24 year Navy Veteran and former Republican running for Congress

[Career Prole]

Twenty-four year Navy veteran and now US Congressional candidate Eric Massa has agreed to respond to your comments live starting at 1pm eastern. I met Eric last month and was very impressed by him. Since then lots of other people have told me they felt the same way when they met him. Today you guys will get a chance to judge for yourselves.

Eric has sent me a statement of his experience, why he is running for US Congress, and why he is no longer a Republican but is now a Democrat. Here is his statement:

See it here!

Teaser...he worked with Wes Clark.

:bounce:

[Ian David]

1. Interesting... a Republican that has "seen the light"

They'll say he's "hiding behind the uniform."

[TahitiNut]

2. Better than hiding behind his twin daughters' skirts.

:eyes: :puke:

[Rebellious Republican]

9. Its been happening long before him....

Me, DU's very own Rebellious Republican, converted several years ago, and I am ex-navy as well.:hi:

He is just another very astute and observant sailor.

Oh and yes, they have been losing us for quite some time, they just do not like to admit it.

Their ignorance and arrogance is costing them dearly, some examples, Jim Jeffords, Cindy Sheehan, and less notables such as several of my friends and family.

The list grows longer every week, unfortunately, they own the voting machines, so it really does not matter to them.

[HawkerHurricane]

10. Lot of us former Navy here...

Something about being out to sea makes you think about OTHER PEOPLE instead of just yourself.

[Rebellious Republican]

12. P3 Orion's were the life for me shipmate!

:toast:

[Pepperbelly]

13. hiya from more Navy ...

Gator sailor here. And my son, to his chagrin, is a bubblehead.

[Rebellious Republican]

25. Hey PB, good to here from you, I always enjoy reading your...

most insightful posts. Here is a good one for your son, yes you can tell him you heard it from an airdale that used to fly subhunters (P3's).

You know what ya got when a 100 subsailors go down for six months, 50 couples come back.:evilgrin:

[HawkerHurricane]

18. I was Surface Warfare...

on the darndest ships


Amphibs...


Destroyers


and others.

[BlueCollar]

32. Is that one of VP-40's birds?

I was in 40 from 79-83

AMS2 checking in

[Rebellious Republican]

38. Not sure, I grabbed it off the web! I used to have a nice one of VP-8

over Mount Etna. I think the file was corrupted, shame it was a beauty.

Ph2 here!

:toast:

[Stinky The Clown]

22. yup ... lotsa ex Navy here .....

[jonnyblitz]

14. I was in the navy for 10 years but I was never a republican...

good to see you here at DU...:hi:

[Rebellious Republican]

23. Thanks JB, I was in for ten as well, 78-88.

Beirut era, I was combat camera team and combat aircrew!

:toast:

[Geoff R. Casavant]

21. Hello from the JAG Corps

Ex-Navy, currently Reserves.

[Rebellious Republican]

24. Yes I am very familiar with the JAG corp, took me 7.5 years

to get my first Good Conduct medal. Me and the Skipper were on a first name basis you might say! Needed the legal advice occasionally:evilgrin:

:toast:

[malmapus]

29. LOL made me spit my coke there RR

Got pretty familiar with the JAG corp myself toward the end of my service, not to the lengh you did from the sounds of it though ;)

:toast:

[Rebellious Republican]

42. I got it out of my system in the first couple of years, the last seven

were pretty tame, the Rebellious spirit still lurks within you might say. Hence the pseudonym!:evilgrin:

[Career Prole]

27. Dang! Looks like the Navy's checking in!

I was in for six years repairing F-4's in VF-21, on the U.S.S. Ranger and at Miramar when it was a NAS instead of a MCAS.
Hiya, shipmates! :toast:

[Rebellious Republican]

28. I remember you guys, I was stationed at NAS Fallon for my first

3 years,78-81. Used to get you guys up for war games with our electronic warfare and bombing range.

I worked with your recon birds, Mirmar was also my chain of command.

