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T

elegraph

The Ithaca

November 5, 2014 FREE

REED WINS THIRD CONSECUTIVE RACE23rd Congressional District re-elects Republican, Robertson concedes

By FAITH MACIOLEK andJENNY ZDROJESKI

Republican Tom Reed won histhird consecutive election for NewYork State’s 23rd CongressionalDistrict on Nov. 4.

Reed won the election with78,169 votes and Democratic can-didate Martha Robertson lost with51,486 votes. Reed, the incumbent,has been the congressional candi-date representing the 23rd districtin New York state since his initialwin in 2010.

After winning the election, Reeddelivered a short speech to all ofhis supporters at the Radisson Ho-

tel in Corning, New York. “This isour home,” he said, “and as we de-clare this victory tonight, I declareit a victory on behalf of all 717,000people of Western New York.”

Reed plans to continue movingin the direction he has establishedduring his last two terms, with anemphasis on creating jobs. “To-gether we are all Americans,” Reedsaid, “we’ve got problems to facein America, and we’re going backto Washington. We’re going to ix

those problems, we’re going to cre-ate the opportunities of today and

tomorrow.”Reed explained that he owes his

victory to his district and everyonewho was involved with his cam-paign. “People just came togetherin a way that I haven’t seen before,and I just have to thank them, to allthe volunteers, all the supervisorsand all the people of western NewYork,” said Reed in an interviewwith a Telegraph political reporter.

Back at Hotel Ithaca, approxi-mately 50 individuals remained,including campaign interns andmember of the press, to witnessRobertson’s concession around11:15 p.m. Oficial polling results

were not formally announced

during the event. The Reed cam-paign began to release the talliedpoll numbers around 9:30 p.m.

Reed’s campaign was focused onpromoting small businesses withinhis district as a way of boosting theeconomy and vocalizing his sup-port for the Second Amendmentthrough his pushback against theNew York SAFE Act. The New YorkSAFE Act is a gun control law thatrequires universal backgroundchecks prior to making gun pur-chases and creates stricter penal-ties for illegal gun activity. Reed’s

platform also worked to promotefarmers rights.

“The growth of agriculture is vi-tal to our entire district — it is thebackbone of our local economy.We will work with our farmers tobetter learn the issues they face ev-ery day, and use their input to helpmake decisions in Washington,”Reed’s oficial campaign website

said.

His platform highlights the im-portance of utilizing domestic en-ergy sources and decreasing theU.S.’s dependence on foreign oilsources. Reed is the co-chair of theCongressional Natural Gas Caucus,a group dedicated to educating thepublic about domestic natural gasproduction according to the Reedcampaign website.

Reed has voted against the Af-

fordable Care Act in the past, buthis health care platform is in sup-port of providing all Americanswith affordable health care. How-ever, he does not agree with howthe national health care plan hasimpacted small businesses, citingthat his concern with Obamacareis how it altered a the deinition

of a full-time work week from a 40hours to 30 hours.

“We need to be fair to hourlyworkers and protect their hoursand wages,” Reed said on his cam-paign website.

Robertson’s campaign was rootedin investing in the middle class andpromoting clean energy through

her opposition to fracking. Herplatform on economically strength-ening the middle class focuseson increasing jobs through infra-structural investments and low-ering taxes for middle class while

also supporting small businesses.Robertson also calls for affordablehousing and supports equal pay forequal work.

Despite New York having the sec-ond-smallest gender pay gap in thecountry, women only earn 86 per-cent of what men earn for the samejobs, according to the American

Association of University Women.The platform also calls for afford-able education and the importanceof providing retirement beneits

for retirees.“Social security and Medicare are

not just earned beneits they have

paid into their entire working lives;they are also a promise we havemade and need to keep,” she saidaccording to the Robertson oficial

campaign website.In her concession speech, Rob-

ertson said, “I called Tom Reed andcongratulated him on his victory.But I won’t dwell on Tom. He hasa different vision, different priori-ties and different values. But in the

spirit of bipartisanship and civility,I hope I was the irst person to con-gratulate him tonight.”

She said she was proud of whatshe and her supporters hadachieved together, and running forofice had been “one of the great -est experiences” of her life. “And I

will be ready to step up to the plateagain for the residents of the 23rddistrict.”

TINAMARIE CRAVEN and KATELYN

HARROP contributed reporting.

