GOP fuels gas-price anger in N.Y. race

New York Republicans are fanning voter anger over rising gas prices and high taxes in an effort to oust Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand, a freshman Democrat whose upstate district is considered one of the few places where embattled House Republicans could pick up a seat this year.

For weeks, Republican candidate Sandy Treadwell has aired a TV ad in the upper Hudson River Valley district that proclaims the Democrat-led Congress has “played politics with energy and failed to get things done.”

“Now gas costs $4,” it says.

In another TV spot - his mostly self-financed campaign is spending $75,000 a week on the media blitz - the former state Republican Party chief and New York secretary of state under then-Gov. George E. Pataki promises to rescue voters from paying “the highest taxes in America.”

The rhetoric likely resonates in New York, where voters shoulder some of the largest tax burdens and pay more than most for fuel.

According to the AAA the average price of regular gas in New York topped $4.30 Friday, the sixth-highest in the country behind Alaska, California, Hawaii, Connecticut and Washington state.

The clash over energy and economic policies also will play out in the presidential race and congressional campaigns across the country, with Democrats calling for more alternative-energy research and government aid for struggling families, while Republicans push for more domestic oil drilling and tax cuts.

The same partisan disputes tied Congress in knots this year.

Mrs. Gillibrand is not named in the TV ads, but Mr. Treadwell has taken some swipes at her.

“Congresswoman Kirsten Gillibrand, along with House Democrats, voted … for a week-long vacation before passing any significant legislation to lower energy costs or help to make us energy independent,” he said in a recent press release.

“The tough talk and strong rhetoric we hear from this Congress rings hollow because our leaders have done little on energy issues and we are being forced to pay the price for their failures,” he said.

Republican Party strategists say Mrs. Gillibrand will be hit for backing liberal House Democratic leaders, including opposing more domestic oil drilling and voting for a budget critics call the largest tax increase in U.S. history.

Such attacks “just show fear,” said Edna Ishayik, executive director of the New York State Democratic Committee. She said New York Republicans are on the ropes, having lost three U.S. House seats and a state Senate seat in 2006 and then two more state Senate seats in recent special elections.

“No one is taking anything for granted, but [Mrs. Gillibrand] has done a great job preparing for this fight,” she said.

Mrs. Gillibrand, who scored a narrow upset victory in the rural, Republican-leaning district in 2006, prepared to parry attacks from the right by building a conservative Blue Dog Democrat voting record.

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