Cenedella for Congress

Thank you for your support!

Hi folks,

As a result of my last email newsletter, I decided to run for Congress.   

Let me tell you how it happened.

It was five months ago that I wrote ‘Stolen Elections.’  I pointed out that the gerrymander in New York was the worst abuse of redistricting in the nation.  Many of you cheered me.  Some of you razzed me.

And some of you challenged me to do something about it.

So I thought carefully and decided to run for Congress.  I’ve spent the past few months campaigning to be the US Congressional Representative for the district including my hometown of Fredonia, NY.

Now I’m a Republican with a long track record of believing in growth.  More growth means more and better jobs.  More and better jobs mean people have more chances at developing self-respect and building their personal wealth.  And a larger, more vibrant economy means that people live longer, happier, healthier, more fulfilling lives.

I talked about that and more on my campaign website here: www.cenedellaforcongress.com

My campaign did pretty well! From six candidates initially interested, it narrowed down to just two.  Me and an incumbent congressman from Buffalo.

I didn’t think he was the right person to be representing this new district. I pointed out to voters that he supported more regulation, higher taxes, and more government spending.  I guess the heat got too much for him because he made some stupid comments and eventually dropped out of the race entirely!

Which left me the only candidate in the race, and, it being a very Republican district, on my way to being a congressman!

That lasted for a few hours.

A wealthy, prominent Buffalo real estate developer with strong grassroots support announced a short while later that he would also be seeking the nomination.  It didn’t take long for me and my political team to realize that he was going to be the strong favorite in the race.

So I decided to NOT submit all the signatures I had gathered to get on the ballot, and to NOT officially start my campaign. I ended my run before it really began.

I won’t be representing my hometown in Congress this time, but I will be active in a future race.

So I will be writing this newsletter again starting now.  I’ve missed doing it, and I hope you’ll understand the circumstances!

I’ll keep writing in my personal voice focusing on growth, jobs and the economy.  And perhaps I’ll be bringing some new insights to life from my interaction with the world of politics.

I’ll try to avoid bashing political opponents - “he’s bad, she’s good” type of writing - but will be writing on why policies do or don’t make sense.  But if you’re a strong Democrat and just can’t cotton to a Republican spouting off about anything at all, this newsletter probably isn’t for you anymore.

I do want to thank you all for pushing me to do something!  Even though I’m not a candidate this year, having the chance to meet voters and see firsthand what the political process was like was eye-opening - in some ways discouraging, in many ways inspiring.  As has been said, democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others.

Oh yes, and the gerrymandering post that kicked this all off five months ago?

Well, it turns out I was right.  It WAS the worst in the nation.

A 7-judge Court of Appeals in New York State, made up 100% of Democrats, overturned the gerrymander and drew new lines: “NY court strikes down Democrats’ gerrymander of election districts”

“The Democrats’ maneuver imploded,” The New York Times wrote, and “threw New York politics into chaos.”

And the Washington Post wrote about the problems that the “extreme partisan gerrymander by Democrats” caused the majority party.

So in addition to getting the chance to serve our country… I was right.  The right usually is ;)

Let’s grow!

Marc