Lef: Congressman om Reed gives an acceptance speech ollowing theannouncement o his win, surrounded by his wie Jean and daughter Autumn.Right: Candidate Martha Robertson gives a concession speech at her electionparty, flanked by her husband Steve, grandson and daughter Jessica.

Inside the Election Coverage

“People just cametogether in a way thatI haven’t seen before,and I just have to thankthem,” Tom Reed said.

Both candidates engaged in negative

television ad campaigning.(PAGE 2)

Beore the vote, candidates spent

millions on the campaign. (PAGE 3)

Editorial TeamManaging Editor - Katelyn Harrop

Design Editor - Emily Masters

Assistant Editor - inaMarie Craven

Copy Editor - Frances Johnson

News Reporters - Jenny Zdrojeski and Faith Maciolek

Features Reporters - Haleigh LaMontagne

and Sally Young

Data Reporter - Eddie Dowd

Jenny Zdrojeski

F a i t h M a c i o

l e k


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November 5, 2014 T

elegraphThe Ithaca

2 Election Coverage

Campaign rie with negative ads, inter-candidate media warBy HALEIGH LaMONTAGNE

and SALLY YOUNG

She called him unethical. Hecalled her an extreme liberal. She

used out-of-date photographs toemphasize his past obesity. He de-picted her riding a hippie bus withNancy Pelosi.

New York congressional candi-dates Tom Reed and Martha Rob-ertson both approved of multiplenegative television advertisementsduring their campaign. This mid-term election season — slated tobe the most expensive in the coun-try’s history — an estimated $4billion was spent on advertisingnationwide.

Fairness and Accuracy in Report-ing founder Jeff Cohen said thatmost of that money was spent ontelevision spots in which “the over-whelming majority” of which werenegative. He said he believes thisplaces emphasis on the candidatesrather than their issues.

“Campaigns are about issues andwhat the parties stand for,” Cohensaid. “They’re not about who’s gotthe best ad agency … who can makethe most fearful attack ad.”

The Robertson campaign ran TVads featuring photographs of Reedbefore he underwent gastric by-pass surgery and lost a signiicant

amount of weight. National mediaoutlets, including BuzzFeed andFox News, accused Robertson of

“fat-shaming.”Katherine Pudwill, communica-

tions director for the Reed cam-

paign, responded to Robertson’sads in an interview with a Tele-graph political reporter. “As far asour campaign we’ve deined her

by her record, and I think that sheresorted to personal attacks,” shesaid.

“To see my opponent use this po-litically, it’s just offensive, and it’soffensive to millions of Americanswho deal with this situation and Iempathize with them,” Reed saidin an interview with NewsMaxTV.

A Robertson campaign spokes-man responded that Reed was only

making this an issue in an effort todistract voters from his records.

Irene Stein, the chair of theTompkins County DemocraticCommittee who spoke on behalf ofthe Robertson campaign, said thatReed may have lost voters due tohis “extreme Ithaca liberal” attack

ad. “I think a lot of people in Itha-ca have been extremely offended.

Some of them, many of them areliberal, and it’s clearly meant tobe an insult. They are people whoare in his district, he supposedlyis representing them. Instead he’sstating what he considers an insult.So, I think that’s pretty reprehensi-ble, don’t you?”

Robertson advertisements also

attacked Reed on ethical groundsfor practices related to his law irm.

Legal documents obtained by TheBuffalo News show that Reed’s lawirm in Corning, New York operat -ed under his name while he was aserving member in Congress. Thispractice is barred by the AmericanBar Association and the U.S. HouseCommittee on Ethics.

Other televisions ads pointed outReed was late on paying his prop-erty taxes 38 times over a span of

eight years. Tax records from Steu-ben and Chemung counties showthe late payments were made onhis home in Corning, as well as on ahome he owns on Keuka Lake.

Robertson had scheduled more

television ads for the weeks lead-ing up to the election. However, inearly October, the Democratic Con-gressional Committee announcedit was pulling funding from Rob-ertson’s campaign. The committeewithdrew $465,000 that was to bespent on television ads supportingRobertson.

The Committee withdrew sup-port from eight television mar-kets in total. The Associated Pressreported in May that the DCC had“initially reserved $165,000 in adtime in Elmira and $300,000 inBuffalo for broadcast and cable adsthat will air between Oct. 21 andNov. 4.”

Reed outraised and outspent

Robertson in advertising and over-all funding in the run-up to theelection. He also out-fundraised hisDemocratic opponents in the pasttwo congressional races.

