Davis creates new party to ensure ballot slot
Jerry Zremski
The Buffalo News
Aug 22, 2008
WASHINGTON — Vowing to stay in the race for Congress in the 26th District whether he wins or loses next month’s Democratic primary, Jack Davis on Thursday created the “Save Jobs and Farms Party” to get himself a guaranteed spot on the ballot.
“I still expect to win the primary, but in the unlikely event that I don’t, I’m in it to the end,” Davis said in a telephone interview after announcing the party’s formation at a news conference in the Rochester suburb of Greece.
Asked why, Davis — a 75-year-old Akron industrialist who has vowed to spend $3 million of his own money on his third bid for Congress — cited a 2003 Buffalo News story detailing the loss of local manufacturing jobs.
“It’s worse now, and nobody’s doing anything about it,” Davis said. “I know I’m the one guy who can go to Washington and get things done because I’ve gotten things done all my life.”
Davis’ vow fundamentally changes the dynamics in the race to replace retiring Rep. Thomas M. Reynolds, R-Clarence, in the 26th District.
What had looked to be a match between Republican Christopher Lee and either Davis, Iraq War veteran Jon Powers or lawyer Alice Kryzan now shapes up to be a three-way affair if Davis loses the Sept. 9 Democratic primary.
And John Gerken, Powers’ campaign manager, is none too happy about it.
“Jack Davis is showing his true colors as a spoiler in the race, concerned only with his own self-interests,” said Gerken, who managed Davis’ campaign in 2006. “He’s not the least bit concerned about the voters in the Democratic primary, and his campaign is quickly becoming all about him.”
To Davis, though, the campaign is all about the jobs and farms that America has lost to foreign competition, which he hopes to counter by tough trade and immigration policies once he gets to Washington.
Ironically, the founder of the Save Jobs and Farms Party has almost no labor support in the primary battle, as most major unions have lined up behind Powers.
And John Lincoln, president of the New York State Farm Bureau, said many local farmers are concerned that Davis’ anti-trade policies would keep them from selling products overseas. Farmers, many of whom rely on migrant labor to bring in the crops, also disagree with Davis on immigration, Lincoln said.
But Davis — who created a “Save Jobs Party” during the last campaign — has good reason to want to create a third party line, which is often important in close contests in New York State.
His quest for the Independence Party nomination resulted in embarrassment after it was revealed that his campaign paid $5,000 apiece to the wives of the party’s chairmen in Erie and Monroe counties for “consulting” services. Davis later apologized for those payments.
But Davis said there is a clear and noble reason for him to start a third party.
“Congress must represent working men and women, not Washington lobbyists and special interests,” he said. “I have created a new party for the farmers and the working men and women. I pledge to represent them.”
Davis said his campaign presented more than 7,000 petitions to the state Board of Elections for his new party when only 3,500 were required.
“This ensures that we will be on the ballot in November,” he said.
Alan Bedenko of the Buffalo Pundit blog encountered one of the Davis petition-bearers last weekend at University Plaza.
“There was a young African-American guy in the plaza sporting a ‘Save Jobs’ T-shirt with a clipboard and Davis [literature],” Bedenko wrote on his blog earlier this week.
“I asked him what he was collecting signatures for, and he handed me the clipboard. He explained to me that he was there on behalf of Jack Davis, who is running for ‘councilman’ and that he wants to ‘save our jobs and stuff,’ and the clipboard held petitions to add the ‘Save Jobs and Farms Party’ to the ballot in November,” Bedenko said. “Yes, he was being paid.”