What does Chris Lee think of the economic crisis and the bailout being proposed by Bush and Paulson?

Alice Kryzan has reacted to it. But almost two weeks in and Chris Lee - the businessy businessman with business acumen and business experience who wants to run government like a business - has absolutely not a thing to say about a proposed $700 billion handout to some of the (until recently) wealthiest businesses on Earth.

Which business, exactly, does Lee use as an example for “running government”? AIG? WaMu? Freddie Mac? Fannie Mae? Lehman Brothers? Inquiring minds want to know.

Each day Chris Lee remains silent (and refuses to debate issues), his campaign grows more and more Humistonian in its blind absurdity.

Some politicians like to use the “citizen legislator” moniker. Others, evidently, have the right to call themselves “lobbyist candidate”. There’d be no reason to lobby congress when you’re in congress, right?

Dan Humiston, Republican/Orsini Independence candidate challenging Brian Higgins in NY-27 is the President of the Indoor Tanning Association lobbying group.

It was recently revealed that Sarah Palin (R-AK) had a tanning bed installed in the Governor’s Mansion in Juneau. No one really cares, and Governor Palin is entitled to subject herself to UV rays during the long Alaska winters if she so desires. But check out this awesome press release:

WASHINGTON – Today the Indoor Tanning Association addressed rumors that Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, who was recently chosen as Presidential Nominee John McCain’s running-mate, had installed a tanning bed in the Governor’s mansion.

According to online reports, a Palin spokesman confirmed in 2007 that the Governor “did have a tanning bed put in the Governor’s Mansion,” Adding that, “It was done shortly after she took office [in early 2007] and moved into the mansion.”

In locations such as Alaska, tanning beds provide important health benefits as a source of UV light. In the bleak winter months, many Americans experience vitamin D deficiency and the best way to manufacture vitamin D is through exposure to UV light. But it is impossible to get the requisite amount of vitamin D from the sun in cities north of 37 degrees latitude for as many as 6 months out of the year; people living as far north as Juneau, Alaska, are deprived of vitamin D from sunlight for even longer.

In addition to increasing the risk of many types of cancer and heart disease, vitamin D deficiency is also linked to many common wintertime complaints such as fatigue, depression and aches and pains.

While partisan bloggers and the sun scare industry will use this as an opportunity to undermine Gov. Palin and demonize the indoor tanning industry, the fact is that Governor Palin’s decision to get UV light from a tanning bed positively impacts her health.

“Moderate amounts of indoor tanning allow Governor Palin to experience the many health benefits that come with exposure to UV light,” said Dan Humiston, President of the Indoor Tanning Association. “Especially in dreary northern locations like Alaska, indoor tanning can help guard against wintertime depression and ward off diseases associated with vitamin D deficiency.”

“Kudos to Governor Palin for standing up to dermatologists and other members of the sun scare industry who are trying to frighten Americans away from UV light.”

OK.

1. Alaska has a “dreary northern climate”? Does Buffalo? After all, it’s north of 37 deg. latitude, and has winters.

2. “sun scare industry” FTW.

3. Dermatologists are medical doctors who undergo many years’ worth of training in anatomy, science, and medicine. It has been proven that exposure to ultraviolet light can cause melanoma, and most people get enough Vitamin D from incidental sun exposure, and can supplement with diet if they don’t. Dermatologists want to keep you from getting cancer. Tanning bed owners want you to use tanning beds for a fee.

Is Humiston’s campaign even remotely for real? This is the most blatantly ignorant piece of drivel I’ve ever read, and I’d expect it to be written by a gum-clacking teen, but am shocked that a candidate for congress - cum - lobbyist would release it.

Dan Humiston’s got the best. press. release. ever.:

John McCain had a biopsy done of some skin cells from his cheek. McCain has a history of melanoma from sun exposure when he was a POW.

McCain urged people to stay out of the sun and to wear sunscreen, particularly during the summer.

“If you ever have any slight discoloration please go to your dermatologist or your doctor and get it checked out as soon as possible,” he said.

Asked if his doctor was confident the problem was nothing serious, McCain replied, “Sure, sure.”

McCain might want to have a word with the Dan the Tan Man for Congress campaign, which has festooned several “Tanning Bed” vans with “Humiston for Congress” banners. I wonder if Humiston echoes this “chaching goes the cancer council” sentiment?

