The Yates County SCOPE (Shooter’s Committee On Political Education) organization has held  a Pig Roast fund raiser since 2002. This year’s event was held on Saturday, August 27. It is a must attend event for every candidate who wants to woo the Yates County gun owners votes. Saturday’s Roast’s speaker list included:

• Senate Candidate Wendy Long (who use to clerk for Justice Thomas)
• NY-Senate Candidates Leslie Danks Burke and her opponent Thomas O’Mara
• the three Yates County Justice Candidates in the September 12 primary election
• the lone county coroner candidate
• Congressman Tom Reed and his democratic opponent John Plumb

At least three different news media outlets sent reporters to this event where usually only the local Chronicle Express covers it. The presences of congressional opponents Tom Reed and John Plumb together for the first time, except for a parade or two, brought the extra coverage.

The MC again was the outspoken conservative radio personality and NYS Assemblyman Bill Nojay. It was no surprise that he had the challenging candidate speak to the 350 member audience before their incumbent. Plumb went first He included the following in his comments:

 “Whether hunting or through my 22 years in the military, I’ve been around guns most of my life and I know there is a lot they can teach us about safety and responsibility. The right of New Yorkers to own firearms is not only engraved in our Constitution, it is a part of our way of life in the Southern Tier and our rural communities throughout New York state.”

(The Steuben Courier/Corning Leader article showcases Plumb’s SCOPE comments.)

Rep. Reed went next, and spoke about his support of Donald Trump, reminding the crowd that about his love for hunting and his history of protecting the Second Amendment. He  then added this comment about his opponent:

 Plumb told the Hornell Evening Tribune in January that he (Plumb) supports the President’s executive actions on gun control.

In case you don’t have Obama’s executive actions memorized, the January 2016 “Actions to reduce gun violence and make our communities safer” executive action includes: (1) Keep guns out of the wrong hands through background checks. (2) Make our communities safer from gun violence. (3) Increase mental health treatment and reporting to the background check system. and (4) Shape the future of gun safety technology.

What Plumb actually said in January was:

 “I don’t like the president’s unilateral approach because Republicans and Democrats alike should work together to find solutions to keep weapons out of the hands of criminals, terrorists, and the dangerously mentally ill — which Tom Reed opposes, and our current Congress steadfastly refuses to do anything about.”

The Finger Lakes Times had an article about the Pig Roast in Sunday’s edition. Plumb’s campaign team, who had recorded Reed’s speech, contacted the reporter and pointed out Reed’s lie. In their Tuesday’s edition the FLTimes published an updated article , which confirmed that Plumb wanted a bipartisan solution to gun violence.

The Penn Yan Chronicle Express, a weekly newspaper, fact checked Reed on his response, and reported his attempt to discredit Plumb in their Wednesday article.

Rep. Reed didn’t need to mention John Plumb at all. He said all the right buzz words to his political base who had voted for him four times. For some reason Reed needed to connect Plumb to President Obama and lied about Plumb’s Second Amendment stance. This, coupled with Reed’s attempt to discredit Plumb by setting up fake Twitter and Facebook accounts in Plumb’s name, shows his constituents a political pattern that we will not accept–we do not want to be lied to.