with the congressional leadership in Washington, he said, and thinks he can do a better job. He expressed fear that Central New York is in economic decline and wants to see it rejuvenated.
“I want to see an upstate New York that people can love again,” said Hanna.
For the 24th congressional seat, he’s still deciding whether to run, he said, and plans to have an answer around the end of the month.
Hanna grew up in Barnesville. After his father died, he took over his father’s construction business to get his mother and sister out of debt. He went to Reed College in Portland, Ore., where he majored in economics.
He graduated college at the age of 26. He returned to Barnesville and started his own construction company, Hanna Construction Inc. He lives in Cooperstown with his wife, Kimberly, and one-year-old son, Emerson.
He has his pilot’s license and flies as a hobby.
Hanna is the nephew of controversial, former Utica mayor, Ed Hanna, who resigned in 2000 while fighting sexual harassment charges. But he is not close with the ex-mayor and does not consider him an inspiration for running for office, said Hanna.
Hanna serves on the board of the Community Foundation of Herkimer and Oneida Counties, Inc., an organization that raises and distributes funding for non-profit organizations to improve the community. He also on the board of the Utica Public Library and provided the initial funding for Annie’s Fund, an organization that helps women who need economic support.
Hanna declined to comment on his stance on specific policy issues before he decides to make an official run for office.
But he described himself as a fiscal conservative. He wants to see less government regulation in the economy to create an environment to foster economic growth, he said. On social issues, he is more progressive, he said. Hanna favors a woman’s right to choose a legal abortion, for example.
But social issues are not one of his top priorities, said Hanna. He would like to see the government focus more on issues that will have lasting effect on the future, he said, such as Social Security, global warming, and jobs.
“If you’re not planning for the future, you’re not planning at all,” he said.
Most of all, he wants to see compromise across party lines, he said. He considers squabbles between parties, he said, the biggest obstacle in addressing big issues.
“It’s not even bickering—it’s paralysis,” said Hanna. “It’s grown men and women looking big problems in the face and not reacting.”
Raymond Gorton (Republican)
Raymond Gorton decided to try for what he calls “the most important job in the country” in 2006. That was when then-U.S. Rep. Sherwood Boehlert announced his retirement. But Gorton did not get the Republican nomination to run for Boehlert’s seat in the 24th Congressional District.
Now, he’s trying again.
Gorton, a 47-year-old self-employed handyman from Garrattsville, has expressed interest to local newspapers in running on the Republican ticket to challenge Democratic incumbent Arcuri. He is running for office, he said, because he thinks that holding a political office is the most important job an American can have.
“I am a Republican. I’m a United States citizen. And that’s why I’m doing it,” said Gorton.
Candidates are required by local election laws to get 1,250 signatures to run for Congress as a Republican. He fell short last election cycle, Gorton said, but hopes to get a good start this time around. He plans, he said, to spend his evenings knocking on doors to get them. He will also visit all the county fairs in his district over the summer to rally up support, he said.
“I don’t golf,” he said, “so I’ll just spend the evenings knocking on doors.”
Gorton acknowledged he has an uphill fight for the party’s nomination. If he doesn’t get the signatures that he needs to run this time, he said, he’ll keep trying every election cycle until he does or until another Republican is in office. “I know I don’t have a chance but I’m going to enjoy doing it,” he said.
Gorton describes himself as a “country boy.” He grew up in Norfolk, Va., where his father was stationed with the Navy. He started high school in San Diego, Calif., and finished in central New York, home to his father’s family.
After high school, Gorton was an electrician in the Navy from 1979 to 1983. He spent his 21st birthday crossing the Mediterranean Sea as Navy ships were deployed to the region after 220 American marines died in a bombing in Beirut, Lebanon.
After the Navy, Gorton worked various part-time and full-time jobs. He now works as a handyman, maintaining seasonal homes in his area. He lives with his wife, Lynne, in Garrattsville.
On the issues, Gorton supports keeping troops in Iraq as long as is needed to maintain stability, opposes universal health care but would provide support to families in need to pay for health costs, and wants to see less government regulation in business.
Raising money is not one of his priorities, said Gorton. He doesn’t come from a wealthy background, he said, so he hopes to get his name out by talking to people around the community when he’s not working.
“I don’t want your money,” he said. “I want your vote.”
(Liam Migdail-Smith is a junior newspaper journalism major.)
-30-