Technically I was TAD to NAS Fallon, for 3 yrs, go figure, but thats where my Division Officer was, we were part of PACFLTAV Command out of North Island, Ca.

Rock and Roll shipmate.RR

On edit: Thats where I needed Geoff R. Casavant's colleagues services. Not a lot to do in the middle of the desert for a young sailor, cept raise a little hell.

[Captain Hilts]

35. Dad was a sub skipper...

It was great being in a branch of the service where using the first person singular is frowned upon, even by captains.

And officers and enlisted eating the same food is cool too...

[Rebellious Republican]

41. Yep the silent service was a tight nit group of sailors....

The best OIC I ever had in the Navy wore Dolphins. He was an anomaly for his Rate. The only Photographers mate that I knew that wore dolphins, PHCS, great guy!

:toast:

[Career Prole]

43. LOL!! I remember dets to Fallon!

We went out and found one of those old mine shafts that was like two feet square with a board ladder nailed to one side. Dropped a rock in to see how deep it was...never heard it hit.

Then we said "Okay...now what?"

I can see where you could get in a jam with more than a week to kill!
:toast:

[Rebellious Republican]

45. Yep, I flew into Reno then took a bus to Fallon.....

did not get there until after dark on the day I reported for duty.

I remember my reaction when I woke up in the morning, I walked out of the barricks rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. Looked around and said OMFG, nothing but Jack Rabbits, Sage Brush and Sand.

They say its not the end of the world, but you can see it from there!!!

There was nothing to do but drink beer and fuck, and damned if those Jack Rabbits were'nt hard to catch! :evilgrin:

:wow:

[Career Prole]

48. After a year or two you developed

the hunting prowess of the cheetah, though.

O' course, the cheetah knew JAG only as the noble jaguar... :eyes:

[liberaliraqvet26]

3. what district & state?

[wishlist]

6. Corning, NY= 29th Congressional District n/t

[Pirate Smile]

4. I've was just reading that Diary and the questions with his responses

throughout the Comments.

I love that we seem to be finding really interesting and intriguing candidates for 2006.

Here is a more from the Diary:

Talk live with Eric Massa, a 24 year Navy Veteran and former Republican running for Congress

by mikepridmore
Sun Aug 7th, 2005 at 10:37:53 PDT

Update <2005-8-7 13:37:53 by Armando>: From the diaries by Armando. As the Democratic Party seeks new compelling candidates to insure we are competing in each and every Congressional District in the country, it is good to see good folks like Eric Massa step up. This is not an endorsement of his candidacy, but an endorsement of what his stepping into the arena represents -- a new commitment to fight for the Democratic Party and a different fight for our country. Thank you Eric for stepping forward in that fight.

Twenty-four year Navy veteran and now US Congressional candidate Eric Massa has agreed to respond to your comments live starting at 1pm eastern. I met Eric last month and was very impressed by him. Since then lots of other people have told me they felt the same way when they met him. Today you guys will get a chance to judge for yourselves.

Eric has sent me a statement of his experience, why he is running for US Congress, and why he is no longer a Republican but is now a Democrat. Here is his statement:

The 29th Congressional District of New York is one of the most beautiful corners of America. It is also one of the parts of America that has suffered most at the hands of irresponsible Republican leadership.


I am running to represent the 29th District in Congress because throughout our nation and in every town in my district I see a relentless assault on the middle class. Every piece of legislation coming from Washington these days seems designed to double the portfolio values of the wealthy while making it harder and harder for working families to get ahead. And in the face of all this, my opponent, freshman incumbent Randy Kuhl, is little more than a rubber stamp for the Republican agenda, faithfully following the orders of his party leaders rather than looking out for the interests of his constituents.

For 18 years, the 29th was represented by Amo Houghton, a highly respected Congressman and one of the last of the true moderate Republicans - a man who demonstrated the independent thinking of a genuine leader. Now we are ill-served by a Representative who shows no independence at all, meekly voting with Tom Delay 95% of the time (in fact, the only time he showed any initiative was to cast a vote that even Delay thought was too extreme!).

