Randy Kuhl

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Randy Kuhl, Jr.
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York's 29th district
Incumbent
Assumed office  January 3, 2005
Preceded by	Amo Houghton
Born	April 19, 1943 (1943-04-19) (age 65) Bath, New York
Political party	Republican
Spouse	divorced
Religion	Episcopalian

John R. "Randy" Kuhl, Jr. is a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from New York. He represents New York's 29th congressional district (map), centered on a rural portion of upstate New York's Southern Tier.

[edit] Early life and education

Kuhl was born April 19, 1943 in Hammondsport, New York, where he now lives. He graduated from Union College in Schenectady, New York with a B.A. in civil engineering in 1966, and then got a law degree from Syracuse University College of Law in 1969. He was admitted to the New York Bar in 1970.^[1]

[edit] New York legislature

Kuhl was a member of the New York Assembly from 1981 to 1987 and the New York Senate from 1987 to 2004. His career included posts as the attorney for several municipalities including Steuben County. He was appointed the Senate's Assistant Majority Leader for Operations at the beginning of the 1995 legislative session.^[1] During his time in the legislature, he was a practicing lawyer with an office in Bath.

[edit] House of Representatives

[edit] 2004 election

In 2004, Kuhl ran for the House seat of retiring U.S. Representative Amo Houghton, a Republican multimillionaire who had displayed a moderate bent during 18 years in Washington. In the Republican primary, Kuhl, who was supported by Houghton,^[2] defeated Monroe County Legislator Mark Assini. He then defeated 27-year-old Democrat Samara Barend.

The campaign finished out with harsh television commercials casting Barend as devious and untrustworthy and Kuhl as a drunken driver whose breakup with his wife in the 1990s shed doubts on his fitness to hold office. Kuhl, who had been heavily favored in the Republican-leaning 29th District (registered Republicans outnumbered registered Democrats 3-2), won with 51% of the vote, as opposed to Barend's nearly 41%. (Conservative Party candidate Mark Assini, who dropped out of the race in September 2004, garnered 6%.) He was succeeded in the Senate by Republican George Winner.

[edit] Political positions

Kuhl, a veteran New York politician, was the most politically experienced freshman of the 2004 House class. He is considered a fairly reliable conservative who generally votes against abortion rights, gun control and tax increases. He has the second highest lifetime rating (87.5%) from the American Conservative Union out of the 29 Representatives from New York state.^[3] He is, however, a member of the Republican Main Street Partnership.

Kuhl has said he will fight to make President Bush's tax cuts permanent. In addition, he has also advocated for a 10-cent reduction in federal gasoline taxes ^[4].

He has supported the Iraq war and rebuilding efforts, saying "we must see this effort through."

Since the Democratic Party has taken over the House of Representatives in the 2006 elections, Kuhl has shifted his focus somewhat. He has opposed the military's "stop-loss" policy ^[5] and recently addressed the issue of parents who both serve in the military ^[6].

In September 2007, Kuhl was noted in the news as being one of the most outspoken opponents of a plan by New York Governor Eliot Spitzer to allow illegal aliens to apply for driver's licenses.^[7] He also became a prominent opponent of the SCHIP expansion, a stance for which he has earned significant animosity from various left-wing groups including MoveOn, the Service Employees International Union, and even New York Governor Eliot Spitzer.^[8]

During his time as a state senator, Kuhl was an advocate of New York City secession and introduced several bills (unsuccessfully) to separate Upstate New York from downstate.^[9]

[edit] Committee Assignments

• Agriculture Committee
  • Subcommittee on Horticulture and Organic Agriculture
• Education and Labor Committee
  • Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education
  • Subcommittee on Higher Education, Lifelong Learning, and Competitiveness
• Transportation and Infrastructure Committee
  • Subcommittee on Aviation
  • Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management
  • Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment
• Deputy Minority Whip

[edit] Personal

Congressman Randy Kuhl is a graduate of Hammondsport Central School, and earned a B.S. in Civil Engineering from Union College (1966), and in 1969 received his Juris Doctor from Syracuse University College of Law. He successfully ran for the New York State Assembly in 1980, the New York State Senate in 1986, and the U.S. House of Representatives in 2004 where he now serves and represents the people of the 29th District.

Randy Kuhl currently lives in Hammondsport and is the father of three sons.

