Erin and I would like to thank each of you for the opportunity and honor to campaign for New York’s 26th Congressional District. I decided to run for Congress because the America that you and I believe in lost its voice in Washington. That is why we built a grassroots campaign that is based on the voices of the hard working men and women of Western New York.

With your help we started a conversation in your living rooms that began with holding 30 house parties in 30 days or last week visiting all 7 counties in 7 days. Thank you for sharing with me your challenges, concerns, and ideas on how we can make Western New York and this nation a better place.

Our conversation continued at roundtables talking with teachers about education, farmers about agriculture, Generals and veterans about the war, small business owners about the rising cost of health care and students about the rising costs of higher education.

This conversation really instilled in me the belief that together we have the power to change Washington.

None of this would have been possible without the unbelievable support and help of you, the Powers Platoon. One of the wonderful Platoon Leaders sent me an email this morning that I believe says it best,

This was way more than a campaign — it was a movement. A movement that must continue in some way or another. We built a coalition of people from the bottom up that joined together like I have never, ever seen here before.

She is absolutely right! I was honored to be a part of this effort as we stared down millionaires whose only line of defense was false political attacks and smears. Millions of dollars were spent in lies attacking our efforts because they were afraid of the power of this movement.

I am proud of serving our nation in Iraq, I am proud of the groundbreaking work of War Kids Relief that continues to this day to help the forgotten children of Iraq despite the lies of my opponents, and I am tremendously proud of this campaign that you and I put together.

As we are still on the ballot as the nominee for the Working Families Party, my family and team are currently deciding how best to proceed.

We want to thank each of you for your hard work and dedication. This campaign was never about an individual, it was about this community. If you believe that together we have the power to change Washington, this campaign is about you.

Thank you,

Jon

i didn’t get to listen to the original broadcast, but i listen to the entire audio of the debate. Buffalo Pundit posted his quick impressions Sunday, which were full of gushing praise for Powers and how he handled the questions he was asked. 

Well, I don’t know what interview he was listening to, but after I listened to it, I heard a much different Jon Powers than Buffalo Pundit did.

For starters, Jon Powers absolutely fumbled on War Kids Relief. He kept sticking to the same old script and talking points he’s used over an over, but when he was forced to answer a direct question he couldn’t make a clear answer. Buffalo Pundit, to his credit, did acknowledge this.

Powers kept claiming that the only money he received from War Kids Relief was the $!5,000 noted on the Form 990, but he made no mention of the money he recieved for his work with War Kids Relief when it was it was a project of Veterans for America. By failing to acknowledge that money he received he was being deliberately disingenuous.

Alice Kryzan, who has largely stayed out of the fighting between Powers and Davis, said she “still has questions” about the War Kids Relief issue, and said many in the district she’s spoken with still do.

What really got me about Powers performance was his hesitation to take any specific stance on an issue he was asked a direct question about. The long pauses and mumbling really stuck out. Powers hesitated on whether or not he supported federal funds to pay for abortions… but ultimately decided he did support it after being pressed to give an answer.

Kryzan said she opposesd a constitutional amendment to protect traditional marriage.. Powers ducked the question by saying it was a state issue.

Both oppose free trade, just like Jack Davis.

Buffalo Pundit also credited Powers for making it “quite clear in many of his answers that they were crafted after soliciting, receiving, and considering input from people throughout the district.” Of course, the people Powers tends to visit are unions and union workers… and we know which candidate was endorsed by the pro-union Working Families Party, and has been endorsed by a big slate of unions. Of course, unions only account for <30% of the work force in Western New York, and that is a lot higher than average. Unions are a big part of the problem in this region, and those are the people Jon Powers seems to be going to in order to craft his positions.

Powers and Kryzan were generally advocating a similar immigration policy that George W. Bush was pushing for a while back, but wouldn’t admit it. Pretty sad.

Jon Powers says that his status an an iraw war vet gives him a unique voice to the debate… Of course, most of the Iraq war veterans running for Congress this year are Republicans, One them is Nathan Bech, who is running for congress in my home state of Massachusetts. Bech and Powers have different views on Iraq, but Jon Powers is using his status as an Iraq war veteran to give credence to his platform and shield himself from criticism. 

