Treadwell spends nearly $6 million; GOP pulls NYS election funding

The New York Times is reporting this morning that the national GOP is pulling its funding from most congressional races in the state.

“Tough decisions have to be made,” said Representative Peter T. King, a Republican from Long Island, who conceded that the party was seeking to minimize its losses. “You have to decide who comes off life support and who gets a massive infusion.”

The inference is that the Republican Party is pulling the plug on NY state.

Included in the story is a passage about the 20th Congressional district race, where the GOP has never spent any national money.

Republican leaders had high hopes of toppling Ms. Gillibrand earlier in the year and recruited Alexander Treadwell, an independently wealthy former state Republican Party chairman, to run as the party’s candidate.

Peter Constantakes, a spokesman for Mr. Treadwell, said on Thursday that the national party’s decision not to finance the race was not surprising given its limited resources. But he noted that Mr. Treadwell had spent nearly $6 million of his own money on his campaign in a race that his supporters clearly believe is still competitive.

Six million dollars! That’s a pile of money for a congressional seat.

If Treadwell wins and serves the eight years that he says he would limit himself to (he favors term limits), that would price out at a little more than $750,000 per year.

Most pundits still give incumbent Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand the edge. Read the full NY Times piece here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/31/nyregion/31races.html?_r=1&ref=nyregion&oref=slogin