Iraq War veteran to challenge Reynolds (R-NY)

[maddezmom]

Source: buffalonews

Updated: 06/09/07 7:07 AM


SAVE EMAIL PRINT POPULAR + Larger Font + Smaller Font Jonathan Powers, a Clarence native and Iraq War veteran, announced Friday that he will file the paperwork required to challenge Rep. Thomas M. Reynolds, R-Clarence, for the 26th District seat in Congress.

Powers, who will run as a Democrat, plans to formally announce his candidacy June 26 in Clarence Town Park. The sprawling 26th Congressional District ranges from suburban Buffalo to suburban Rochester.

“I’m excited to begin a conversation with Western New York families about the real change we can create by restoring leadership and accountability that emphasizes competence and results,” he said in a statement. “Washington is broken. If we’re going to change Washington we need to change who we send to Washington.”

Reynolds, a five-term House veteran, was considered among the most powerful members of the House until Republicans lost their majority last November.



Read more: http://www.buffalonews.com/cityregion/northernsuburbs/story/94868.html

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Foley's angels
How an obscure Long Island family ended up giving $156,000 in campaign contributions to the disgraced legislator and his political patron, Tom Reynolds.

The Pinto family, which owns and runs a Long Island, N.Y., debt-collection agency, are generous Republican donors, giving more than $156,000 to GOP candidates since 2000. What makes the family's political gift-giving unusual is that almost all of their campaign contributions since 2000 have gone to just two House members -- Mark Foley, whose misconduct triggered the the Capitol Hill page scandal, and Tom Reynolds, whose chief of staff, Kirk Fordham, negotiated with ABC News on Foley's behalf to try to contain the story.

The ties between Foley and Reynolds go beyond having, in turn, employed Fordham in their top staff job. Reynolds is one of four House Republicans who have said that they had received warnings about Foley's suggestive e-mails to pages months before public disclosure. As the chairman of the campaign arm of House Republicans, the National Republican Congressional Committee, Reynolds was aided by financial assistance from Foley, who transferred $100,000 of his own campaign funds to the NRCC in July. Foley was more generous to the NRCC than all but 26 other House Republicans.

more:http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2006/10/06/foley_reynolds_money/index_np.html

[globalvillage]

1. Woo Hoo Capt. Powers!

Here's a photo of Jon Powers at last year's TBA with one of our very own DUers.
I'm not sure what they were discussing when the photo was taken, but I do recall her telling him he should run for Congress.

Captain Jonathan Powers spent 14 months serving in Iraq throughout 2003 and 2004 with the Army's 1st Armored Division. Capt. Powers' experiences while serving there were at best heartbreaking, as he patrolled neighborhoods in Baghdad and witnessed firsthand the devastation that war brings to a country. In particular, Powers recalled visiting St. Hannah's Orphanage in late 2003 when a nun took him aside and requested that he and other soldiers not return to the orphanage which his unit supported in previous months. The insurgents threatened that caretaker that further visits would lead to the likely massacre of the children. This and many other horrific moments inspired Powers to conceive a program that provides aid and assistance to Iraq's war children with the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation (VVAF). He joined VVAF in July 2005 as Program Manager for a project that would eventually launch under the name "War Kids Relief" in November 2005.

Powers is currently in the first phase of this project, raising money and developing partnerships in order to develop a program that will reach thousands of children who are casualties of the war in Iraq. He is quickly becoming a leading expert in this field and has presented at numerous conferences on youth development.

Powers is a 2000 graduate of John Carroll University with a bachelor's degree in Education.

http://www.veteransforamerica.org/about/staff-bios/jonathan-powers.html

This is awesome news. Thanks for posting.

[maddezmom]

2. you're welcome

:)

[blm]

3. GREAT news. And not unexpected.

He had been speaking at many of John Kerry's appearances and speeches in 2005 and 2006, and many of us figured he was gaining experience for a near-future run.

Glad we were proved right on this.