New York Times – City Room Blog
New York, NY
By Raymond Hernandez
In the continuing fallout over the vote to overhaul health care, several influential Democratic groups are pressing a veteran Albany lawmaker to cancel a fund-raiser she was planning for a Democratic congressman who voted against the measure.
Assemblywoman RoAnn M. Destito, a Democrat from the Utica area, is planning to hold a fund-raiser for her local congressman, RepresentativeMichael A. Arcuri, in Albany on Monday, as he gears up for what is expected to be a tough race for re-election.
But Ms. Destito’s plans are drawing protests from powerful labor and liberal organizations: the Working Families Party; 1199 S.E.I.U., the union of hospital workers in New York; and Citizen Action of New York, a liberal government watchdog group.
In a letter (pdf), officials from the group say Mr. Arcuri’s vote was a betrayal of working-class families struggling with the high costs of health care.
“With so much at stake, Congressman Mike Arcuri’s vote against health care reform was a betrayal to the working families he was elected to represent,” said Kevin Finnegan, the political director for 1199 S.E.I.U. “We’re no longer supporting his re-election and hope that others will seriously consider other Democratic candidates who can be counted on to do the right thing even on tough votes.”
Mr. Arcuri, who represents a conservative swing district in the Utica region, was among 34 Democrats who joined with Republicans to oppose the health care legislation that was approved by the House.
Now, he and other Democrats who opposed the legislation are drawing intense criticism from labor organizations and other Democratic constituency groups that are, in some cases, vowing to mount primary challenges against them.
Mr. Arcuri, a second-term congressman who has amassed about $415,000 in his campaign treasury, is under immense pressure to raise money. He is facing the prospect of a difficult race against a wealthy construction executive, Richard Hanna, who spent about $1 million seeking to unseat Mr. Arcuri in 2008.
