Powers’ first campaign literature ignores controversy over charity
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.
“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.
“We decided to go into issues,” Gerken said of the mailer. “The whole campaign we have tried to discuss the issues but none of the other candidates have wanted to.”
Powers’ issues: Make college more affordable; reform the No Child Left Behind Act; end America’s dependence on foreign oil; end tax breaks for oil companies; invest in alternate energy sources; ensure good medical care for veterans.
Powers has released tax documents that show War Kids Relief raised $135,074 during its existence, less than the $150,000 to $250,000 Powers previously said it raised and far less than the $7 million he had hoped to put together.
He started it under the “Veterans for America” organization in 2005. It was spun off as an independent charity in early 2007, a few months before Powers announced his race for the Democratic nomination to replace Republican Rep. Thomas
M. Reynolds in New York’s 26th District.
The documents show that the $60,000 Powers earned did not come from the charity, as his opponents have implied, but from his work as vice president for policy for Veterans for America.
The candidates have been carping at each other through their hired guns, the campaign managers.
The candidates will appear side by side on the WBEN political talk show hosted by Canisius College political science professor Kevin Hardwick.
Only Jack Davis won’t be there.
“What are you hiding from Jack?” a Powers spokeswoman asked publicly.
“We’re not planning any joint appearances until Jon and Alice sign our pledge to protect Social Security, run a clean campaign, and return their contributions from special interests, lobbyists, and PACs,” the Davis camp said.
Davis, an industrialist, has been financing his own campaign, something the other candidates don’t have the personal wealth to do. Davis says he will refuse donations from special interests and political action committees. Over six weeks, he loaned his fund $1 million.
Kryzan, meanwhile, loaned herself another $60,000 in the latest reporting period, meaning she has loaned her campaign $157,000 so far, part of the $444,300 her campaign has collected.
Powers has given his campaign $4,000 but loaned it no money, according to his latest filings with the Federal Elections Commission. He has raised over $1 million, including $220,000 from PACs and other nonparty committees.