[edit] Domestic disputes

Kuhl divorced in 2000. During the 2004 campaign, Samara Barend's campaign leaked Kuhl's divorce records, which had been sealed, to the media. ^[10] In those records, Kuhl's former wife alleged that he abused her emotionally; that he refused to seek counseling for a history of drinking to excess; that he solicited other women for sex; and that he threatened to murder her with two shotguns during a dinner party. ^[11] This revelation led the New York Post to dub Kuhl, "The Shotgun Senator."

Kuhl and his former wife, Jennifer, called the release of the records "ugly politics" and an invasion of their privacy, especially since "New York state has the strictest [confidentiality] law [for divorce proceedings]: Divorce records are [supposed to be] sealed from public inspection, without exception, for 100 years."^[12] While refusing to address their contents, Kuhl said the documents detailed a difficult time in their life but contained "nothing incriminating."

[edit] 2006 re-election campaign

Main article: New York 29th congressional district election, 2006

Kuhl's Democratic opponent in the 2006 elections was former Navy officer Eric Massa of Corning, a former Republican.

In March 2006, Kuhl invited President George W. Bush to Canandaigua. Bush spoke at Canandaigua Academy, a public high school. After the high school visit Bush's motorcade visited Ferris Hills, a senior living community for upper-income residents. (The trip had previously been billed as including a visit to a "nursing home".) President Bush took questions for about fifteen minutes from these seniors about his new prescription-drug plan, Medicare Part D.

In September 2006, Kuhl welcomed Vice President Dick Cheney to a major fundraiser in Rochester. Kuhl said he couldn't agree more with Cheney's assessment that combating terrorists around the world stands as the top issue of this campaign. A flow of bad news from the war zone needs to be countered by a frank discussion of reality, he said. "They don't necessarily understand the full importance of our presence there," he said of his Finger Lakes and Southern Tier constituents.^[13]

Preliminary results from the November election showed Kuhl narrowly beating Massa by a margin of approximately 5,600 votes (out of about 193,000 cast).^[14] Massa had initially refused to concede the election and was expected to file a challenge, but on November 15, 2006 Massa conceded the election and contacted Kuhl to congratulate him.^[15] According to the final election results, which were certified by the New York State Board of Elections on December 14, 2006, Kuhl won by a margin of 6,033 votes (out of 206,121 cast).^[16]

[edit] References

1. ^ ^{a b} "Meet the Freshmen of the House of Representatives", BIPAC, November 2004, accessed September 24, 2006
2. ^ Crestia DeGeorge, "The race for Amo Houghton's seat", Rochester City News (weekly)
3. ^ American Conservative Union ratings of New York state members of Congress
4. ^ KUHL REINTRODUCES GAS PRICE RELIEF BILL
5. ^ KUHL TO GATES: END THE “STOP-LOSS” PROGRAM
6. ^ KUHL ASKS DOD TO REVIEW DEPENDENTS POLICY
7. ^ Milton, Pat. New York to allow illegal immigrants to get drivers' licenses. Associated Press. 22 September 2007.
8. ^ Miller, Rick. Kuhl battered for voting against SCHIP. Olean Times Herald. 15 October 2007.
9. ^ "The Big City; The Moochers From Upstate? Cut 'Em Loose", John Tierney, The New York Times, May 24, 1999
10. ^ http://www.wroctv.com/news/story.asp?id=15414&r=l Samara Barend's campaign manager says he's responsible for obtaining the divorce papers of her opponent
11. ^ Divorce papers of John "Randy" Kuhl, bluelemur.com
12. ^ "Rich, famous push for secrecy in divorce," USA Today, December 8, 2005
13. ^ Robert J. McCarthy, "Cheney beats war drums stumping for Kuhl", Buffalo News, September 23, 2006
14. ^ Election results from "CBS News", November 7, 2006
15. ^ "Massa concedes, calls to congratulate Kuhl", Elmira Star Gazette, November 15, 2006
16. ^ NYS Board of Elections Results

[edit] External links

• U.S. Representative Randy Kuhl official House site
• Randy Kuhl at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Federal Election Commission — John Kuhl campaign finance reports and data
• On the Issues — Randy Kuhl issue positions and quotes
• OpenSecrets.org — John R. Kuhl Jr campaign contributions
• Project Vote Smart — Representative John R. 'Randy' Kuhl Jr. (NY) profile
• SourceWatch Congresspedia — Randy Kuhl profile
• Washington Post — Congress Votes Database: Randy Kuhl voting record
• Congressman Randy Kuhl official campaign site