Unless you’re new to the hill, you’re probably well aware that one of the most hotly contested Congressional races in America lies within our own backyard. From the Hamilton Democrats’ incessant amount of emails or the numerous opinion pieces published like this one, the 2020 race to represent the 22nd Congressional District of New York has been almost impossible to ignore. Labeled as a major

“toss up”

, the rest of the nation has their eyes on CNY, since out of all 435 Congressional elections, NY-22 has been ranked as the

4th

closest race in America. Freshman Congresswoman Claudia Tenney was narrowly ousted from her seat in 2018 by

less than two percentage points

to then NYS Assemblyman, Anthony Brindisi. Former Rep. Tenney is back and ready to regain her seat in Congress this November, and unlike my liberal peers on campus, I desperately hope she’s able to. I’m supporting former Rep. Tenney not only in an attempt to save the

dwindling voice of conservative women in Congress

but to put an end to the facade that is Anthony Brindisi. Brindisi’s failure to keep his word on almost every issue he campaigned on, and his taking credit for pieces of legislation that were actually written by Tenney herself, is why I can’t wait to say bye bye, Brindisi on the night of November 3rd.

Easily one of the biggest promises NOT kept by Brindisi, and the clearest case where he did not keep his word to the working class of NY-22 can be seen through the example of Spectrum cable. A major issue of the race back in 2018, Spectrum probably wouldn’t be this big of an issue again in 2020 if Rep Brindisi hadn’t promised to

“hold Spectrum accountable”

when elected. However, now that his term in congress comes to a (hopefully permanent) end, voters have been able to make up their own minds to see if he was able to keep his word. The good news is they don’t have to look too far since Brindisi admitted himself that

he hasn’t been as successful as he hoped

. He had no other choice but to omit this, given that his constituents saw their cable bills spike 6 times during his term in Congress including

during the pandemic

. Why the weak attempt at holding them accountable? Maybe because his campaign has been bankrolled by not only the cable company themselves but also a variety of donors who have all been funded by Spectrum as well. Summing to a total of

almost $400,000

towards his campaign, each Spectrum linked donor, leads me to recall how I’ve always been told to “follow the money.” I’ve gotten to the point now that in this race, I can’t tell who’s more corrupt: Brindisi or Spectrum?

When Claudia Tenney held the office she was a champion for single parents, military families, and conservative women across America, but now constituents wait daily to hear how Brindisi has betrayed them. How has he disgraced the office? Perhaps it was when he said he would work with President Trump, oh wait, maybe he wasn’t as successful as he hoped there either when

he voted for impeachment,

three times. Even

Nancy Pelosi works with Trump more than Rep. Brindisi

, a dangerous fact given that NY-22 voted for Trump by over 15 points. Maybe he also disgraced the office when he realized he also wasn’t as successful as he hoped at keeping his word to our men and women in blue. In June, Brindisi was caught voting for

the very bill

that strips away millions of dollars of national resources for NY-22 law enforcement departments. How do we know this? Claudia Tenney and her team actually

took the time to read the bill

and investigate its impacts on the district; unlike Brindisi of course, who blindly, once again, voted

with Nancy

just like he has done 86% of the time in the last 2 years. Only after Claudia’s outcry did Brindisi notice the debilitating effect his vote would have on the district’s national resources. In response, he introduced a piece of

legislation

where he backtracked in an attempt to try to come up with the money that he had just voted to take away. I find it shameful yet not surprising that he thought his constituents wouldn’t notice the not so subtle timing, proving how he truly can be “#TwoFacedTony.” How many other times has Brindisi blindly voted with Nancy Pelosi resulting in harmful effects for NY-22? How many other mistakes has he made that we haven’t caught? In these trying times of 2020, we simply cannot afford any more, and it’s why Brindisi must go.

As if the facade behind “Bipartisan Brindisi” couldn’t get any worse, Brindisi regularly takes credit for legislation that’s not even his to take the credit for, when instead the kudos actually belongs to Claudia. One of his most touted achievements is the passage of the SPOONSS Act which was

introduced by Tenney herself,

and it was Claudia’s success in leading the charge to get Sherrill manufacturing on the national stage, literally in front of the President twice which is what led to its eventual passage during Anthony Brindisi’s term. It was Claudia’s grunt work that Brindisi is now reaping the benefits of. A similar instance came when Broome County received funds for eco-friendly buses, Brindisi claimed it was his “

#TeamBrindisi

” that worked hard to secure the funds when

it was actually Claudia

’s doing from just a year prior. Additionally, Claudia Tenney was able to secure

$14.2 million

for a Rome Research Lab fence but when Brindisi took office as soon as more discussions of the money being secured began,

he took the credit for it.

Not only does Brindisi take credit for things that aren’t his to take credit for, but he also has a history of copying legislation off of Claudia. The

Family Farm relief Act of 2017

(cosponsored by Tenney who worked alongside author, Elise Stefanik) looks almost exactly the same as Brindisi’s

Dairy and Sheep H-2A Visa Enhancement Act

introduced in 2019. Most astonishingly, former Rep Tenney introduced “The Chuck Osier Benefits Burial Act of

2017

,” only to be followed by two-faced Tony who introduced the exact same bill, with the exact same title, just with his name on it instead,

this past January

. Voters in NY-22 should vote Tenney back into Congress quickly or else Brindisi might run out of pieces of legislation to copy or successes take credit for!

Rep. Brindisi’s actions speak for themselves, I could call him a Pelosi Puppet, but I think he takes after Hillary Clinton much more: a pathological liar plagued by corruption. From lies about being able to work with the President, corruption proved by his campaign being bankrolled by Spectrum, turning his back on CNY law enforcement then trying to make up for it when caught, and most disturbingly copying exact pieces of legislation proposed by Claudia, all paint a crystal clear picture of why you cannot spell Brindisi without BS.