Much to my chagrin, I'm going on vacation for the next week. So you won't see any blog posts here until June 4.

The dolphins I will be swimming with could not be reached for comment.

If you need immediate assistance from somebody at the Times, contact Bob Gorman. He's at (315) 661-2359 or bgorman@wdt.net

A public ethics watchdog wants federal ethics investigators to probe a lobbying firm that arranged Rep. Bill Owens' trip to Taiwan.

In a letter to the Office of Congressional Ethics, officials from Public Citizen — including one that helped write the law to help prevent corruption via fancy junkets — request that Park Strategies be investigated.

Founded by former U.S. Sen. Alfonse D'Amato, Park Strategies arranged Mr. Owens' trip to Taiwan in late 2011, according to a story in ProPublica. That's an apparent violation of House ethics rules instituted after the lobbyist Jack Abramoff was sentenced to prison in 2007 for arranging expensive trips.

Notably, Public Citizen does not call for an investigation into Mr. Owens himself.

A Democrat of Plattsburgh, Mr. Owens claims that no House ethics rules were broken, but said that he would pay back the $22,132 that the trip cost.

"Much to the credit of Rep. Owens, immediately after ProPublica broke the story that the trip may have been illegally arranged by lobbyists, Owens agreed to pay the entire cost of the trip out of his own pocket," the letter, signed by Craig Holman and Lisa Gilbert, notes. "However, no investigation or action has yet been taken against Park Strategies LLC and the lobbyists who were at the heart of the alleged infraction."

A spokesperson for Park Strategies declined to make Mr. D'Amato or other members of the staff available for comment.

In a statement to ProPublica, which broke the news about the most recent development, a spokeswoman said that the trip broke no House ethics rules and that "If the Office of Congressional Ethics elects to pursue an investigation, we will cooperate fully."

The Office of Congressional Ethics, an independent body, can investigate members of the House or lobbyists and forward those complaints on to the House Ethics Committee, which is made up of members of the House.

Per law, the OCE can't confirm whether it's investigating a lobbying firm of a member of Congress.

Mr. Owens made the trip to Taiwan to discuss defense matters and the possibility of locating a semiconductor plant in Central New York, he said. The trip was paid and sponsored for by the Chinese Culture University. Park Strategies lobbyists who work for the Taiwan government helped organize the trip, including picking a date and sending an itinerary.

UPDATE:

Mr. Owens said in an interview from Montreal that his office will be more careful about the trips that he takes. He's paying for the Montreal trip out of his own pocket, he said.

He also added that the check refunding the Chinese Culture University went out yesterday. It was accompanied by a letter saying that questions had been raised about the trip, and that he did not mean to insult their hospitality.

Mr. Owens also said that he spoke with Mr. D'Amato about the situation after the story broke. Mr. D'Amato apologized, Mr. Owens said.

He said that Mr. D'Amato didn't say the firm had done anything wrong. "I think it was more, 'I'm sorry that this happened,'" Mr. Owens said.

Mr. Owens told Mr. D'Amato that the two shouldn't discuss the matter, Mr. Owens said.

"Because any time the company is subject to a potential investigation, you wouldn't want to engage in any substantive discussion about the issue," he said.

Here is the complaint:

Request for Investigation of Park Strategies

Kellie Greene, an insurgent candidate for the Republican nomination on June 26, has lost a deputy campaign manager.

Chris Nichols told me he's out at the Greene campaign, but wouldn't say why.

Shane Wikfors, a spokesman for Ms. Greene, said that there was a disagreement about the direction of the campaign, but declined to get into specifics.

"The campaign and Chris came to a disagreement over the direction of the capaign, and so he and the campaign parted ways at that point," Mr. Wikfors said.

Mr. Nichols, a Watertown resident, is involved in the local 9/12 movement. He was a top volunteer in the Greene campaign, which does not have paid staffers, according to its Federal Election Commission report.

Ms. Greene, an Oswego native who moved to Sackets Harbor after spending eight years in Arizona, will face Matt Doheny in the GOP primary. The winner will take on Rep. Bill Owens, D-Plattsburgh.

Mr. Doheny has a wide name recognition advantage, a huge financial edge and the support of the institutional GOP. Ms. Greene, on the other hand, is relying on grassroots support from people like Mr. Nichols, who was serving in a volunteer capacity. Another volunteer also left the campaign, Mr. Wikfors said.

He left the campaign about two weeks ago, said Mr. Wikfors.

The campaign is keeping its eyes on the June 26 prize, he added.

