A Member . . . [or an] officer, or employee of the House [paid at or above the “senior staff” rate], may not –(d)  serve for compensation as an officer or member of the board of an association, corporation, or other entity; —House Rule 25, clause 2.

I ran for Congress to be a serious legislator and to fight back against this culture of doing things for the TV soundbite.–Rep. Langworth

Reed, Sempolinski, Langworthy, all three poorly qualified for Congress. Reed has a law degree from a little known college; he worked as a bill collector. Sempolinski and Langworthy have Political Science degrees; they worked as party functionaries. New members have much to learn.

Tom Reed got in dutch for clinging to his law business after election. Nick Langworthy clings to his job as party Chair. Both favored term limits before they were elected; afterwards, not so much. All three offered simplistic solutions for intractable problems.

An article by Jeff Murray titled High hope for S. Tier appeared today, Jan. 23rd in the Elmira Star Gazette. Murry reports on our new representatives’ ideas. Here are some excerpts:

Langworthy said he plans to relinquish his role as Republican Party chairman as soon as a suitable successor is found.

I’m a big supporter of local control. I want to talk to locals and find out their priorities, ” he said. “I want resources for local governments. We have a fairly poor area. I want the (spending) pie to be as small as possible, but I want to fight for the biggest piece we can.”

“We have natural gas reserves in the Southern Tier that rival Saudi Arabia. The left won’t allow us to harvest that,” he said. “We need to get real about their dreams of electrification. It’s a fairy tale. The blizzard proved that. The technology isn’t there. We need American energy independence.”

“This institution is based on seniority. I don’t think people need to be here 25 years, but I don’t see this as a short stint,” Langworthy said. “The challenges are great, but I am looking forward to getting the job done.”

Jeff Murray’s article and Nick Langworthy’s facebook page make clear that Nick is focused on divisive politics rather than serious representation.

Note: Saudi Arabia and the United States each have about five percent of the world’s natural gas reserves; the Southern Tier of NY has a negligible fraction of that.