When asked about the military draft, Kryzan originally said she opposed it, then she said there may be a circumstance where a draft may be necessary.

This was another issue Powers avoided being specific about. But, Kevin Hardwick kept pressing for an answer… Powers eventually said he wouldn’t take it off the table.

So, basically, both Kryzan and Powers would support a draft under certain circumstances.

Powers used the draft issue to go into a spiel claiming that there was no call to service by the Bush administration after 9/11. that was a bold-faced lie… According to Powers all Bush did after 9/11 was tell Americans to “go shopping.”

What Powers either forgot or chose not to mention was that George W. Bush did have a call to action. It is called USA Freedom Corp. Powers desperation to blame George W. Bush for everything, even at the expense of the truth, didn’t even get by Kryzan, who, to her credit, criticized Powers for his misleading statement, noting that terrorists had also attacked our economy and our way of life, and President Bush called on Americans not to let the terrorists win by forcing Americans to live in fear… Though, she didn’t say it very eloquently, that’s the overall point she made.

OF course, Kryzan also had her silly moments.

She blamed our presence in Saudi Arabia and our dependence on foreign oil for the attack on 9/11, and she claimed that Bush hasn’t tried to get us off of foreign oil. Well, he’s the one telling the Democrats in congress to allow a vote on offshore drilling. Democrats left Congress for their summer recess without an energy plan to address rising gas pries and our dependence on foreign oil so, on that point, she was drinking the same liberal Kool-Aid that Powers was.

They both expressed their opposition to the Patriot Act, and blamed Bush for it giving too much power to the presidency and conflicting with separation of powers and checks and balances. Of course, the legislation was written by Democrats and Republicans, and John Kerry, who has endorsed Powers and advocated for his candidacy, used to brag about his role in writing it, and of course, he voted for it.

But, what really got me about Powers was his blatent attempt to give vague responses throughout the debate. Kryzan had her moments too, especially with Social Security. That was a big fumble for the both of them. They both said they would “protect” Social Security, without explaining what that meant. When asked if they’d raise taxes, increase the salary cap, they wouldn’t give a specific response. Kryzan said she supported a more “progressive system” but couldn’t say what that was. It was not her best moment, and it sounded like Kevin Hardwick was frustrated with both of them.

Kryzan absolutely nailed Powers over his claim he’d change Washington since he’s getting so much financial support from PACs and special itnerests which are a part of the existing Washington culture. 

Both said they oppose Bush tax cuts, which means they would raise our taxes. One would think that after the record economic growth this country experienced because of the Bush tax cuts that they’d swallow their pride and admit that it was good economic policy. But, should either of them win the primary, I imagine their rhetoric may soften significantly. 

Powers took his vague responses and nonanswers to the very end of the debate. When Kevin Hardwick asked if he’d support a pay raise for congress in his first term, Powers tried to change the subject by saying “the first thing we’re going to do is bring the troops home safely.” Powers reluctance to deviate from the script he’s practiced so much over this campaign was his downfall in this debate. When he decided to finally say “no,” (after repeated attempts for a direct answer from Hardwick) he was asked if he would accept a pay increase even if it passed. He simply dodged the question by saying, ”I’ll have to cross that bridge when we get to it.”

He always wouldn’t answer “yes” or “no” on if he’d accept a taxpayer-funded car. Alice Kryzan, on both these last two issues, was much more specific. She said no all-around.

I found it to be a very disappointing interview/debate. Kryzan did slightly better than Powers, since she gave more definitive answers to the questions than Powers did. Still, they came across as disappointing because despite both of their claims that they’re for change and would be a new voice in Washington, they both gave typical politician-style non-answers.

But, clearly someone knows that remaining unanswered questions are only going to hurt Jon Powers’ campaing: Jon Powers. 

The Buffalo News is reporting that Jon Powers has removed War Kids Relief from his campaign literature.

