Maurice Hinchey will retire

Downstate career politician, radical leftist and gerrymandered Ithaca-area congressman Maurice Hinchey will not run for reelection.

Hinchey is making his announcement a couple of weeks prior to the expected release of new congressional district lines by the state Legislature, and the timing serves a courtesy to lawmakers in Albany who may have intended to preserve the current configuration of his Democratic-leaning 22nd Congressional District. The current boundaries include numerous cities and colleges. The western boundary includes Ithaca and Binghamton, while the eastern boundary includes the mid-Hudson Valley cities of Poughkeepsie, Newburgh Middletown and Kingston.

Some call him Maurice...

Hinchey with disbarred lawyer

..some call him the pompatus of corruption.

One of Nine rounds up the latest on Ithaca hearthrob/corrupt Democrat congesspersyn Maurice Hinchey's self dealing with your money. 

We recently alluded to Peter Schweizer's new book, Throw Them All Out, in connection with congressional insider stock trading.  Well, it turns out that's not the only way MC's profit from their specialized knowledge.

It turns out the Sultan of Gerrymander has been handing out taxpayer money to himself - read the whole thing.  Will Maurice follow Barney Frank onto the rolls of the "comfortably retired at taxpayer expense when they should be in prison?"

Kingston Freeman: Hinchey's lying

In a statement provided to Ed Morrissey yesterday, the Kingston Freeman stands by the Maurice Hinchey assault and battery story:

I am the managing editor of the Daily Freeman, Kingston, NY, for which the reporter, William Kemble, works. The following is a statement I have prepared in response to the misrepresentations of this incident by Congressman Hinchey’s office:

There was an incident. Mr. Kemble says the congressman put a hand on his neck. A third party who witnessed the incident says he did not see that, but did see the congressman jabbing Mr. Kemble in the chest with his finger. Yet another witness says Kemble was pushed into the path of another person by the congressman.

... Further, the Hinchey camp’s characterizations of the incident as either prompted by aggressive action by Mr. Kemble or by false accusations they claim he and the Freeman have made are untrue.

Hinchey Must Go!  Read the whole thing at Hot Air.

Hinchey assaults reporter

In what would be a career ending exhibition for most politicians, Ithaca's leftist congressman turned violent at a League of Woman Voters debate last night.  The issue was corruption:

When Kemble persisted, Hinchey told him: “Shut up!”

After the shooters turned off their cameras and started to break down, Hinchey made a beeline for Kemble and got in his face, according to a YNN videographer who was on the scene. The congressman poked Kemble in the chest aggressively, according to the YNN staffer.

Capital Tonight has details and video.

Clinton visits Binghamton

Clinton received about $8,000 from the Hinchey campaign for speaking at the event.

In preparation for Bill Clinton's visit to visit to Binghamton last night, Ed Morrissey provided the press a convenient list of Maurice Hinchey's positions:

The press may want to ask Clinton if he endorses Hinchey’s publicly-proclaimed positions, such as:

• Karl Rove planted the Bush TANG memos on CBS
• The government should nationalize the oil industry
• Reinstating the Fairness Doctrine
• Hinchey’s refusal to address his earmarks that benefited his business partners
• Hinchey’s refusal to discuss his policy positions at all

Hinchey story goes national

William Jacobson, our favorite Cornell professor/nationally prominent blogger, picks up the Hinchey story this morning:

Could this be the year in which I completely shed myself of the dubious distinction of splitting the year between Congressional Districts controlled by Patrick Kennedy and Maurice Hinchey?

We know Patrick is gone, but are recent reports (via HotAir) of Hinchey's demise accurate?

Marvel at the map of Hinchey's bizzare gerrymander over at the good Professor's blog, Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion

Clinton flies in to prop up Hinchey

Yes, they're worried.  Debbie Swartz  reports for Gannett:

A federal election will bring out the big guns to the Southern Tier on Monday.

President Bill Clinton is expected at a free 7 p.m. rally for U.S. Rep. Maurice D. Hinchey, D-Hurley

"I'm delighted and honored that President Clinton is taking time out of his busy schedule to come out to Binghamton and show his support for our campaign," Hinchey said.

Maurice Hinchey in trouble?

Bad news for Ithaca's favorite congressman?  

The pistol-packing conspiracy theorist has always been able to count on the college towns in his bizarrely gerrymandered district to overwhelm whatever token opposition the Republicans can muster.  Writing in the New York Post, Imre Beke Jr. says this may be about to change.

But this year might be different for Hinchey. His challenger is George Phillips, a bright, charismatic conservative from Binghamton who knows both the Congress and the district. A former staffer for Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), Phillips now teaches history at a Catholic school in Binghamton.

A recent internal Phillips campaign poll showed the gap between the two to have narrowed to seven points, 44 percent to 37 percent -- with Hinchey leading, but below the 50 percent mark, a bad place for any incumbent to be.

Worse still for Hinchey, 19 percent were undecided. They're not undecided about him (not after his 18 years in Congress), but waiting to hear more from his challenger. And so far, the more they know, the more they like Phillips.

The poll -- plus Dick Morris' recent assessment that the seat is a "possible pickup for the GOP" -- has had an impact of its own. "Donations are starting to pour into our race," Phillips recently announced on his Web site. He'll need every donation he can get to make the race competitive.

But Hinchey has certainly left him an opening. The congressman's supporters say voters are just angry about high unemployment and government debt, but they's also upset at his disregard of the district.

Hinchey votes with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi 97 percent of the time -- even though the district is hardly populated with San Francisco Democrats.