Let me tell you up front: I used to be a Republican. So why, now, am I a Democrat? What does it mean to me to be a Democrat?

I could tell you that the short answer, of course, is "I didn't leave the Republican Party, the Republican Party left me." But there's more to it than that.

I served my country for 24 years on active duty as an officer in the United States Navy. Along this journey I fell in love with and married my wife, Beverly. We raised a family moving all over the world. Our deployments included direct support of Marines in Beirut and involvement in Operation Desert Storm, but my capstone military assignment was as Special Assistant to General Wes Clark, both in Panama and when he became Supreme Allied Commander of NATO forces.

My career was cut short when I was diagnosed with terminal Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma. The good news is the doctors got the prognosis wrong and with the help of my faith, family, and friends I was able to find the strength to overcome the odds, and I beat cancer. I spent the last part of my military career as a cancer outreach advocate, traveling the country and talking with other cancer patients who were in the same position I had been. Meeting these people, and talking to them, really made clear to me the importance and the urgency of securing health care for all Americans.

When my Naval career ended I returned to Corning, New York. I went to work for Corning Inc. until the tech bubble burst and I, and many thousands of fellow tech workers, got wet. My wife and I made the decision to stay in Corning, and I went to work (with a long commute) as a Staff Member in the House Armed Services Committee.

During my time with the Committee, I expressed grave concerns to the Republican leadership and wrote several dissenting documents about the plans to invade Iraq. When I saw what was happening to our returning veterans, I again documented my concerns to the Republicans. When my former Commanding Officer and friend, Wes Clark, joined the Presidential race, I refused to let partisan politics stand in the way of my loyalty to him. I left my position on the House Armed Services Committee and have not looked back. While I was not on the House floor when the vote to invade Iraq took place, I voted with my feet by joining the Wesley Clark for President Campaign in New Hampshire.

Since the election, I have only become more concerned about the future of this country, as I have watched right-wing extremists hijack the Republican Party and pump out legislation that seems designed to destroy the middle class and make life harder for working families. I believe I have a responsibility to pass on to my children Justin and Alexandra a nation as solid and secure as the country I inherited from my parents.

That is why I am a Democrat.

I am a Democrat because as a Democrat I can fight to defend the values which have guided me all my life: service, integrity, and accountability.

I am a Democrat because I believe that access to health care for all Americans is a national security priority.

I am a Democrat because I know that it is wrong to sell out our working families by sending their jobs overseas with bad trade agreements like CAFTA - it's wrong, and it's hurting our nation.

I am a Democrat because I believe that Social Security is one of the greatest accomplishments of modern America, and we must defend it against risky and destructive privatization schemes.

I am running for Congress as a Democrat because the working people of the 29th District of New York deserve a Representative who is more than a rubber stamp for the Bush-Rove-Delay agenda.

Working families are under assault in my district, and all over America. But we know we can do better. We know that, with the right leadership, with the help of faith, family, and friends, we can overcome the odds. Our homes are worth fighting for.

But we will need help. The GOP will pour millions of dollars into this race. Paul Hackett showed that any seat can be won, especially with a candidate who is unafraid to take the fight to the Republicans. I am not afraid, and I will not back down.

I invite you to visit my website to learn more about me and the 29th District: www.massaforcongress.com. We probably won't agree on everything, but I know we will agree on this:

We are Democrats because the future of America is worth fighting for.

He is answering people's questions now.

[wishlist]

5. Thanks for posting- many moderate upstate NY Repubs are now Dems

Best wishes to him. I have several formerly Republican relatives in NY who stopped voting for Repubs years ago. They have told me they are very unhappy with the both the NY State Repub politicians and of course all of the Repubs on the national level.

[randr]

7. Where is the 29th district?

[wishlist]

8. Corning NY- Southern tier of mid- Western NY near PA. border n/t

[Career Prole]

11. Kick for spare change for change!

:kick:

http://www.massaforcongress.com/contribute.asp

[Pepperbelly]

15. His letter regarding his candidacy was very good,

I walked with him through his progression.