His opponents have pounded congressional candidate Jon Powers over the charity he ran to benefit Iraq’s children.

They say that, for the most part, it flopped yet still rewarded Powers with a salary.

Powers now has mailed his first campaign piece to voters. He tells them about his background, serving in Iraq as an Army officer and teaching public school in Clarence.

But there’s no mention of the charity, War Kids Relief.

In the campaign’s early days, his charity was mentioned often. But Democratic challengers Jack Davis and Alice Kryzan may have found the Achilles heel.

They’re kicking it at will, and probably will continue to do so until the three-way party primary vote on Sept. 9. 

I did find it interesting that Alice Kryzan even chimed in on this:

“It was the prominent aspect of his biography when he first started running for Congress,” said Kryzan campaign manager Anne Wadsorth. “And now that some questions have been raised concerning the charity and Jon Powers’ role in it, he has eliminated any reference to it as he talks about his experience.”

Davis’ campaign manager, Luke Vaughn, had noticed the same absence in a Powers television ad — “perhaps because he has now realized that touting his failure is a bad strategy,” Vaughn said.

The Powers campaign finds the criticism laughable.

“There was no purposeful reason not to include it,” responded campaign manager John Gerken, who mentioned that the Powers Web site still offers a section about War Kids Relief.

That’s right. The website does still include a section on War Kids Relief. But, taking it down would have a more significant admission of guilt than omitting from campaign literature. Still, I believe that only a fraction of voters in the district actually peruse campaign websites. Political junkies and activists are the main forces of any campaign’s online army.  Campaign website are largely a portal for grassroots activity.  

Jon Powers has made War Kids Relief one of the key parts of his resume. It is something he can’t really afford to take out of it — if he thinks everything was all above board — considering how little experience he has.

From: Fighting Change
Date: Tue, Aug 26, 2008 at 1:02 PM
Subject: Help Me – Powers Avoids Criticism
To: matt@thebuffalobean.com

Dear Buffalo Bean,

I am writing you this e-mail because you may be the only one who will print this. I had an anonymous YouTube website that was meant to draw attention to some of Jon Powers’ hypocrisies. The reason this was anonymous is because I didn’t want my family and kids to be harassed about my calling out Jon Powers. It looks like Jon Powers will stoop to anything to avoid criticism.

It appears now that Jon Powers couldn’t stand the attention or criticism because his campaign has gotten my account disabled because of supposed “copyright infringement.” I believe they did this by claiming videos that were already on YouTube were protected.

They specifically targeted two ads I put up that had gotten the most views. The first was called “Jon Powers – Then and Now.” This pointed out that Powers’ new bio ad didn’t include any mention of War Kids Relief even though a bio ad that appeared last year on Powers’ YouTube site DID mention that. The video was up 4 days before it was pulled. Everything in the video was in the public domain. There was no reason to pull the ad.

In response to the video being pulled, I put up another video, called “Jon Powers – Another Failure of Leadership” which poked fun at Powers for pulling the previous video. It wasn’t long before that video was also pulled, and my YouTube account suspended for “copyright infringement.”

It’s obvious that Jon Powers doesn’t like criticism, and is trying to bury it and not answer questions about his life.

I hope you will share this with your readers.

I had actually posted the former YouTube video in a blog entry last week. As you can see, the video is “no longer available.” If you go to the YouTube page, this is what you see:

So, what was the video that Jon Powers was so afraid of? In response to the email, I asked Fighting Change to send me the original videos. I got them. So here’s the video Jon Powers doesn’t want you to see:

Now, is it really about “copyright infringement” or is it about Jon Powers trying to silence his critics? Well, let’s consider this. A couple days ago I posted, in full, Jon Powers’ latest ad on YouTube. Have I been accused of copyright infringement? No. Has my account been suspended? No. Why not? It’s not clips, it’s posted in its entirety. He’s got a better case for “copyright infringement” against me. Of course, since the ad attacks Davis, it’s probably okay for me to post it… right?

Of course, for Powers to go after YouTube videos that are critical of him with a bogus “copyright infringement” claim is quite hypocritical, when his latest ad includes clips of old Jack Davis ads. 

