Rep. James Walsh has lost the endorsement of the Conservative Party in Monroe and Wayne counties for the 2008 election - the first major political fallout from his decision to stop supporting the war in Iraq.
If other county parties and the state party ultimately agree, Walsh stands to lose the Conservative line in the 25th Congressional District. He has run on the Conservative line each of his 10 terms in Congress.
Walsh, R-Onondaga, has always received the vast majority of his votes on the Republican line. But the 11,634 votes he received on Conservative lines last November was enough to make the difference in the closest election of his congressional career. Walsh defeated Democrat Dan Maffei, of DeWitt, in 2006 by about 3,000 votes; the Iraq war was the dominant issue.
Thomas Cook, chairman of the Monroe County Conservative Party, said Walsh's changing position on the war was one of many reasons why the party decided Tuesday night to withhold its endorsement.
"I was shocked when I began analyzing his record," said Cook, the Monroe County chair for 28 years. "It's only when he did the anti-war thing that I began looking into it."
Cook, a Vietnam veteran, said the party's executive committee voted 29-0 to withhold its endorsement from Walsh because most believe he does not represent conservative ideals. Walsh sealed his fate in an angry letter replying to Cook's criticism of his new position on Iraq, Cook said.
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"We've always had a cool relationship with him regarding his voting record," Quinn said. "The flip-flop on the war in Iraq was the straw that broke the camel's back."
The geniuses in the Conservative party are about to Mau Mau Walsh right out of Congress and replace him with a strong progressive, Dan Maffei.
Thanks.