[sundancekid]

16. and another KICK

[Son of California]

17. once again, I here "Rubberstamp"

I'm telling you, we gone ride this catchphrase all the way back into power.

[Catch22Dem]

19. Very impressive statement

I like it. Of course, any friend of Wes Clark's is a friend of mine.

[RandomUser]

20. Thanks for the link

Very interesting interview. And it seems he spent several hours answering the questions from bloggers live on DailyKos. Thanks for the heads up.

[FrenchieCat]

26. Go Massa!

Another Kick Ass in '06!

Great!

[malmapus]

30. Ok DU vets we should get a pool goin

Which service gets a member of their own in Congress / Senate first..

Marines made a good show with the first attack on a very red area.

Hopefully Eric will be able to make it, best of luck to him!

GO ARMY!! (sorry couldn't resist) :D

:toast:

[paineinthearse]

31. Randy Kuhl is little more than a rubber stamp for the Republican agenda

official house website - http://kuhl.house.gov/

Kuhl for Congress website - http://www.kuhlforcongress.com/thankyou.asp

[paineinthearse]

33. Kuhl's "official" bio

http://www.kuhlforcongress.com/index.asp?pageID=239



John R. ("Randy") Kuhl, Jr. is a native and lifelong resident of the Southern Tier-Western New York region, residing in Steuben County. He is a graduate of Hammondsport Central School and earned his B.S. in Civil Engineering from Union College. In 1969, he received his Juris Doctor from Syracuse University College of Law.

Admitted to the New York Bar in 1970, Randy Kuhl is a practicing attorney with an office in Bath, New York. He is currently a member in good standing of the New York State and Steuben County Bar Associations. He is also a member of the American Arbitration Association. Randy's career has included posts as Attorney for several municipalities, including Steuben County. His credentials include practice before the United States Supreme Court.

Elected to the New York State Assembly in 1980, Randy served for three consecutive terms and was then elected to the State Senate in 1986. He presently represents the residents of New York's 53rd Senate District comprising Chemung, Schuyler, Steuben and Yates counties, and a portion of Tompkins County. Prior to legislative redistricting in 2002, Randy's district also included nine towns and the city of Canandaigua in Ontario
County.

Randy was appointed the Senate's Assistant Majority Leader for House Operations at the beginning of the 1995 legislative session. He served as Chairman of the Senate Standing Committee on Agriculture from 1987 to 1999, when he was appointed Chairman of the Senate Standing Committee on Education. He served as Chairman of the Education Committee until the beginning of the 2003 session, when he was appointed Chairman of the Senate Standing Committee on Transportation. In addition, Randy also currently serves as a member on the Agriculture; Crime Victims, Crime and Correction; Education; Finance; Higher Education; Investigations, Taxation and Government Operations; and Labor standing committees.

He is a former State Chairman of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and vice chairman of the National Conference of State Legislatures' (NCSL) Wine Industry Task Force. He continues to serve as a member of the NCSL Wine Industry Task Force. He is also a member of the Senate Select Committee on Interstate Cooperation; the New York State Early Intervention Coordinating Council; the NCSL Assembly on State Issues, Committee on Education; the NCSL Assembly on Federal Issues, Committee on Education, Labor and Workforce Development; the Council of State Governments' (CSG) Intergovernmental Affairs Committee; and the CSG Eastern Regional Conference's Committee on Economic Affairs.

Randy is a communicant of St. James Episcopal Church and has been active in the past in the Hammondsport Rotary Club and BPOE 1547 in Bath. He is a member of the Advisory Committee of the Steuben Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America, the Bath Rod and Gun Club, and the Executive Committee of the Steuben County Republican Committee. He is President of the Board of Directors of the Reginald Wood Scouting Memorial, and a member of the Board of Directors of the Alliance for Manufacturing and Technology.

