Davis lends congressional campaign $1 million, airs ads
Latest report shows no donations to fund
Democrat Jack Davis loaned his congressional campaign $1 million over the last six weeks as he continued to personally finance his effort to succeed Rep. Tom Reynolds in New York’s 26th District.
Davis, a wealthy industrialist from Clarence, has vowed to spend $3 million of his money in his third effort to become a congressman from Western New York. He has provided himself with about $1.3 million so far as he refuses to take money from political action committees.
Davis poured $3.6 million in personal wealth into his first two campaigns.
He has collected no donations in this election cycle, according to statements he filed with the Federal Elections Commission.
The other Democrats heading into the party’s Sept. 9 primary — environmental attorney Alice J. Kryzan and the party-endorsed Jonathan Powers — had not filed their latest campaign-finance reports Wednesday, before today’s deadline.
Davis, in the final two weeks before Primary Day, has gone on the offensive to shake off the other two Democratic candidates.
He spent $657,000 on advertising in July and so far this month. In speeches Wednesday to senior citizens in Williamsville and Rochester, Davis restated his stand on Social Security: He said he would never privatize the system or cut benefits and would deny benefits to illegal aliens.
His staff also accused the Powers campaign of push polling — conducting an apparently scientific telephone poll with questions designed to cast a negative light over an opponent.
The script, obtained by the Davis camp and provided to The Buffalo News, showed it was less of a push poll and more of a simple attempt to persuade Democratic voters to go with Powers on Sept. 9.
For example, the caller says, “I am a Democratic volunteer” and asks the voter whether they will vote for Davis, Powers or Kryzan. Once the question is answered, the “Democratic volunteer” announces he supports Powers and launches into comparative reasons why Powers is a better candidate than Davis or Kryzan.
When it comes to Davis, the volunteer asserts that Davis would cut Social Security benefits and raise the retirement age. That’s why the Davis campaign cried foul. Davis has not taken those positions, said Joy Langley, a campaign spokeswoman.
“An ethical campaign doesn’t do this,” she said. “It’s an out-and-out lie. A public office, which is a public trust, should trust the public with the truth, not lies.”
The Powers campaign fired back through campaign manager John Gerken, who was a campaign manager for Davis in 2006.
Gerken said that Davis, on Lockport radio station WLDL in October 2004, said the retirement age should be raised since people are living longer.
Then on WBEN Radio in 2006, Davis said benefits may have to be adjusted downward to lend stability to the Social Security trust fund — comments used against him during the 2006 campaign, Gerken said.
“It’s one thing to flip-flop on an issue,” he added. “It’s another to deny ever saying it.”
The script attempts to tarnish Davis for owning oil company stocks, but Gerken admitted that, like Davis, Powers has invested in oil company stocks, through a mutual fund and not in direct stock buys.
Kryzan this week has sought to set herself apart. She began airing a television ad depicting Powers and Davis as squabbling hotheads.
Wednesday, she circulated a position paper supporting: a voluntary system to publicly finance campaigns; increased oversight of independent political groups; making Election Day a federal holiday; and increasing government transparency.
“Too many people today have lost their faith in politics and those elected to serve,” she said.