Beginning in June 2014, Reed ranthree television advertisementsthat portrayed Robertson as a “farout Ithaca liberal.” The ad calls at-tention to Robertson’s “extreme

liberal agenda” by suggesting apartnership between Robertsonand House minority leader NancyPelosi (D-California). Robertson isshown driving a tie-dye Volkswa-gen bus in front of a backdrop ofcartoon lowers with ’70s-esque

writing, headed to Ithaca with Pe-losi.

In a StarGazette interview, Rob-ertson condemned Reed’s negativeads, saying that he targeted theIthaca community. “He’s attackingan entire community of 60,000 of

his constituents who help to payhis salary. I was prepared to be at-tacked as myself, but I don’t thinkthe whole Ithaca community wasprepared to be attacked.”

Another advertisement run bythe Reed campaign showed Robert-son in a spacesuit, insinuating thatshe is “out of this world.” The adagain references her “extreme lib-eral agenda,” referring to her ideasas “way out there.”

Reed has defended the televisionads targeting Robertson, saying thatit’s important to draw attention toher “extreme” agenda.

“When you have an extreme

agenda, I don’t think that’s some-

thing that needs to take the lead inWashington, D.C.,” Reed told mediaoutlets on Sept. 22, according to areport by the Ithaca Journal.

Cohen said negative campaigninghas far reaching effects.

“The goal of a negative ad isn’t towin anyone’s vote over — the goalof a negative ad is to attack a can-didate that someone was thinkingof voting for and hoping they don’tshow up at the polls,” he said. “It’swhole goal is voter suppression.”

EMILY MASTERS contributed reporting.

Robertson’s ad “om Reed Needs to Come Clean” (above) depicts a heavier Reed, beore his gastric bypasssurgery. Reed’s ads “Cool With Tat” (bottom lef) and “Double rouble” (bottom right) calls Robertson an“extreme Ithaca liberal.” (Sources: Tom Reed’s and Martha Robertson’s respective YouTube channels)

New York’s 23rd District By the Numbers

om Reed celebrates his win by hugging his children Will and Autumn.

Jenny Zdrojeski

Incumbent Tom Reed won just over 62 percent of thetotal district votes, sweeping 10 out of the 11 countiesin New York’s 23rd Congressional District. Hiswinning percentage varied between 56 percentand 78 percent in each of the 10 counties.Martha Robertson won Tompkins County,where she is a Legislature Chair, with 71percent of the votes.

Reed wins county Robertson wins county

Sources: Board of Elections data, through Tom Reed’s campaign


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3November 5, 2014 TelegraphThe Ithaca

Election Coverage

By TINAMARIE CRAVEN

The success of a campaign is atthe mercy of campaign inances.

Without enough funds from out-side sources, candidates will haveto ind a way to independently pay

for the many expenses included in

running a successful campaign.This year, New York Senate can-

didates Republican Tom Reed andDemocrat Martha Robertson havegone toe to toe, bank rolling mul-tiple advertisements bashing theiropponent while avidly working toget their names out in the public

sphere in the hopes of garneringmore votes.

According to the Center for Re-sponsive Politics, a political re-search center, Reed, the senateincumbent, has raised $3,330,161while Robertson raised $2,145,558during this election cycle as of Oct.15. Reed’s campaign has not onlyraised more money but it has spentalmost as much as Robertson’scampaign. During the 2014 elec-tion cycle Reed’s campaign spent$2,878,711 while Robertson hasonly spent $1,935,236 on her cam-paign.

Robertson experienced an un-expected inancial hiccup when

the Democratic CongressionalCampaign Committee pulled their$465,000 from her campaign thatwas intended to fund her politicaladvertisements.

Reed is accustomed to outspend-ing his opponents. In the 2012campaign against Democrat NateShinagawa, Reed spent $2,006,454while Shinagawa’s campaign only

spent $828,811. Reed also out-spent Democrat Matthew Zeller inthe 2010 Congressional race withReed spending $1,082,565, whichwas more than twice the amountZeller spent, $457,738.

The U.S. House Committee on Eth-ics states that campaign funds canbe used for anything that can bepolitically traced back to the cam-paign. This can include advertise-ments, transportation to and frompolitical events, paying for mealseaten at restaurants while on thecampaign trail or purchasing ofice

supplies at the campaign’s head-

quarters. The HCE also broadlystated as long as the funds are usedfor the campaign or “political pur-poses,” the spending is ethical.

The HCE is also quick to pointout that candidates are prohibit-ed from using campaign funds forpersonal reasons or repurposingcampaign funds to their personalaccounts.

