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Turkey Tail, by Vanaprastha Sciorra

Lonsberry: Nick Langworthy is the best candidate in the Republican primary for Congress in the 23rd District of New York.

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By Bob Lonsberry

It’s not even close.

His opponent, Carl Paladino, is ill suited to the times, the district and the Congress.

A simple review of the data and their records shows that, beyond question.

First of all, Nick Langworthy is a Republican, and always has been. Carl Paladino was a Democrat longer than Nick Langworthy has been alive.

When Ronald Reagan was elected, Carl Paladino was a Democrat. When Newt Gingrich and the Contract with America were making historic Republican inroads in the Congress, Carl Paladino was a Democrat. When Bill Clinton was playing with cigars in the Oval Office, Carl Paladino was a Democrat.

When John Kerry and Al Gore were presidential candidates, Carl Paladino was a Democrat. Ditto for Michael Dukakis and Walter Mondale.

Carl Paladino chose to belong to the political party that made Hillary Clinton First Lady – twice. And he chose to continue to belong to that political party as it made her a member of the United States Senate.

When Democrat Mario Cuomo decided to dump nuclear waste in Allegany County – the heart of this congressional district – Carl Paladino remained a faithful Democrat.

Carl Paladino was 59 before he became a Republican.

Nick Langworthy was 18 when he organized the College Republicans chapter at Niagara University. He did that because he knew what he believed and he knew how to serve. He went to work for George Pataki and Tom Reynolds, two men of integrity, and went on to be the youngest person ever to be chairman of the Erie County Republican Party and the youngest person ever to be chairman of the New York State Republican Party.

As chairman of the state party, Nick Langworthy took the reins away from the Manhattan cocktail-party set, bringing an upstate, blue-collar perspective that had been missing for a generation. In partnership with legislature leaders Will Barclay and Rob Ortt, Nick Langworthy has brought an aggressive, dynamic, principle-based approach which has breathed new life into the New York Republican Party.

It was Nick Langworthy who was the first to call for the removal of Andrew Cuomo from office. Ironically, it was Carl Paladino who put Cuomo in office in the first place. Entrusted with the Republican Party’s gubernatorial nomination in 2010, when Andrew Cuomo first sought the Governor’s Mansion and was at his most vulnerable, Carl Paladino self-destructed in a series of inexplicable and indefensible gaffs. He was a joke, and the election was a joke, and the worst era in modern New York history began.

But Carl Paladino wasn’t done.

Elected to the Buffalo school board, his hijinks led to his censure on one issue and ultimate removal from office on another issue.

He blew a gubernatorial campaign, he blew a seat on the school board, and now he wants the party to give him its congressional nomination.

Seems like the Republican Party would be tired of being embarrassed by Buffalo millionaires. Chris Lee, Chris Collins, Chris Jacobs and Carl Paladino. What they have in common is they are rich men from Buffalo who bought their way onto the ticket and left real Republicans dumbfounded by their fecklessness.

With respect, Carl Paladino is a clown.

More correctly, Carl Paladino is an old clown.

When Joe Biden was a senior, Carl Paladino was a freshmen. He will turn 76 the day after the primary and would be 78 by the end of his first term. God bless the elderly, but age hasn’t helped Joe Biden or Nancy Pelosi.

Nick Langworthy, on the other hand, is 41. He is entering his prime. He has the energy and enthusiasm of youth.

He’s also a son of the Southern Tier.

Carl Paladino spent four years at St. Bonaventure. That’s the extent of his contact with most of the counties and cultures of this congressional district.

Nick Langworthy was born in Jamestown, and grew up in South Dayton in Chautauqua County. His family has been in the Southern Tier and Western New York for generations. As I visit my relatives’ graves in cemeteries across Cattaraugus, Allegany, Steuben and Yates counties, I see Langworthys repeatedly.

Nick Langworthy is of this district. It is in his blood. The first half of his life was spent in the Southern Tier and the second half of his life has been spent in Erie County. He knows both halves like the back of his hand.

Nick Langworthy, a working-class son of the Southern Tier and resident of a vital Buffalo suburb, is better suited than a big-city millionaire to represent one of the most impoverished rural districts in America.

And what about Donald Trump?

Nick Langworthy busted his ass two elections in a row to make Donald Trump president of the United States. It wasn’t lip service and it wasn’t going through the motions. It was all in. At every home across the district where they fly a Trump banner, they believe what Nick Langworthy believes and want what Nick Langworthy wants. He was born believing in America First, and the lifelong oath to the Constitution he took as a congressional staffer is something he holds sacred.

Nick Langworthy believed in the principles Donald Trump advocated long before Donald Trump got into politics, and Nick Langworthy will believe in those principles long after Donald Trump has left the public stage.

Nick Langworthy believes in a smaller government and a freer people, and he believes that the people of the 23rd District of New York ought to have one of their own representing them.

And with his youth, and demonstrated ability to rise within a political organization, he could quickly acquire the prominence within the House to effectively fight for the needs of the Southern Tier and Western New York.

This primary is an easy choice.

Vote Nick Langworthy on August 23.  

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