“During her brief time in office, Claudia Tenney consistently put special interests and her wealthy donors ahead of her constituents, including her votes to gut health care protections for people with pre-existing conditions and to give tax breaks to her special interest backers while raising taxes for middle class families. That’s why voters ousted her and elected Anthony Brindisi to represent their interests in Congress. Fiercely independent with a proven track record of success, Anthony Brindisi works with anyone, regardless of party, to get things done. That record will earn him a second term in November.” —DCCC Chairwoman Cheri Bustos.
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To: Interested Parties
From: Christine Bennett, DCCC Regional Press Secretary
Date: June 24, 2020
Subject: The Case Against Claudia Tenney
Failed Former Congresswoman Claudia Tenney is running on her same disastrous record as the last time around – and she’ll achieve the same result. During her brief tenure, Tenney consistently put special interests like Spectrum Cable, rich donors, and her party ahead of what was best for Upstate New York. With Claudia Tenney, what’s past is prologue.
Representative Anthony Brindisi has a strong record as an independent advocate for his community and is delivering real results for real people – results like his bill to help make sure veterans get access to mental health care and suicide prevention. After Claudia Tenney’s abject failure to deliver on the SPOONSS Act, Rep. Brindisi successfully led efforts to stop the military from purchasing Chinese flatware and bring jobs back to Upstate New York. Additionally, Rep. Brindisi is working with both parties to make sure life-saving medical supplies like ventilators are made right here in America.
Rep. Brindisi has built a strong brand as an effective legislator who is willing to work with anyone, regardless of party, to get things done. Whether working with colleagues from across the aisle or working with President Trump to pass the USMCA trade deal, Rep. Brindisi has done what’s best for Upstate New York, and he’s is just getting started.
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING
HEADLINE: Rep. Anthony Brindisi: Feds Should Examine Spectrum Cable’s Rising Rates [Syracuse Post Standard, 11/12/2019]
HEADLINE: Trump Signs SPOONSS Act Into Law [Utica Observer-Dispatch, 1/9/2020]
HEADLINE: Bill To Combat Veterans’ Suicide Rate Signed Into Law [Utica Observer-Dispatch, 1/2/2020]
“A bill that will require the federal government to assess suicide prevention efforts for veterans was signed into law by President Donald Trump, according to U.S. Rep. Anthony Brindisi’s office. Brindisi, who sponsored the bill, authored the legislation to help address the suicide epidemic affecting veterans, according to his office.”
HEADLINE: Brindisi Gets Bipartisan Group’s Backing On Proposed Legislation [Rome Sentinel, 5/7/2020]
EDITORIAL: OUR VIEW: People, not politics, guide 22nd District’s Brindisi [Utica Observer-Dispatch, 8/22/2019]
“Like Hanna, Brindisi’s not into all the behind-the-beltway baloney that too often blurs the things that really matter to us. His priorities, like Hanna’s, are doing what’s best for the people in the 22nd District, not trying to curry favor with the Washington bigshots who live in another world.
“And like Hanna, Brindisi spends a lot of time traveling throughout his district listening to the people who elected him – and those who didn’t. As he says, he represents everyone.
“By the way, Hanna is a Republican. Brindisi is a Democrat.”
HEADLINE: GOP Candidate Wants Kids Back In School Just Like In The ‘Pre Vaccine Era’ [The American Independent, 5/13/2020]
Claudia Tenney: Past is Prologue
BEHOLDEN TO SPECIAL INTERESTS: PAY FOR PLAY, THE TENNEY WAY
Claudia Tenney is bought and paid for. Throughout her short tenure in Congress, Tenney made a habit of putting her special interest backers, party, and donors ahead of her constituents.
Tenney voted for the GOP tax bill that disproportionately benefited big corporations by raising taxes on the middle class to cut taxes for the wealthy. Tenney has continued to tout her support for this devastating and unpopular bill in her 2020 campaign.
