| Rep. Tom Reynolds has made it official: He will not seek a sixth term in the House and will retire at the end of the year.
Reynolds has served in local, state and national politics for the last 35 years. Regarding the 26th district he said, "Make no mistake. This is a Republican district and it will again be represented by a Republican next year."
Reynolds also said that he looked at the 48th Senate District here in New York as well as the race for former Speaker Dennis Hastert's seat, but did not say that those factored in his decision directly. Rather, he said that spending more time with family, including his four grandchildren, was the reason he made this decision.
He also said that the recent NRCC scandal "is not an accounting scandal" while also taking a shot at Democrats, namely Rep. James Clyburn and Rep. Rahm Emmanuel, for their alleged role in the Mark Foley Scandal.
When talking about a possible replacement, Reynolds refused to name names or say that the replacement should be from Erie County. He also would not say if he would take a lobbying job or if he would join John McCain should McCain become president.
Reynolds did say one thing interesting: "My opponents agree with me on more issues than they don't." I would disagree with that statement, considering the opposition Reynolds faced in 2006 from a bipartisan coalition of people. He would have faced the same this year, which I contend, is why he isn't running.
The press conference was vintage Reynolds. He played it partisan and he put politics before the people again. He referred to himself as a "damn good politician." But if he was "damn good", why not run for Congress a sixth time?
Maybe it was TRULY because of his family. But I doubt it. At least, his family isn't the whole story. He saw Hastert's seat swing and he saw what happened with SD-48 and realized that the environment has changed even more since 2006. If people thought 2006 was the year of the Democrats, just wait until November 2008.
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