Upstate GOP Congressman Retiring

WILLIAMSVILLE, N.Y. – U.S. Rep. Thomas M. Reynolds announced Thursday that he will not seek another term in Congress representing the district that stretches between the suburbs of Buffalo and Rochester, The New York Times reported.

Reynolds, a Republican, said he wanted to spend more time with his family and indicated that recent criticism had not been a factor in his decision, the paper reported.

“I just looked at where we are,” he said at a news conference at a volunteer fire station in Williamsville, N.Y., a village just northeast of Buffalo, according to the paper. “I had time to reflect on the State Senate seat in the north country and Congressman Hastert’s seat in Illinois.”

He was referring to the recent Democratic victories in elections to fill posts that had long been in Republican hands. In New York, a Democrat, Darrel J. Aubertine, defeated the Republican, William A. Barclay, for a state Senate seat had had been Republican for more than a century. In Illinois, a Democrat, Bill Foster, won election to the House seat vacated by J. Dennis Hastert, the former speaker. Hastert, a Republican, had held the seat for two decades, the paper reported.

-- NYSSCPA.org News Staff

Posted on 3/20/08