A rematch for the 25th Congressional District seat has been set after former U.S. Rep. Dan Maffei filed the paperwork Aug. 24 to run against current U.S. Rep. Ann Marie Buerkle in 2012.

Buerkle (R-Onondaga Hill) defeated the incumbent Maffei in last year’s election in a very close Congressional District race — she edged Maffei by less than three-tenths of a percent.

Maffei is currently a visiting instructor at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry and was given $325 in donations from ESF President Cornelius Murphy for his campaign in 2010. However, Murphy said he did not know if he would contribute to Maffei’s campaign again in 2012.

During last year’s election, Murphy had voiced his concern over Buerkle’s lack of support for environmental issues, but he is now on her environmental advisory committee and there are several issues that she cares for and has concerns about.

‘It’s not quite that black and white,’ Murphy said. ‘In her campaign there were some issues as it related to climate change, and I have spent time with her and brought her up to speed.’

He said they have met and he has educated her on some of the issues that need to be examined, both local and environmental. One issue that Buerkle explicitly addresses on her website is energy consumption and allocation.

‘Reversing this energy freeze is critical to putting Americans back to work,’ Buerkle said in a May 12 statement. ‘We must expand American energy production and stop current government policies that are driving up gasoline prices. It is clear how much of a strain paying more at the pump is placing on already stretched budgets.’

Both Buerkle and Maffei have developed good relationships with Syracuse University during their respective terms in office, said Kevin Quinn, SU’s senior vice president for public affairs.

‘We have a very good relationship with Congresswoman Buerkle, and we had a very good relationship with Congressman Maffei,’ Quinn said. ‘The university doesn’t really get involved in campaigns. We work with our elected officials, and we’re very proud that we’ve developed strong working relationships with all of our elected officials across party lines.’

But SU faculty and staff contributed anywhere from $25 to $4,800 each to Maffei’s campaign for re-election in 2010. Twenty-four SU employees gave a total of 47 contributions to Maffei’s campaign, adding up to $21,275. Buerkle received one contribution of $50 from an SU employee.

Of the 18 members of the cabinet Chancellor Nancy Cantor chairs, five contributed to Maffei, totaling $3,550, or 17 percent, of university employees’ total donations. The contributing members were: Quinn; Eric Spina, vice chancellor and provost; Thomas Walsh, executive vice president for advancement and external affairs; Douglas Biklen, dean of the School of Education; and Gina Lee-Glauser, vice president for research.  

Cantor gave Maffei’s campaign a total of $1,000 over two separate contributions.  

Jeffrey Stonecash, an SU political science professor, said he thinks Maffei has a good chance of beating the incumbent in 2012 because the district is becoming more democratic.

‘The electorate will be very different,’ Stonecash said. ‘There was a tremendous drop-off in 2010 with the most declines among democrats, young people and independents. They tend to disappear in an off-year election.’

Stonecash also said he doesn’t think Buerkle has done a good job raising money, so she will really have to make the case that she has made the right moves for the district in the past two years.

As far as other candidates in the running for the 25th Congressional District seat, he doesn’t know of any so far.

‘There will be a third party down the road,’ Stonecash said. ‘I’m sure it’ll come from the conservative side, and it will be that party taking votes from her (Buerkle).’

According to an article published in The Post-Standard on Aug. 24, however, Syracuse lawyer Brianne Murphy might be a possible candidate for the democratic side.

hawentz@syr.edu

— Asst. News Editor Jon Harris contributed reporting to this article.  

Published on September 6, 2011 at 12:00 pm