"We’ve got more volunteers engaging in the campaign, and things are proceeding ahead," Mr. Wikfors said. "Obviously, we’re rescource-challenged. We do what we can given the volunteers’ abilities and talents and we’ll move forward."

The state Democratic Party will hand over the chairperson's gavel to two officials — one upstate, one downstate.

Mayor Stephanie Miner of Syracuse will co-chair the party with Manhattan Assemblyman Keith Wright.

The pair will take over for Jay Jacobs, a party chairman from Long Island who announced his resignation earlier this month.

Before Mr. Jacobs, upstate was represented at the helm by June O'Neill, a St. Lawrence County Democratic politico. Ms. O'Neill stepped down from her No. 2 post at the party last year, and now works for Comptroller Tom DiNapoli.

The move will become official at a June 5 state committee meeting.

A conversation I had earlier today with the St. Lawrence County Democratic chairman perfectly illustrates the difficulties that both parties are having in fielding candidates to take on incumbents.

I told Mark Bellardini that I was working on a story about whether the party had candidates in mind for the five — count them, five — state legislative districts that touch parts of St. Lawrence County and don't currently have an announced Democratic challenger.

"No comment," Mr. Bellardini said.

I told Mr. Bellardini that I'd have to put him down saying that he had no comment on whether the party was going to put up candidates.

He said that I shouldn't tell anyone that we had even spoken — in essence, he wanted to respond with no comment, and do that off the record.

"This conversation never happened," he said.

I didn't agree to that restricting. He hung up.

Other party chairs in the north country, on both sides of the political aisle, have been more forthright about a simple and undeniable fact about state legislative races: Other than Democrat Amy Tresidder's campaign against Republican state Sen. Patty Ritchie, this should be a quiet run-up to Nov. 6.

If you know of any candidates, reach me at bamaral@wdt.net or (315) 661-2347

Watertown Mayor Jeff Graham and City Councilman Jeff Smith, former foes in the November 2011 election, have arrived at a rapprochement.

That's according to Mr. Graham, who beat Mr. Smith by a smaller margin than he won any of his other races.

"My new friend City Council Jeff Smith and I spent time with Parks and Rec brass to discuss what could be done to host the Privateers Hockey Team. It was a productive session," Mr. Graham wrote last week.

There was some concern on the City Council that with a bitter election fight, the duo wouldn't be able to get along and work together. That's not a problem, Hizzoner says.

The lines of attack in the election from the Smith and Graham camps, respectively: Mr. Graham is an old fogey who runs an inappropriate and leak-prone blog, and has not been proactive in leading the city. Mr. Smith is a loose cannon who hates Samaritan Medical Center, bears grudges and would micromanage the city.

Chuck Ruggiero and Lisa L'Huillier, officers in the local Jefferson Tea Party, will host a fundraiser for Republican Matt Doheny on June 8.

The $40/head, $250/event "sponsor" shindig will take place at the Partridge Berry Inn on Route 3 in New York.

Mr. Ruggiero, the GOP's candidate for sheriff in 2010, is married to Ms. L'Huillier, a realtor and the owner of Heffron Real Estate.

The duo were selected as delegates for former House Speaker Newt Gingrich to the 2012 Tampa GOP convention. Mitt Romney, of course, won the north country and is the presumptive nominee.

Mr. Doheny will face Rep. Bill Owens, D-Plattsburgh, in the Nov. 6 election.

Doheny Fundraiser

Rep. Bill Owens is in the top of the New York legislative class when it comes to language.

The Democrat of Plattsburgh spoke at a higher grade level than any other House rep or senator from New York, according to a review by the Sunlight Foundation.

The total tabulation is below. Going back to 1996, Mr. Owens ranked 48th of all 530 lawmakers surveyed. This is based on speeches on the congressional record.

In the 112th Congress, Mr. Owens was third among federal lawmakers from New York, behinds Reps. Nita Lowey and Carolyn Maloney.

Mr. Owens spoke at a 12.8 grade level in his total time on the congressional record in Washington. The ranking is based on the length of the sentences Mr. Owens used, and the length of the words he used.

The average American speaks at an 8th or 9th grade level. Major newspapers (that's me) write at anywhere from between an 11th grade and 14th grade level.

Check out the whole Sunlight Foundation post here, with plenty more information and fancy charts.

As if they weren’t busy enough trying to win voters in the north country for Nov. 6, two candidates for Congress have taken steps to influence elections in which their names won’t appear on the ballot.

