take19 - TAKEN!!!

Tomorrow night, Sue plans to attend an National Association of Securities Dealers investor forum at the Central Valley Inn in Central Valley, NY. The event, which is called "Smart Investing in Today's Environment" will also include NASD's Chairman/CEO and Vice Chairman begins at 5:30 and even includes a free dinner and (of course) Sue's wit and wisdom. To make a reservation, send an email here with your name, address, and phone number. As of this morning, there was still space available.

Sue put in a full day at the office today, making her last vote of the day at 9:36 p.m. And what a successful day it was for Sue: she actually managed to get legislation that she sponsored passed by the full House, which hasn't happened all that often, even though she's now spent more than 10 years in Congress. Of course, it still needs to get passed by the Senate.

Sue's bill, which managed to attract seven co-sponsors, would start allowing small business owners who have sweep accounts to start collecting interest on their money. Of course, given how low interest rates are, this hardly represents a windfall for Hudson Valley business owners. But judging by what Sue said on the House floor yesterday, she's certainly likely to spin it that way.

One other note about today's marathon round of voting: Sue chose to buck the conservative wing of her party (and President Bush) by voting in favor of stem cell research earlier today, making her 1 of 50 Republicans to vote in favor of the expanded use of stem cells. Guess she really needed to bolster her so-called moderate stance after a long string of votes with DeLay & Co.

It's bad enough Sue's constituents (with the exception of those invited to her staged events) have a hard time finding her. Now, even the national media seems to have forgotten about Sue as evidenced by this article in today's New York Times.

The article notes how several Republican Congressmen in New York, including Thomas Reynolds, a Republican congressman from the Rochester area currently in his fourth term, are struggling with President Bush's plans to privatize Social Security. The article also mentioned several other Republican Representatives who are actively trying to duck the issue, including Vito Fossella of Staten Island and John Sweeney of the Albany area. But Sue was conveniently missing from the round-up, despite the fact that like the others mentioned in the article, she has to be feeling increasingly uncomfortable with privatization. Maybe the Times forgot to include her or forgot about her altogether. Or maybe, they had the same problem as many of her constituents have when it comes to talking about Social Security: they just couldn't find her.

A new poll released earlier today by The Wall Street Journal and NBC news finds that a majority of Americans are unhappy with Congress. What's driving that? Paying too much attention to things that most Americans don't care about and paying too little attention to the pocketbook items like gas prices and health insurance that many of us are struggling to afford each month. According to the poll, 51 percent disapprove of the job Congress is doing while only 1/3 approve. While the numbers don't look at specific districts and it's still more than a year before the election, the anti-incumbent sentiment bodes well for our efforts to take back the 19th.

Perhaps that's why Sue has been so busy raising money now, taking in over $50,000 since the beginning of the year -- with the first donations for 2006 coming in less than two months after she handily defeated Michael Jaliman according to this chart. Given that she still had plenty of money left over from the 2004 race, it seems a bit odd that she started collecting checks on Jan. 1, 2005. Then again, wingmen are expensive these days.

While she's been MIA at numerous events in her district, Sue has managed to carve out some time from her busy schedule to speak to an insurance industry group in Orlando according to this article. But what's particularly interesting about the article is all of the stuff Sue is given credit for doing -- from reducing taxes, to improving veteran's benefits to authoring the corporate fraud Sarbanes-Oxley bill. Of course, there's plenty of people here in the 19th who would quibble with her record, including many veterans who find her efforts lukewarm and lacking and many homeowners who have seen their local and school taxes shoot up sharply due to unfunded federal mandates passed by Sue and her DC buddies. And then there's the fact that the bill isn't called the Sarbanes-Oxley-Kelly bill.

Kelly was in Orlando to talk up the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act, which is set to expire at the end of the year. Insurance agents are eager to see it renewed, primarily because it means millions of dollars in premiums. "Every single person in every single state should contact their officials to make sure TRIA is renewed," Kelly urged. "You are instrumental in making sure enough interest is generated about this and make sure they understand how they will be affected if it isn't passed - take my passion into your own hearts and fight for TRIA!"

Of course, it's good to see that Sue's passionate about something.

It must be awfully hard for Sue to pick from the bevy of events she's no doubt invited to on a daily basis. Last night, for example, she skipped a meeting attended by around 100 people at St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Peekskill -- people who were eager to learn about Sue's views on Social Security, which so far at least, remain unclear. Instead, Sue faxed her regrets to an organizer, claiming the oft-cited "prior commitments". Her letter, however, failed to explain why one of her staffers was also seemingly unable to attend. Or at least nobody identified themselves as being a Sue staffer.

No matter where you happen to come down on the issue of Social Security, one thing is clear: It's pretty arrogant for an elected representative to blow off her constituents and instruct her staff to blow them off too. If Sue had a different opinion than the majority of the people in the room (who were overwhelmingly against any changes to Social Security) or wanted to shed some light on her own muddled views, this would have been a great opportunity for her to discuss them. After all, that's what democracy is all about. Don't we deserve better here in the 19th?