Friend of Charles Rangel: Paul Tonko

New York's 21st congressional district is an oddity in New York politics: Democratic by design, but still Conservative by default. The cities of Albany, Amsterdam, and Troy dominate, but the rural communities of Canajoharie, Cobleskill, and Rensserlaerville are still important.

The people live conservatively, hunt religiously, and are bound by tradition. They don't oppose the private ownership of firearms, and they expect honesty from their representatives. I might be a simpleton, but those are good qualities for a viable citizenry.

Which is why I must the expose the truth about Congressman Paul Tonko, a man who the local citizenry elected not on political policy, but on personal demeanor. Tonko hasn't gouged the tax payers via expensive congressional travel, nor has he requested any wasteful earmarks during his first term in office.

But he has aligned himself with extreme big government interests, and with dishonest members of his own political party.

According to Open Congress, a well respected website that tracks congressional votes, and the individual votes of Congressmen, Mr.Tonko has voted with Speaker Pelosi 100% of the time since joining the House of Representatives. And it does get worse: Mr.Tonko and Charles Rangel, one of the most corrupt members of Congress, think so much alike (98% of their votes are alike) that Tonko donated five hundred dollars to the Rangel Victory Fund last summer. That money was donated after Rangel's corrupt ways were revealed.

Mr.Tonko has also accepted the Nomination of the Working Families Party, which as you might remember from last year's special election involving Dede Scozzafava and Doug Hoffman, is closely associated with ACORN (Bertha Lewis ran both ACORN and the Working Families Party from the same office), and advocates for socialism to replace our current Capitalist economic society.

In conclusion, Mr.Tonko might be a man of friendly demeanor, but what good does it do for us when the man behind the demeanor supports a San Francisco liberal unanimously, a corrupted politician financially, and a socialistic Party unabashedly.

It's time to demand honest government for a change.