Did you know someone was running against Brian Higgins? It’s true. There is an actual Independence Party candidate running in that race to replace South Buffalo’s Boy Wonder.

That IP member is Dan Humiston. He’s also running, BTW, as the endorsed Republican.

In several recent bigger races, the Republican party in the county of Erie has pretty much resigned itself to running bored millionaires who can do a lot of self-financing of their campaigns. (Hi, Jack Davis! Too bad Cheney snubbed you a few years ago!). Chris Lee, Republican running in the 26th, is the unemployed scion of a formerly locally-owned manufacturing concern which was sold out for megabucks to a New Jersey multinational.

Humiston is, like Davis but unlike Lee, a self-made millionaire. He runs the Tanning Bed franchise throughout Western New York, peddling melanoma to local gum-clacking teens and those who still think they are. He’s the current president of the Indoor Tanning Association. (A “healthy tan” is not unlike the ads for Camel - more doctors smoke ‘em!)

Humiston has raised a decent amount of money, according to his latest filings. His largest contribution comes courtesy of a sweaty gentleman who combats allegations that he defends pedophiles by surrounding himself with children. Tom Reynolds’ TOMPAC gave the legal max to Humiston - $5,000.

Humiston did receive one more $5,000 contribution from another PAC, however. The “Indoor Tanning Association PAC“, which is run by the operation of which he is President. There are also loads of big contributions from melanoma huts all across the country. You can track how excited the tanning proponents are about Humiston’s run for congress, and they have a great conversation about how Dan Humiston can advance the melanomian cause in Congress.

Dear tanning industry friends,

Today is a big day in my race for Congress, March 31 is the last day I can collect money for my first FEC filing. The FEC reports have to be done quarterly so that the country can gauge my potential as a candidate.

I officially became a candidate in March; so far all my fundraising efforts have been directed towards our industry. My feeling is that it sends a strong message to the country that the tanning industry believes that their president will make a good congressman.

While many people have generously supported and helped spread the word I still have a ways to go to hit my goal. If you haven’t had time to go to my website www.humistonforcongress.com and make a contribution, can you please do it now?

Thanks
-DAN

And the Republicans criticize people for taking money from a strip club owner? Stripping doesn’t give people cancer.

The Indoor Tanning PAC’s mission:

In an effort to create a unified voice for the industry, the ITA decided to form a PAC to educate and make financial contributions to federal candidates who support the public policies that are important to the ITA’s members.

and

The ITA actively lobbies against legislation that would place unfair restrictions on salon businesses.

For instance, the ITA is lobbying to strike legislation in Ohio that would ban indoor tanning for teens under 18, and a similar bill in Massachusetts for teens under 16. I’m pretty sure that another cancer-causer - cigarettes - are prohibited from being sold to teens under 18 even when they have a note from home, so I don’t see the issue. (Evidently, his campaign obtained the Tanning Bed’s email list. Convenient. There’s also $2,500 to one Joseph Illuzzi, who apparently resides at 123 ABC Street in Alabama 20001.)

The one unifying theme among the Bored Republican Millionaire candidates is that they will operate government like a business. This is silliness, because businesses have a different mission altogether from that of government. The smart ones explain that they wish to maximize efficiencies and eliminate waste. They will keep a close eye on public finances and make sure that deficits are guarded against, found, and remedied as soon as possible, right?

Well, another supporter of Humiston’s is Nancy Naples-O’Neill, erstwhile State DMV Commissioner, which is a position to which she was appointed after holding the Giambra Administration’s water for so many years, (delaying until the last possible moment her decision to alert the people to what became the Erie County Budget Crisis of 2004 - 2005). She gave Humiston $1,000. One hopes he won’t take public finance advice from her. BTW - she lists her occupation now as “Amtrak Commissioner“. Christ almighty, there’s no trough from which she won’t gorge.

Humiston and Lee are supposed to be cut from the same cloth as Chris Collins - a businessman whom the Republicans run with great success last year. And they won’t come asking to bum money off the party, either.

The thing is, Brian Higgins works his ass off every single day to change people’s minds about Buffalo and WNY. When Humiston charges that Higgins is part of the status quo, that is sheer idiocy. Taking money from Tom Reynolds, cancer purveyors, and Nancy Naples is more of the same. Not Higgins, whose accomplishments are many and whose record does not pigeonhole him as some sort of ultra leftist liberal, but instead a pragmatic and forceful proponent for Western New York and the regular folks who make up his district.