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BUFFALO NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF
Kryzan, Powers parry claims in debate
Davis skips face off in House contest
By Jerry Zremski
September 1, 2008
Alice Kryzan'’s record as a lawyer for Occidental Chemical Corp. surfaced Sunday as an issue in her race for Congress, as Jon Powers, another of the candidates for the Democratic nomination in the 26th District, continued to fend off questions about the charity he founded to aid children in Iraq.
Both issues came up during a debate on "Hardline With Kevin Hardwick" on WBEN Radio.
The third Democrat in the race, industrialist Jack Davis of Clarence, skipped the event, prompting Hardwick to set up the obligatory empty chair in the studio and take shots at Davis for "dodging this debate" all through the 90-minute program.
The race largely has consisted of a long political fistfight between Powers and Davis, but Sunday, Kryzan, an Amherst resident, got the chance to defend herself.
Hardwick asked her about her defense of Occidental and its predecessor, Hooker Chemical, which has made her the subject of attacks from Robert Harding, a Powers supporter who writes at the Albany Project blog.
"The residents of Love Canal were clearly the innocent victims of a terrible environmental trauma they had no part in creating," Kryzan said.
"My job as a young lawyer was to defend the personal injury action at Love Canal. I worked hard to come up with a settlement, and my clients paid $12 million."
In addition, Kryzan noted that the lawyer who represented Love Canal residents in the lawsuit and the judge's law clerk now support her campaign.
At a 1998 symposium covered by The Buffalo News, Kryzan described the residents' reaction to the crisis as "hysteria."
Asked about that comment Sunday, she said, "It was extreme anxiety they were demonstrating."
Kryzan said that those who were not involved in Love Canal at the time would have difficulty understanding how "desperate" residents of the Niagara Falls community were.
Negotiating a settlement on behalf of Occidental, "I learned a lot," Kryzan said. "I learned how to listen. It was my first experience dealing with a difficult problem in a highly charged environment."
Kryzan, who has stressed developing alternative clean energy sources to grow jobs in Western New York, also noted that the New York League of Conservation Voters has endorsed her candidacy.
Powers, an Iraq War veteran from Clarence, has received endorsements from the Democratic county committees and many labor unions in the 26th District.
But during the debate, he continued to be dogged by questions about War Kids Relief, a charity he founded after leaving the Army.
Hardwick asked if the group ever did anything more than sending "a few soccer balls and backpacks" to children in Iraq, and Powers replied: "Its purpose was education and advocacy. It wasn’t about sending supplies."
Powers said in 2005 that the group intended to build youth centers in Iraq, but a request for major federal funding never made its way through Congress. Instead, "we became the leading voice for Iraqi children in Washington," Powers said.
Although Powers — who touted his work with War Kids early in his campaign — has dropped any mention of the effort from his ads and fliers, he told Hardwick, "I'm incredibly proud of War Kids."
Asked if the effort amounted to "resume padding," Powers noted that he went back into Iraq as an unarmed civilian to start the effort, which ended up developing programs that the Iraqi government implemented.
He also reiterated that only $15,000 of the $140,000 the group raised went to his salary.
The narrative of the debate would have been different, no doubt, if Davis had attended.
Asked why Davis skipped the event, Joy Langley, the Davis campaign’s communications director, said, "We’re not planning any joint appearances until Jon and Alice sign our pledge to protect Social Security, run a clean campaign and return their contributions from special interests, lobbyists and [political action committees]."
The Davis statement appeared yet another shot at Powers, who has accepted political action committee donations to his campaign.
Hardwick indicated that he considered Davis' pledge ridiculous.
"He might as well have asked [Kryzan and Powers] to sprout wings and fly away," Hardwick said. "[Davis] is dodging this debate. Let the record show that."