Since 2001, Republican Matthew A. Doheny, a financial portfolio manager of Watertown, has donated $122,887 to candidates, parties and political causes from St. Lawrence County to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

And late last year, Democratic Rep. William L. Owens, who hasn’t donated personal funds since a 2009 gift to the campaign of now-Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, founded a political action committee that will help like-minded congressional candidates and county party organizations in upstate New York.

The candidates, both independently wealthy, say their efforts are aimed at helping friends and fellow candidates in need of campaign cash, the lifeblood of electoral politics.

“I know how hard it is to raise money in some of these local races,” Mr. Doheny said. “You get to know these people. They become friends, and I want to support them. I agree with them, and I want to have them be successful.”

Mr. Doheny’s donations have gone mostly to Republican candidates and Republican Party coffers, but also to the Conservative and Independence parties’ causes. He won the endorsement of every Republican Party committee in the congressional district in advance of a June 26 primary election. He also has won the blessing of Conservative and Independence parties’ leaders to run on their lines.

He’s also donated some money — though not much — outside of the state. For example, in January 2010, he donated $2,400 toward U.S. Sen. Scott Brown’s surprise victory in Massachusetts.

“The idea that Scott Brown has that seat as opposed to Ted Kennedy is amazing,” Mr. Doheny said.

The array of donations has not come without political pitfalls. Asked about his $2,400 donation to then-Assemblywoman Dierdre K. Scozzafava’s congressional campaign in 2009, Mr. Doheny seemed reluctant to broach the topic again, jokingly telling a reporter to run the same quote he gave the Times when he was asked about the donation in 2010.

In a 2010 story, Mr. Doheny said: “Obviously, it wasn’t like I was out campaigning for her or anything; that’s pretty much all I did. Do I absolutely loathe and detest what Dede’s done since then? Number one, I hate quitters. Number two, I hate people who don’t live up to their word and switch teams. And number three, if you’re a Republican, act like it and don’t endorse Andy Cuomo. Give me a break.”

Ms. Scozzafava’s name has become a bugaboo in Republican circles after she dropped out of the 2009 congressional race and endorsed Mr. Owens. She was facing a precipitous drop in the polls amid scathing, national attacks from allies of the Conservative Party candidate, Douglas L. Hoffman.

This year, it’s not any particular donation that’s become an issue, but the number of donations. Kellie A. Greene, a Republican of Sackets Harbor who will face Mr. Doheny in the primary, has accused him of trying to “buy” the election.

It’s an accusation that Mr. Doheny firmly denounces.

“Oh, stop. Come on,” he said. “Voters vote. We’ve had tough elections both in the primary and the general. When you’re talking about these discreet donations, like I said, like-minded people need support. And generally speaking, you’re supporting friends. I absolutely reject that whole concept.”

He has also made large donations to the Conservative and Independence parties. Party leaders, not voters in a primary, chose Mr. Doheny as their candidate for 2012.

“People who have the same view of government and who share my views generally, while not agreeing on everything — I’ve donated to Conservative causes for many years, and the Independence Party, likewise,” he said.

Mr. Doheny’s first-ever donation, according to the state Board of Elections, was a $250 check to the state Conservative Campaign Committee. He first donated to the Independence Party in April 2010, after the first time he threw his hat into the congressional election ring.

In the year and a half since his November 2010 loss, he’s given $58,099, according to the state Board of Elections and the Federal Election Commission.

Mr. Owens’s personal donations have fallen by the wayside since he won his first election in November 2009. But he has found an avenue outside of personal donations to influence outside elections: a PAC. He created the Adirondack Jobs PAC in December.

“I’d be looking at candidates that focus on a few things I believe in: economic growth and job creation, debt and deficit reduction, compromise and the willingness to work across party lines to get things done,” Mr. Owens said. “We need more people in Congress who will work across the aisle to accomplish these goals.”

So far, the PAC hasn’t been very active. It’s donated $2,500 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the political arm of the House Democrats. In December, it took in a $5,000 donation from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers PAC, and $500 from Mr. Owens’s congressional campaign fund. In March, it received a $2,500 donation from Tonio Burgos, the chairman of a lobbying firm; $2,500 from Robert G. Wilmers, the chairman of M&T Bank, and $2,500 from the Honeywell International PAC.

“This will not be a large PAC,” Mr. Owens said. “We will probably raise and spend a few thousand dollars a year.”

By federal law, the PAC can’t help Mr. Owens in his own race.

Mr. Owens said he doesn’t envision spending personal money on his own campaign again.

While his personal donations have slowed, the attention that’s been paid to a few old ones has recently grown quite a bit. In 1998, Mr. Owens donated $750 to then-U.S. Sen. Alfonse M. D’Amato’s campaign.