[paineinthearse]

34. Wiki bio

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randy_Kuhl

John R. "Randy" Kuhl, a Republican from New York, was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 2004, defeating Samara Barend. He succeeded Amo Houghton, a Republican who retired after the 108th Congress, and represents New York's 29th Congressional district (map). Kuhl was born April 19, 1943 in Bath, New York, but calls Hammondsport, New York home. He is divorced and has three children.

During Kuhl's 2004 campaign, allegations of spousal abuse emerged when several weblogs published Kuhl's divorce records, which had formerly been sealed. In those records,Kuhl's ex-wife alleges that he abused her emotionally while drunk, that he had a history of drinking to excess for which he refused to seek counseling, and that he threatened to shoot her with two shotguns during a dinner party. The divorce papers also alleged that Kuhl solicited other women for sex.

Kuhl held a press conference shortly after the divorce papers were released, but he did not deny their contents — rather, he said they were released improperly in what amounted to "political sabotage."

Prior to his election to the United States Congress, Kuhl, a lawyer, was a member of the New York Assembly from 1981-1987 and the New York Senate from 1987-2004.

Kuhl, a veteran New York politician, is among the oldest — and most politically experienced — freshmen of the 2004 House class. Though he was endorsed by organized labor :wtf:, Kuhl is considered a fairly reliable conservative who generally votes against abortion rights, gun control and tax increases.

Kuhl has said his top priority on Capitol Hill will be job creation.

[Career Prole]

44. He threatened to shoot her with two shotguns during a dinner party!?!?

Was she a particularly big woman? :wow:


"The divorce papers also alleged that Kuhl solicited other women for sex."

Also with two shotguns, no doubt!

[Mairead]

36. This is a joke, right? His politics are the same: Republican. Only the

label changed. He's an Eisenhower/Nixon Republican, not a neo-con.

Are non-neocon Republicans now the face of the Dem party?

Isn't anyone even a little bit ashamed of this metamorphosis?

[Captain Hilts]

37. Amo Houghton was a pretty liberal Republican.

And, yes, he was related to the Houghtons of Katharine Houghton Hepburn.

Think Sherry Boehlert who represents Utica. He was a Republican in name only. That was the open seat in the race. But he's been drinking the Republican koolaid lately. Perhaps he got too wealthy.

[paineinthearse]

39. self-deleted

[paineinthearse]

40. Cross-posted to the NY forum

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=169

[deadparrot]

46. Good for him! What are his chances?

NY has always been blue, but I know districts are red.

[xkenx]

47. ERIC MASSA & WES CLARK

WRITTEN FOR A NEWSPAPER DURING THE 2004 PRIMARY CAMPAIGN

As a junior Navy officer, Eric Massa had no choice the first time he went to work for Gen. Wesley Clark in 1996, as Clark's assistant in Panama. The Navy set up the interview, and Massa hoped to mangle it with blunt honesty.

"I didn't want the job, and I told him so," said Massa. "I was afraid of working for a pompous moron, of which there are several wearing stars. I had worked for senior officers who didn't care about people, and I didn't want to do that again."

It turned out Massa and Clark had something in common there, and Massa spent the next four years attached to Clark, first in Panama and then in Europe, during Clark's stint as supreme allied commander in Europe.

When Massa left Clark in 1999 it was under protest and only because Massa had been diagnosed with advanced cancer. Now, years later, Massa - recovered and retired from the Navy - is working for Clark's army again, this time as a campaign staffer trying to get Clark elected to the White House.

Massa wasn't looking for the job this time, either. Clark asked

him to come on board after learning a month ago that Massa had "involuntarily resigned" from his government job at the urging of Republican bosses. They were upset that Massa had visited Clark at a Democratic campaign event.

"They said I was a political liability and that if I liked Wes Clark so much I should go work for him," Massa said. A lifelong Republican, Massa just re-registered as a Democrat. Massa is the son of a Navy man, and as such grew up outside America and with a respect for the military. The family came to the United States when Massa was 16, and after graduating from high school in Louisiana, Massa attended the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md.

