Owens Grabs Cash with Manhattan’s Elite

For Immediate Release:                                                                                                                    Contact: Press Office
October 20, 2009                                                                                                                                           (202) 479-7070

 Owens Grabs Cash with Manhattan’s Elite
President Hosts $30,400 a Plate Soiree for Washington’s Hand-Picked Democrat Candidate in NY-23

 Washington- Democrat candidate Bill Owens will be feted tonight at a $30,400 a plate Manhattan fundraiser with President Obama.  Owens, an out-of-touch lawyer who makes $751,000 a year, should feel right at home in the lavish Mandarin Oriental Hotel.  On the other hand, Central and Northern New Yorkers already struggling to find jobs are now struggling just as much to understand why Owens would rather rub elbows with the president and Manhattan’s elite instead of facing voters who will decide this special election.

 “Obama is heading to Manhattan Oct. 20 to play fund-raiser in chief at a Democratic Party cash bash in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel at Columbus Circle, sources told The News.

 “The price of admission is $30,400 per couple for the evening soiree. And the take will go to the coffers of the Democratic National Committee.” (Kenneth R. Bazinet, “Making a withdrawal? President Obama to stop in New York for $30,400 a couple cash bash,” New York Daily News, 10/06/2009)

“Bill Owens may feel right at home dining with Manhattan’s elite, but it only reinforces the fact that he is completely out of touch with the needs of Central and Northern New Yorkers” said NRCC Communications Director Ken Spain. “It’s bad enough that Owens is downstate seeking tens of thousands in campaign cash in order to fund his nasty and dishonest attacks, but it’s even worse that he continues to snub middle-class voters who will actually decide this election.  Then again, for a lawyer who makes $700,000 more than the average New Yorker in his district, it’s no wonder Owens can’t grasp how devastating his proposed tax hikes would be on the hard-working families he hopes to represent.”

Owens continues to tout job creation as a campaign centerpiece, claiming to have created 2,000 jobs, but his assertions don’t add up:

 “Since the ad began airing, however, Mr. Owens has refused to supply a list of the companies he helped bring here.  While standing by the claim, he has instead referred inquiries about the figure to a small circle of people he worked with on economic development in the Plattsburgh area.” (Jude Seymour, “Owens’s job-creation claims in question,” Watertown Daily Times, 10/07/09)

With 188,000 jobs lost in the past year alone and an unemployment rate of 10.3 percent, Central and Northern New Yorkers desperately deserve a representative who has experience creating jobs and demonstrates fiscal responsibility rather than another job-killing out-of-touch Democrat.

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