John Plumb (D-Lakewood), Left, announced in early July 2015 that he would challenge Tom Reed (R-Corning) for the NY 23rd Congressional District in the 2016 election.
WASHINGTON – The campaigns for the two candidates running for New York’s 23rd Congressional District got into a war of words Wednesday.
The campaign for Congressman Tom Reed (R, Corning) sent out a media release Wednesday morning criticizing challenger John Plumb (D, Jamestown) for living in Washington D.C. for several years, claiming he only recently moved back to New York State in order to run for congress.
The campaign even gave the nickname “DC John” to Plumb – taking a page from the Donald Trump playbook of providing unflattering nicknames to political rivals. The entire release reads as follows:
“John Plumb is a true Washington insider who believes Western New York is simply a vacation from his true residence in Washington, D.C.,” said Amy Hasenberg, Tom Reed for Congress Spokeswoman. “DC John doesn’t understand this district; and, he doesn’t understand our families’ needs. After all, he only returned to the district a year ago because of political opportunity to further his career by running for Congress.”
“Our district should not be represented by someone who considers this only a second home,” said Joe Sempolinski, Tom Reed for Congress Campaign Manager. “Our families require a full time, 24/7 representative who cares about our needs and is accessible to us. That representative is Tom Reed whose family has been in New York for generations, who grew up here, who raised his kids here, and who has held hundreds of town-hall meetings to meet with people in our communities.”
John Plumb upon signing his mortgage affirmed that his home in Lakewood is his secondary residence. The document also affirmed that the home is only to be used as his secondary residence, not his primary residence which was listed as Washington, D.C. Supporting documents are attached and are public record through the Chautauqua County Clerks Office.
“DC John legally affirmed that his home in Western New York is simply a secondary home,” said Hasenberg. “The law, nor John Plumb believes that New York is his real home. He has been back in the district for one year to date and all he wants is for us to send him back. It isn’t fair that DC John wants to sacrifice the needs of New York families simply to further his career.”
In response, Plumb released a statement criticizing Reed, calling his campaign’s statement another ridiculous attack in an effort to distort Plumb’s years of service to the country. Plumb also said that his ties to the area go back several generations and that he only lived in DC because of his work with the defense department at the pentagon. He also blasted Reed for being late property taxes on several different occasions.
“It’s laughable that Tom Reed is attacking my service to our nation at the Pentagon and on the National Security Council when he was late paying his property taxes 46 times.”
“For over twenty years I have had the privilege to serve shoulder to shoulder with the best and bravest men and women in the world, and I won’t ever run away from that. That’s not politics, that’s integrity. Our campaign is about finding real ways to help hard working families by protecting jobs and our country, not political grandstanding.”
“I’ve served under Republican and Democratic Presidents — under the water, in the Middle East, in the Pentagon and on the National Security Council. Politics should stop when it comes to our National Security, but Congressman Reed doesn’t seem to understand that,” added Plumb.
“Congressman Tom Reed is everything that’s wrong with Washington. He’s been in Congress for 6 years and all he has to show for it is millions in campaign contributions from special interests while thousands of workers here in New York have lost their jobs as manufacturing plants in our region have been forced to close down in the face of unfair foreign companies that undercut American businesses.”
“If Tom Reed wants to step out from behind his campaign spokesperson and have a real debate on who can better protect jobs, support New York families, and protect our country – I would welcome it. But, for now, he seems to prefer the Washington way of doing things and leaving the people of New York to pay the price.”
Later Wednesday Plumb’s campaign released a follow-up statement:
Over the past two decades Plumb has served as a submarine officer in the Navy and later as an official at the Department of Defense. Prior to his service in the military he was raised and graduated from high school in Randolph, NY (Cattaraugus County) in 1988 and continues to have family who live and work in the area.
Reed is an attorney and former mayor of Corning, NY who was elected to Congress in 2010 and has represented Chautauqua County since January 2013 when redistricting created the new 23rd congressional district – which also includes several other counties in the southern tier, stretching all the way to Tompkins County in the finger lakes region.
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