In all, Massa spent 25 years in the Navy, 16 of them on sea duty. In the mid-1990s, Massa's commanding officer told him it was time to decide how he wanted to fulfill his joint duty, a requirement for officers to spend part of their service with another branch of the military.

When Massa said he wanted to do something out of the ordinary, he was told an Army general by the name of Wes Clark was looking for a Navy aide. All he knew about Clark was that he had stars on his Army uniform, and that didn't carry much weight with Massa.

Their 50-minute interview, however, convinced Massa to withhold judgment.

"He had questions I didn't expect from a military man," Massa said. "He asked me if I was familiar with Greek literature, if I read Homer, what I thought about the Illiad.

"And the last 20 minutes were devoted to people questions," Massa said. "He asked me what I would do if a young soldier came to me and told me his wife had died. Or a homosexual soldier told me he was being harassed. His whole thing was treating people with dignity and respect."

Three hours later, Massa was on a plane with Clark to Panama, where Clark was commander in chief of the U.S. Southern Command. Massa described his job as Clark's executive assistant and deputy chief of staff.

Once there, Massa asked Clark what the Homer question was about. Massa remembers the answer: "He said he was looking for someone who was well-rounded enough to talk about issues beyond military terms."

For about 13 months, Massa shadowed Clark, keeping notes of his meetings and drafting follow-up letters to the people Clark had met. Massa said Clark forbade his staff to begin any of his correspondence with "I" because Clark wanted the emphasis on the recipient, not himself.

A show of support
When Clark was promoted to supreme allied commander in Europe in 1997, he asked Massa to stay on and be his advance man. Massa agreed and moved his wife and kids, who had been waiting for him back in San Diego, to Brussels, Belgium. After Clark arrived, Massa was again a close assistant and became one of Clark's main liaisons to Washington, D.C.

Massa had every intention of staying in Europe as Clark's assistant until he got sick in late 1999. He hadn't recovered from running a half-marathon but chalked it up to the flu. He blew off a doctor's appointment his wife had made for him, thinking he'd work it off.

On Nov. 9, 1999, Massa looked up from his desk to find Clark standing there. Clark told Massa that his wife had called worried about his health.

Clark had arranged another doctor's appointment for Massa, and when Massa protested, Clark gave him the only direct order Massa recalls receiving in four years. "I think we have lost the fundamental relationship between a four-star general and a Navy commander," Clark told him. "You will go to the doctor."

The doctor diagnosed Massa, who had never smoked, with advanced lung cancer and gave him four months to live. Clark cut through red tape to get Massa and his family back to the United States for treatment.

Just before Massa left, Clark convened the staff and tearfully awarded Massa the Legion of Merit medal for his work. Clark had received the same medal in the 1970s when he was a speech writer for the then-supreme allied commander.

It's one of the few times Massa saw Clark cry.

"Everyone thought that was goodbye, that I was dying," Massa said.

Back home in San Diego, doctors were more optimistic and diagnosed Massa with non-Hodgkins lymphoma, not lung cancer, and began aggressive treatment.

Unknown to Massa, Clark had a soldier tracking Massa's surgery. As soon as Massa came to in recovery, staff told him he had a call. It was Clark. At the time, he was overseeing the bombing of Kosovo.

A different kind of service
Massa retired about three years ago; he waited so that the last thing he did in uniform was attend Clark's retirement. Now he's living in a hotel in Manchester, trying to avoid a fast-food diet and bringing his family in from New York when he can.

He talks wistfully about the job he lost to get here. Massa was in Washington overseeing part of the Navy budget as a member of the House Armed Services Committee. His departure was reported by the press and has since become fodder for online political sites.

But he doesn't regret where it got him. On the trail, Massa is helping get Clark the veteran vote - and whatever else needs doing.

"If Wes Clark asked me to jump off the Brooklyn Bridge, I'd ask him if he wanted it done in the summer or the winter," Massa said.




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