Hypocrisy? Looks like it.

As long as Jon Powers is a candidate, I will make sure this video, and any other he tried to silence will be available for people to see. If Jon Powers’ campaign wants to come after me I welcome the fight. Come on, Powers… bring it on.

UPDATE, 2:50 PM: Here it is.

UPDATE: One thing that is clear is that Jon Powers is the single biggest line item on the 990. More money spent on him than on any one of the programs.  His salary was one-third of the entire War Kids Relief budget, making him by far the biggest beneficiary of the program. It may as well been called the Jon Powers Relief Fund.

Congressional candidate Jon Powers released documents Wednesday showing that he earned $15,000 from his Iraq children’s charity in the first five months of 2007 — a year in which the organization raised only $41,738.

But the Powers campaign also released a letter from Veterans for America, the huge veterans organization where Powers worked, showing that the $60,000 he earned in 2006 was tied to his job as vice president for policy for that organization, as well as the War Kids Relief effort he ran there.

“Our opponents keep trying to frame it as if Jon was trying to rob War Kids blind, and it’s patently false,” said John Gerken, Powers’ campaign manager. “The claim that he took $77,000 from War Kids is patently false.”

Jack Davis’s campaign notes, however, that Powers paid himself a third of the revenues of War Kids Relief in 2007.

The War Kids effort, which Powers started as a Veterans for America project in 2005, was spun off as an independent charity in early 2007, a few months before Powers announced his race for the Democratic nomination to replace Reynolds.

The War Kids effort raised $68,336 while under the helm of Veterans for America, wrote Anita Keller, director of humanitarian affairs at Veterans for America, in her letter to Powers.

Approximately 80 percent of that, or about $54,669, went to programs to design a model for child care for children abandoned as a result of the Iraq War, as well as a work study program, a youth conference and research, the letter said.

That left approximately $13,667 for overhead. Gerken said overhead would have included office space and support costs for the War Kids effort, as well as the portion of Powers’ Veterans for America salary connected to it.

That would mean the bulk of the $60,000 Powers earned from Veterans for America was in connection with his job as vice president for policy. The Powers campaign said he took that title in May 2006 and testified at government hearings, worked on legislation and served as a spokesman for the charity. Officials at Veterans for America could not be reached to comment further on Powers’ duties there.

So, the War Kids effort raised $68,336 while under the helm of Veterans for America, and Powers was paid nearly 90% of that amount ($60,000) by the organization? That’s quite a lot of money for a poor performance.

Something tells me this issue is far from dead.

UPDATE:  War Kids… then and now…

Of course, I’ve heard him speak, and it’s nothing to brag about.

The Powers ad, while I can compliment the production quality of it, there’s not much substance in it. It features the same old talking points we’ve heard over an over, and make Powers look more like a posh businessman with an expensive suit and an office with a view than an unemployed substitute teacher.

According to the ad, Powers wants to create “a new generation of jobs,” and “protect Social Security” — you know, the usual buzz phrases. But, the real interesting thing about the ad was what was missing. The ad opens up talking about his service in Iraq, but made no mention of War Kids Relief. Powers has made War Kids Relief one of the centerpieces of his resume, and yet, the in which he is choosing to “introduce himself to Western New York” doesn’t even mention it?

I was also amused by the fact that the purpose of the ad was to “introduce” Powers to Western New York. Powers started his campaign a year ago… Perhaps if he wasn’t spending so much time trying to raise money from out-of-state left-wing activists he wouldn’t have to “introduce himself” to Western New Yorkers a few short weeks before the primary.

The flurry of charges and countercharges began when the Davis campaign produced documents showing that Powers, a graduate of John Carroll University in Cleveland, was cited by a Cleveland Heights, Ohio, police officer on Oct. 23, 2004, for disorderly conduct. In his citation, the officer accused Powers of directing obscene comments at him.

