Today, Henry Wojtaszek, the Niagara County Republican Committee Chairman called on Jon Powers to return contributions from Congressman Charlie Rangel, who was recently revealed to have received sweetheart rent deals and accused of violating campaign finance laws.  Rangel has donated $9,000 to Powers, and they are to appear a fundraiser together in August.

 ”Powers isn’t leading by example; he’s following the model of a typical politician.  His ties to career politicians like Rangel, his illegal use of campaign funds, and his questionable acceptance of contributions from outside our district are indicative of the corruption and dishonesty of D.C. insiders,” said Niagara County Republican Committee Chairman, Henry Wojtaszek. “The voters of Western New York deserve a candidate who will bring real leadership and real change, not more of the same Washington politics.  It’s time for Jon Powers to come clean, and give Western New Yorkers an answer about his fundraiser and contributions.”

Wojtaszek was also critical of Power’s fundraising and spending:

In addition to Powers’ questionable ties to Rangel, Powers recent fundraising report shows that nearly half of his reported contributions came from outside New York State. Powers filing shows large contributions from San Francisco, Massachusetts, New York City, Washington, D.C., and Virginia. Additionally, Powers spent more than $15,000 on travel to places other than Western New York.

Wojtaszek said, “Powers has claimed to have a lot of ‘grassroots’ support from the district, but his contribution filings show otherwise. It’s another example of Powers’ hypocrisy by example. It’s been a week of silence since Powers was asked about his contributions from Rangel and his fundraiser with Rangel. It’s time for an answer and for Powers to give back the money and cancel his fundraiser.”

I’m not holding my breath on that one. While Jon Powers has said constantly that he would lead by example he never said that it would be a good example.

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And I’m sure this makes Jon Powers and his supporters upset:

Millionaire congressional candidates like Jack Davis cannot be treated differently under campaign finance laws than less wealthy candidates, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled this morning.

Deciding Davis’ challenge to the so-called “Millionaire’s Amendment,” which loosens fundraising restrictions on candidates facing off against self-funded opponents, the high court agreed with Davis that the amendment infringes on the First Amendment rights of wealthy candidates.

“The unprecedented step of imposing different contribution and coordinated party expenditure limits on candidates vying for the same seat is antithetical to the First Amendment,” Justice Samuel Alito wrote in the court’s majority opinion.

The justices voted 5-4 on the issue of the constitutionality of the Millionaire’s Amendment, with Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy and Clarence Thomas joining in the opinion.

Other justices concurred with the majority’s opinion that Davis had standing to bring the case, but argued in dissents that the Millionaire’s Amendment is constitutional.

“The Millionaire’s Amendment represents a modest, sensible and plainly constitutional attempt by Congress to minimize the advantages enjoyed by wealthy candidates vis-a-vis those who must rely on the support of others to fund their pursuit of public office,” Justice John Paul Stevens wrote in a dissent that was joined by Justices David Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer.

The amendment allows the opponents of candidates who contribute more than $350,000 of their own money to their campaigns to raise $6,900 — three times the typical limit — from individual donors.

UPDATE: Shortly after I posted this, I got another solicitation from the Powers campaign:

Dear Matt,

Today the Supreme Court struck down the ‘millionaire’s amendment’ which was intended to prevent  millionaires from buying their own seats in Congress.

Jon’s opponent has said he will pay $3 Million to run against Jon. With the Court ruling today in favor of millionaires, there is nothing stopping our opponent from writing his own check now. Jon’s opponent also released his financial disclosure form which revealed he owns up to $35 million in Big Oil and energy stocks. This is just more of the same. Our opponent is running to represent Big Oil, not the people of the 26th district.

Of course, the plea for money is misleading. Davis has pledged to use $3 million of his own money for the congressional race… not $3 million specifically to oppose Powers.

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Jon Powers, one of the Democrats running for Tom Reynolds congressional seat, violated election laws charging his own campaign “thousands of dollars for renting part of his residence.”.

Campaign documents filed with the Federal Election Commission show his campaign paid $500 rent in January to Powers for space in his Williamsville home. According to a 2000 advisory opinion from the agency, it is a violation of FEC rules for a campaign to pay rent for space in a candidate’s home.

Now that his illegal actions have been caught, Powers will reimburse the campaign.

Isn’t that nice?

According to Powers’ campaign website, part of his “plan for the future” is to “clean up Washington.” Perhaps he should clean up his own act before he starts lecturing about cleaning up Washington.

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