From big banks to big insurance, Claudia Tenney has received hundreds of thousands of dollars in contributions from special interests. And after voting to allow telecommunications companies to use and sell consumer’s private data without permission, Charter-Spectrum gifted Tenney a donation including $15,000. Charter’s profits surged due to a $9.3 billion benefit from the 2017 tax bill.
In stark contrast, Rep. Brindisi is holding the telecom giant accountable and went after Spectrum Cable to require a federal investigation of their price gouging during the pandemic and cosponsored a bill to protect customers from hidden fees from their cable company.
VICTORY LAP IN ROSE GARDEN LED TO REJECTION AT THE POLLS
Tenney voted for the deeply unpopular Republican health care repeal bill, which would have gutted pre-existing condition protections, imposed an age tax on older New Yorkers, and increased deductibles and out-of-pocket costs, all while doing nothing to lower the price of prescription drugs. Had Tenney been successful, her repeal bill would have resulted in nearly 38,000 of her own constituents losing their health care coverage. Nonetheless, Tenney staunchly defended the bill and its draconian provisions like ending essential health benefits, saying “I don’t really care about maternity care at 56 years old.” She even celebrated her vote with a party in the White House Rose Garden.
But for Tenney the party didn’t end there. Even today, the rejected former Congresswoman has made clear that she would continue to be an opponent of health care if re-elected. Not only has she continued to campaign on repealing the Affordable Care Act, Tenney has also expressed her opposition to the Lower Drug Costs Now Act of 2019 — a bipartisan bill that would allow the government to negotiate drug prices for Medicare recipients, lower drug costs, and cap drug costs seniors’ prescription drug costs. Tenney called this a “terrible bill,” siding with her drug manufacturer donors over patients and seniors.
Rep. Brindisi’s record could not offer a starker contrast against Tenney’s disastrous agenda. After running on making health care more affordable in 2018, Brindisi spent his first months in Congress introducing a bipartisan bill signed into law by President Trump to make sure veterans have the care and counseling they need. Now, he is working across the aisle to help upstate New Yorkers fight the coronavirus and rebuild the economy.
CLAUDIA THE CONSPIRACY THEORIST
Once called a “national embarrassment” by a fellow Republican, press has noted her “history of controversial remarks” and her “divisive rhetoric.” Even Republican operatives agreed that Tenney’s “bombastic reputation” contributed to her election loss in 2018, with one saying: “every week she says something controversial or stupid. These are self-inflected wounds.” “Disaffected Republicans” ended up being “a major problem for Tenney.”
And Tenney has not changed her style this cycle. Claudia Tenney continues to use her social media to promote conspiracy theories and spread disinformation. In 2018, Tenney inaccurately claimed many mass murderers “end up being Democrats.” Since leaving Congress, Tenney has frequently promoted other online conspiracy theories and gotten into fights on Twitter and with fellow Republicans.
While Rep. Brindisi was working with Republicans and Democrats to secure funding for small business owners during the pandemic, Tenney used her platform to spread dangerous information that could hurt upstate New Yorkers. Tenney suggested that COVID-19 was a hoax and that the public response to it was overblown. Two months later, during the peak of the crisis, Tenney demanded schools to reopen early suggesting it was safe to do so because children went to school in the pre-vaccine era. By then, hundreds of New York children had become sick due to COVID-19.
PATH TO VICTORY
New York’s 22nd congressional district is a majority rural district. In 2018, Rep. Brindisi defeated incumbent Claudia Tenney and outperformed Governor Cuomo by 11.6 points. Senators Schumer and Gillibrand easily carried the district in their Senate elections in 2016 and 2018, respectively.
With a history of finding common ground with folks from across the political spectrum to get things done, Brindisi’s independent record resonates across this Upstate New York district. Brindisi has worked with the Trump Administration and Republicans in Congress to make a difference for everyday people. Ninety-five percent of the bills introduced by Brindisi are bipartisan.
A strong fundraiser who has proven that he is willing to work with Republicans, Democrats and Independents to get things done for Upstate New York, Rep. Brindisi has put himself in prime position for re-election in November.
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