“People need to know this is the real Jon Powers,” Davis spokesman Luke Vaughn said. “He flagrantly disrespects a police officer, is found guilty of disorderly conduct and never tells anyone. After 10 years of scandal and embarrassing headlines, we don’t need more of the same — we deserve a congressman who will tell the truth.”
But Powers spokeswoman Victoria Dillon saw the incident differently. She said Powers was with college friends and fellow veterans in the area, and denied at the time and denies now that he ever used obscene language in addressing the officer. She also offered to produce witnesses to back up Powers.

“At a time when he’s under investigation and running from revelations of election fraud and bribery, the Davis campaign is practicing the lowest form of politics by distorting simple facts,” Dillon said. “Jon was written a ticket for jaywalking, never arrested and never showed any disrespect to law enforcement.”

But a spokeswoman for the Cleveland Heights Municipal Court said Powers changed his plea of not guilty to the original Class 4 misdemeanor charge to “no contest” in connection with a minor misdemeanor on Jan. 11, 2005, and that there was no mention of jaywalking in the final disposition of the case.

Of course, the Powers campaign is claiming that Powers was merely jaywalking — which makes as much sense as saying that a person who gets a speeding ticket but has it reduced to a parking violation never violated the speed limit.

As for the GOP’s call for Powers to release the financial documents about War Kids Relief, the Erie County Democratic Party predictably fought back accusing the Republicans of attacking Powers’ service. In defending Powers, Erie County Democratic Chairman Leonard R. Lenihan said, “I wonder how many people at that press conference put their lives on the line in Iraq.”

So, apparently, Jon Powers is supposed to be above scrutiny because he served in Iraq? What Lenihan is choosing to ignore is the fact that the questions surrounding Jon Powers and War Kids Relief have nothing to do with Powers’ military service in Iraq. This, in my opinion explains why the local Democratic committees rushed to endorse Powers, despite his lack of political qualifications and experience. They think that any criticism of Jon Powers can be easily deflected by playing the “Iraq Veteran” card.

And, I have to disagree with Lenihan’s implication that Republicans are attacking Powers over this issue due to “their desire to avoid facing Jon Powers in November.” I think if there’s anyone the Republican Party wants to face in November it’s Jon Powers. This issue probably won’t hurt Powers amongst Democrat voters, since Democrats tend to ignore scandals involving members of their own party. But, the important thing to remember is that it wasn’t the local Republican Party that brought this issue up.

UPDATE: The Buffalo Bean has obtained a scan of the citation.

UPDATE: Buffalo Pundit, complete with talking points from the Powers campaign, echoes the claim that the Republican Party fears going against Powers in November. I think it speaks for itself that if they’re any candidate the Republican wants to face it’s Jon Powers. Commonsense would tell any pundit or political insider that if you had to choose between a better known candidate with virtually unlimited resources (Davis) and a political newbie with no experience, less cash, and no name recognition (Powers), you’d choose facing the latter. 

But hey, if liberals had commonsense, they’d be Republicans.

UPDATE: Davis, GOP go after Powers

The editorial defending Powers, written by filmmaker Michael Tucker contains a lot of Jon Powers usual talking points about the charity, and some new spin, as noted by Jeff at the 26th District Blog:

While the candidate has admitted the charity accomplished little, not much has been said as to why or what was actually tried. Tucker’s editorial offers the latest spin on the story saying, “When Jon went to Baghdad in 2005, getting around as a civilian wasn’t easy and the city was tense. It was impossible to move without your own security detail or a military escort, but Jon managed to secure meetings with key officials and commanders who were keen to see his program succeed.”

Unfortunetly [sic] for Powers the editorial serves as only more evidence that the charity was unable to accomplish anything beyond talk and fundraising, leaving open questions of where that money actually went and why a veteran of the War who had fundraising help from powerful officials like Senator John Kerry could not account for the security difficulties. Tucker says in the editorial, “In my estimation, the major reason federal funds were not secured was because it was impossible for the military to provide security in Iraq for humanitarian efforts after 2006.”

The questions about War Kids Relief remain… and things should get interesting with today’s press conference with the GOP chairmen of Erie, Niagara and Orleans counties at 4pm.