In late 2011, Mr. Owens took a trip to Taiwan that was extensively arranged by lobbyists for Mr. D’Amato’s firm, Park Strategies, according to an investigation by online news outlet ProPublica. That is a violation of House ethics rules meant to curb influence peddling via fancy junkets. Mr. Owens said he believes no ethics rules were broken, but said he would pay the $22,132 the four-day trip cost to a private university in Taiwan.

While Mr. D’Amato and Mr. Owens graduated from the same high school on Long Island, the two didn’t meet until years later, when Mr. Owens was a lawyer in private practice in Plattsburgh. He was a law partner of former Republican state Sen. Ronald B. Stafford, who died in 2005.

Mr. Owens, a political independent at the time, donated $750 to Mr. D’Amato’s unsuccessful Senate re-election campaign against then-Rep. Charles Schumer, a Brooklyn Democrat, in 1998.

When Mr. Owens was first elected to Congress in 2009, Mr. D’Amato approached him in their new roles: Mr. Owens, now a Democratic member of Congress; Mr. D’Amato, now the founder of a high-powered lobbying operation.

Online poker became the first subject of the lobbying, Mr. Owens said.

But Mr. Owens said the trip isn’t an indication that he’s too tight with Mr. D’Amato’s firm.

“I think that our relationship with Park Strategies is the same that it is with any number of lobbying entities in Washington,” he has said. “We interact with them on a wide variety of issues.”

The two spoke via telephone about the trip to Taiwan, among a variety of other issues, Mr. Owens said. But the trip’s planning never came up and he was never involved in it, he said.

A representative for Ms. Greene, an Oswego native who moved to Sackets Harbor after eight years living in Arizona, could not be reached. Campaign finance records from Arizona showed that in July 2011, she donated $50 to Steve Smith, a Republican state legislator there on whose campaign she worked.

A panel of judges has approved legislative lines for the 2012 elections, according to the Associated Press.

The court decision was the last hurdle for Senate Republicans and Assembly Democrats to install their own, politically motivated lines in the state.

It also means that you've got a lot more politics to pay attention to. SEVEN state legislative districts touch parts of St. Lawrence County. In Jefferson County, it's four. Lewis County still has two.

Time for a few "better know a district" stories.

Amy M. Tresidder is blunt in her appraisal of state Sen. Patricia A. Ritchie, R-Heuvelton, her potential Nov. 6 opponent.

“Obviously, I don’t think she’s done that great a job, or I wouldn’t be running against her,” Mrs. Tresidder, a Democratic county legislator in Oswego County, said at her campaign kickoff Thursday in Watertown.

Mrs. Tresidder, 56, is hoping to persuade voters that Mrs. Ritchie’s freshman term hasn’t borne the fruit that was promised in her 2010 campaign. Mrs. Tresidder argues that Mrs. Ritchie turned her back on her constituents with several key votes and missed opportunities in the past year and a half, and said that she would bring an independent ethic to Albany.

“I don’t think that Albany is really much different than it’s ever been. I think it’s a political tug of war.” Mrs. Tresidder said at the Jefferson County Democratic Party Headquarters on Public Square. “And I think people need to be the winners.”

Senate Republicans hold a 32-29 edge in the upper chamber going into the November elections, and have a wide fundraising edge over their Democratic counterparts. The 48th Senate District, composed of part of St. Lawrence County and all of Jefferson and Oswego counties, has historically been dominated by the GOP. By enrollment numbers, it’s the most heavily Republican district in the state Senate.

That’s not to say that a Democratic victory there would be unprecedented. In 2008, Darrel J. Aubertine, a Democrat of Cape Vincent, won election to represent the area.

Mrs. Tresidder said she spoke recently with Mr. Aubertine, who wished her luck.

Graham D. Wise, Mrs. Ritchie’s chief of staff, said in an email that Mrs. Ritchie “looks forward to a discussion of her strong record of putting taxpayers first.”

“Two years ago, Senator Ritchie went to what had been dubbed the ‘most dysfunctional state capital in America’ and she got results, and helped make government work again,” Mr. Wise said in an email. “Some people want to go backwards. Senator Ritchie wants to continue to move New York forward.”

But Mrs. Tresidder said that Mrs. Ritchie’s record needs to be thoroughly examined.

For example, Mrs. Ritchie pledged in her 2010 run that she would vote to turn the state’s decennial redistricting process over to an impartial panel. But the lines in 2012 were redrawn with incumbents in mind. The district that Mrs. Ritchie represents did not change much. She did vote for a constitutional amendment that, if passed in 2013, would turn the process over to an outside group for the 2022 elections. How “independent” those results are is a subject of much debate.

