Reader groundhum sent a couple of links about the proposed wastewater disposal well in Pulteney. First, the Penn Yan Chronicle-Express has a story about the regulatory review required. It sounds like nothing's happening quickly. Also, the Finger Lakes Times reports that the Seneca Pure Water Association thinks the well poses a high risk.
A Republican reader who wishes to remain anonymous sent Tom Reed's latest fundraising letter [pdf]. It's a two-page appeal, chock full of attacks on Eric Massa. My Republican correspondent doesn't like it -- he wants to see some ideas from Reed, not just attacks.
In case you're not on a mailing list for either candidate (lucky you), here's Massa's latest fundraising email [pdf] for comparison.
On a day when we use a rodent's shadow as an indicator to forecast the weather, let's look at a couple of recent indicators of the success of Tom Reed's campaign.
Sunday's money numbers were pretty grim for Reed. He's got enough cash to run a modest campaign, not the fierce challenge needed to unseat Massa. Unless the National Republican Congressional Committee steps up its fundraising, he won't get much help from them, since they trail the Democrats by a 7:1 margin in their fundraising efforts.
Reader Zabriskie sends another indicator: Reed's hometown newspaper's take on his recent redbaiting press release. On Sunday, Managing Editor Joe Dunning devoted his column [pdf] to debunking Reed's claim about the dirty Commies. On Monday, the editors gave Reed a "groan" [pdf] for the press release.
It's still a long journey until November's election, but these two indicators are a little more reliable than a burrowing woodchuck.
Both Tom Reed and Eric Massa filed their FEC fundraising reports yesterday.
Reed raised $87K and has a total of $122K cash on hand. His report shows that he raised about $60K from individuals, chipped in $16K himself, and got a little over $10K from PACs and party.
Massa's haul was $261K, with $222K of that total from individuals, and the rest from party and PACs. Massa's report shows that he has $643K cash on hand.
Massa has raised a little over a million dollars this cycle. Reed has raised less than a quarter of that amount ($222K). Almost all of Reed's contributions have come from individual donors. Massa's gotten about 60% of his total from individuals. In other words, even if you subtracted out PAC financing, Massa would have almost a 3:1 fundraising advantage over Reed.