Finding Ulysses

Our U.S. Representative, Michael Arcuri, had a little holiday party thrown for him recently. It wasn’t here in Tompkins County, of course. Arcuri doesn’t make it down this way very often, given that so many of the Democrats here are part of that troublesome “liberal fringe” that protests Arcuri’s Blue Dog politics.

No, this party was in Washington D.C., at a very special house. It wasn’t the home of one of his constituents. It was the 21st Century Townhouse, the home of the Twenty-First Century Group, a lobbying firm.

The party was organized by 21st Century staff lobbyist Jocelyn Hong, but the checks by people in attendance were written payable to Arcuri for Congress. Individuals were required to pay $500 dollars to attend. Political action committees were asked to pay $5,000 to Congressman Arcuri in compensation for the sugar cookies and punch, though organizations seeking a lesser level of political influence could pay a mere $1,000 for a “PAC Memento”.

I’ve never charged admission to a holiday party. Then again, I don’t serve on the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, as Michael Arcuri does, and I don’t work for a corporation that does business in the areas of transportation and infrastructure, as clients of the 21st Century Group lobbying firm do.

Do you think that Mike Arcuri had fun at that holiday party? Maybe not, but he walked away with an awful lot of nice presents.

If we had hosted a $5,000 per plate holiday party for Representative Arcuri here in Trumansburg, would he have supported single payer health care and climate legislation this year instead of opposing them?