But is such an insider issue a subject of debate in the homes of the 48th Senate District?

“Maybe not. Maybe they won’t” care about the issue, Mrs. Tresidder said. “But it’s a whole package of integrity. Every decision you make reflects upon what you said, and whether you’re willing to back that up.”

She also criticized Mrs. Ritchie for promising to bring back a popular property tax break that was revoked under Democratic Party control of the state Senate, and for not supporting legislation that would allow St. Lawrence County to hike its sales tax.

Mrs. Tresidder also said she would have supported approving gay marriage in 2011, which Mrs. Ritchie voted against.

“I’m for equality for everyone,” Mrs. Tresidder said.

She also said that she supports raising the minimum wage, which Mrs. Ritchie has so far declined to get on board.

“It’s very important that people are able to make a living,” Mrs. Tresidder said.

She said she wouldn’t be beholden to downstate interests, though wouldn’t say whether she’d refuse money from the state Democratic Senate Campaign Committee, the political arm of the caucus she hopes to join.

She is a native of St. Lawrence County, where she worked as a secretary for Clarkson University and other organizations. She moved to Oswego with her husband 33 years ago. She is a homemaker and raised five children, who are now grown.

Mrs. Tresidder said she was taken aback by a question Thursday about what qualified her to run as a stay-at-home mother.

“I think that any woman in here who’s been a homemaker understands the answer to that question,” she said. “It takes patience, flexibility, and organizational skills to get the job done right. Your heart is in that job every day.”

Assemblywoman Addie J. Russell, D-Theresa, endorsed Mrs. Tresidder at the event.

Despite possible financial and organizational disadvantages, Mrs. Russell said that her Democratic colleague has a shot at winning the district.

“This is still a race that’s decided on the individual qualities of the candidates,” she said.

U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer wants to stop a soon-to-be very wealthy Facebook co-founder from avoiding taxes by renouncing his citizenship.

Eduardo Saverin was born in Brazil, but moved to the United States and gained citizenship here. He now lives in Singapore.

In September 2011, Mr. Saverin, who helped create the social networking giant, began the process of renouncing his citizenship. If he doesn't have to pay taxes on the billions of dollars he's expected to earn with Facebook's upcoming initial public offering, he'd save $67 million on his U.S. tax bill, according to Mr. Schumer's office.

“It's infuriating to see someone sell out the country that welcomed him and kept him safe, educated him and helped him become a billionaire," Mr. Schumer said in a news release. "This is a great American success story gone horribly wrong. We plan to put a stop to this tax avoidance scheme. There should be no financial gain from renouncing your country.”

Mr. Schumer announced legislation legislation today with Sen. Bob Casey that would punish those who renounce their citizenship for tax evasion purposes. Cleverly dubbed the Ex-PATRIOT Act, it would prospectively tax capital gains earnings 30 percent for the renouncers.

It would also bar them from ever entering the United States again.

Rep. Bill Owens, D-Plattsburgh, has posted his personal finance disclosure documents to his website.

Here is a link.

Oswego County Democrat Amy Tresidder will announce her run for New York state Senate tomorrow at events in Jefferson, St. Lawrence and Oswego counties.

She'll face state Sen. Patty Ritchie, a freshman Republican of Heuvelton, in the Nov. 6 election.

Ms. Tresidder, a county legislator from Oswego, is a native of St. Lawrence County. She is a stay-at-home mother to five children, according to a news release.

At 3 p.m., she'll announce at 95 Public Square, Room 205, the county Democratic Party headquarters.

She will also make an announcement at the Canton VFW.

So far, she's said that broken promises — STAR rebate checks, a lack of redistricting reform — will be a major plank in her campaign.

Ms. Tresidder has the support of the party chairmen in the three counties.

Newsday is reporting that a deal is in the works to move the primary date for state legislative races from Sept. 11 to Sept. 13.

That could affect voters in four St. Lawrence County towns who will be voting in an Assembly election. Assemblywoman Janet Duprey, R-Peru, is facing possible primary challenges from Karen Bisso and David Kimmel, conservative activists who live in Clinton County.

Because of her vote for gay marriage, Ms. Duprey is not eligible for the Conservative Party's line. Ms. Bisso and Mr. Kimmel say that they will try to force a Republican primary, so if they can get together the organizational wherewithal to get on the ballot, they'll be looking at a Sept. 13 GOP primary.

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