NY-26: Scott Leffler Interviews Jon Powers
by Matt at Aug 12th, 2008
Scott Leffler interviewed Jon Powers on his radio show today. He’s posted a link to a podcast of the show.
I’ve listened to a good portion of it, and found Powers to be quite disappointing. He started off the show sticking to his usual script about why he’s running for Congress, and his responses to the questions about War Kids Relief were very defensive and quite frankly, I think Powers has to stop making it the centerpiece of his campaign and repeating over and over that he was on the cover of Newsweek. The fact that he’s using War Kids Relief as a stepping stone for his congressional run leave it up to scrutiny, and as the interview progressed on that topic, he seemed to get more irritated. Powers has to accept the fact that if he’s going to tell people “Look at how great I am because of what I did with War Kids Relief,” then people are eventually going to look, and if somethings don’t add up, then questions are going to be asked.
Sorry Jon, that’s just how it is.
Perhaps Powers’ focus on War Kids Relief and the situation in Iraq is a blind for his apparently lack of knowledge of local issues. It was very revealing that Powers didn’t know what Lockport’s Flight of Five restoration project was. When asked about it, he was clearly blindsided by the question and had to ask Scott to elaborate on what it was for him. But, he’s only running for Congress, why should he know about a multi-million dollar project in the district he wants to represent?
Obviously, you can listen to the interview and make up your own mind, but given the questions Powers received, his generally poor and redundant answers, and his defensive attitude, I think it was obvious that by the end that Powers was not happy with the results of the interview.. and I can’t blame him. He came across as a one-issue candidate who knows next to nothing about local issues.
I’m certainly no fan of Jon Powers, but I can’t imagine one of his shills being legitimately pleased with how Powers did either.
Of course, they might not be happy that Scott Leffler didn’t just throw softball questions at him… but it’s a good thing he didn’t. Powers can’t pretend that the questions about War Kids Relief are just going to go away by attacking the messenger (the Davis campaign) and playing the victim card.
UPDATE: Scott has some thoughts about his interview with Powers:
I would have liked more succinct answers from Jon. I thought he had a chance to put the “War Kids” issue to bed had he had the facts and figures that people were looking for. Instead he talked in generalities.
Personally, I think the “War Kids” issue is being overblown by his opponents, primarily the Davis campaign. I mean, what has Jack Davis done for the kids in Iraq? I don’t know how much “War Kids” raised … and I don’t know what percentage of the money went to Powers, but I do know that he helped kids in Iraq more than his detractors did.
That said, if Powers doesn’t put this issue down now, it will haunt him on Primary day and could cost him the Democratic line. And if he wins the primary, I’m sure the Chris Lee campaign will keep the issue hot.
Something tells me this issue will continue to haunt him. If he can’t adequately answer the questions surrounding War Kids he’ll need to come up with other things to talk about. Considering his lack of knowledge of local issues, I don’t see him offering much. Worse yet for Powers, local GOP leaders are holding a press conference tomorrow to “address recent questions surrounding” War Kids Relief.
UPDATE: Perhaps the biggest indication that Powers did a horrible job on the interview is the deafening silence from his blogger supporters about the interview in its aftermath.
Just to head BuffaloPundit off at the pass: “But what about Chris Lee? “
I heard the show and thought he did great.
Forget what about Lee - Davis is too much of a pansy to go on the air, and Kryzan can’t get anyone to listen to her.
I live in Lockport and didn’t know about the project until recently, most people in Buffalo/Rochester probably don’t know what it is.
Now that Powers has learned about it, what was his response? But you probably don’t care about questions like that. You’d rather just cut and paste portions that look good for your blog.