THE BURNED OVER DISTRICT

From the Buffalo News comes the piece by Garry Cranker, a Valeo retiree who lives in Reynolds' district and is a member of the New York chapter, Campaign for a Cleaner Congress.

New reports of corruption scandals out of Washington are piling up faster than we can read them, and more often than not, luxury trips paid for with lobbyists' money seem to be prominently involved in the wrongdoing. This exclusive jet-setting lifestyle on the dime of special interests has come to symbolize the seemingly complete influence these big corporate lobbyists have over government. Unfortunately, our own Congressman Tom Reynolds appears to have become part of that problem.

These days, after eight years in the House of Representatives, Reynolds can often be found on a lavish lobbyist-funded trip to an exotic location thousands of miles away from his home district. In fact, according to recent reports in this and other news outlets, he traveled on 64 days last year - compared to just 34 trips home to his district. That's almost two days with lobbyists for every trip to ask about us. Does Reynolds really think he's doing a better job representing us from the fairways of a posh golf course?

Reynolds' travel habits are getting worse the longer he stays in Congress. He's taken 202 trips outside his district since entering the House, and nearly 70 percent of those have occurred in just the last three years, according to research by the Campaign for a Cleaner Congress.

Since 2001, he's spent over $205,000 at the luxurious Pebble Beach resort alone, the group found. There are plenty of us who can't imagine spending that much over the course of a lifetime. We're the ones who need Reynolds' voice in Congress - yet he's lent his ear to corporate lobbyists and high-dollar special interests.

While Reynolds is jetting to exclusive locations like Hawaii, Rome and Scotland, all of us here have watched the Delphi plant struggle. We've watched Valeo, a Rochester windshield wiper manufacturer, close. We've watched much-needed jobs parade out of our area. And we've watched rising fuel costs cut into earnings and deplete family savings.

Now, more than ever, we need a voice. We need the voice that our representative in Congress was elected to provide. Instead, Reynolds has decided to use his position to amplify the demands of special interest groups that scarcely need the extra help. He's never been shy about spending much of his time fund-raising, but with each passing year it becomes more difficult to tell where Reynolds' true interests begin and those of his big-money lobbyist cronies end.

The story of Jack Abramoff has exposed the culture of corruption that exists in Washington for everyone to see. But the one-time superlobbyist's guilty plea should remind us all that the "everyone does it" excuse only goes so far. It's still wrong, and everyone but the 23 percent of Americans who still somehow approve of Congress knows it.

Reynolds tried diligently over the last few years to become one of Washington's power brokers. If only he worked so hard at attaining insider status with the folks who really need him: Us.

Tom is the head of the RNCC effort. Keep him busy trying to save his own seat and he won't have much time to cause trouble elsewhere.