According to the Center for Re-sponsive Politics, the top ive do-nors to Reed’s campaign are ElliotManagement, Corning Inc., Con-stellation Brands, Ernst & Youngand Alston & Bird. Each of thesedonors has individually provid-ed more than $15,000, with the

highest contributor, Elliot Manage-ment, providing $80,700. Reed’stop ive donors are all classiied as

businesses. The inancial backing

behind Reed’s campaign relects

his economic platform’s focus onstrengthening small business.

Robertson’s top ive donors are

Cornell University, JStreetPAC,EMILY’s List, Corning Inc. and the

Council for a Livable World, saidthe Sunlight Foundation’s website,a nonproit organization that pub-lishes political funding informa-tion. Comparatively, Robertson’sdonors individually gave anywherefrom $11,000 to $108,000. The pri-mary donors from the Robertsoncampaign are activist and educa-tional groups, but it should be not-ed that Robertson graduated fromCornell University in 1975. Robert-son’s inancial back highlights the

importance she places on the gen-der pay gap and affordable educa-tion within her platform.

Representatives from the Reedand Robertson campaigns were un-available to comment on the cam-paigns inances prior to the publi-cation of this article.

Follow the money:

Largest 5 DonorsBoth candidates received

just over $200,000combined from their topdonors. Reed’s largestdonors are primarilybusiness interests, whileRobertson’s are liberalspecial interest groups.

Top Reed Donors

Top Robertson Donors

Sources: opensecrets.org andinfluenceexplorer.com

Campaign spending at all time highKeeping them in check

Some residents voted at a polling place set up at the ompkins County Public Library in Ithaca, New York.

Claim: Tom Reed said the National Rile

Association rated him with an A+ while

Robertson was rated with an F. he madethis statement at the second debate forthe 23rd congressional district, which washeld in Mandeville Hall at the Clemens

Center in Elmira, New York on Oct. 23.

Evidence: The NRA Political Victory Fund

website rates Tom Reed with an A and listsRobertson as unrated.

FALSE

Claim: Robertson’s television advertise-

ment entitled “Himself” states that Reed“voted to raise middle class taxes by two

thousand dollars” while “giving tax breaks

to millionaires like himself.”

Evidence: The ad cites Paul Ryan’s “Pathto Prosperity” budget, which would haveraised taxes on middle class families by

$2,000. Because Reed voted for this bud-get, this claim is true. This budget is cit-ed again as giving tax breaks to million-aires “like Tom Reed,” however in Reed’sresponse to this ad he cited an article by

The Buffalo News which detailed his 2013personal inancial disclosure. This showed

that “Reed had assets of no more than

$645,000.” Therefore, this claim is false.

HALF

TRUE

Claim: Reed’s “Out of this World” televi-sion advertisement said Robertson of “ex-ploded spending” by increasing the spend-

ing of Tompkins County by 58 percent.

Evidence: In 2001, before Robertson waselected, the budget for Tompkins Countywas about $103 million. In 2013, the bud-

get was over $164 million, which is an in-crease of 58 percent, which is the numbersited by the ad. The ad cites minutes from

the Tompkins County Legislature fromNov. 20, 2012, Resolution 238.

TRUE

Claim: On Sept. 30, 2013, Robertson saidthat GOP operatives were caught trying to

take down her website during an import-ant fundraising period. New York Daily

News reported an email was sent by Rob-ertson’s campaign with the message, “Ourweb manager just caught GOP ops trying toshut down my website! I cannot believe it!

They know we have less than 6 hours leftto our major deadline at midnight! I needyour help to ight back. Please click on the

link below to help me reach our goal. Weare just $6,520 s hort...”

Evidence: Reed’s campaign accused her of fraud and said inorder for Robertson to make such a claim, she needed proof.Robertson said her campaign was hiring a cyber-security irm

to investigate but never announced if such a irm was hired.

Robertson raised $31,620 the day she sent the email, accord-

ing to the Buffalo News.

FALSE

Vetting controversial campaign

statements made by candidates

New York’s 23rd congressional district election has become an

open platform for inter-candidate shaming, harping, and accu-sations. Between negative campaign ads (see page 2 for more),heated debates and social media, this election has heard its

fair share of he-said-she-saids, and underneath many of thesebold claims lies an even bolder truth. Below are some of themost skathing accusations made in this year’s district race.

By FAITH MACIOLEK

Sources: opensecrets.org and influenceexplorer.com

Jenny Zdrojeski

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