Bishop Faces Challenger Willing to Spend Early in Campaign
Entrepreneur Randy Altschuler aired his first television ad Monday, an indication that the New York Republican is prepared to spend early and often in his campaign to unseat Democratic Rep. Tim Bishop. Altschuler, who launched his campaign in August, has already contributed $450,000 of his own money to his campaign, giving him $664,000 in receipts for the third quarter. That tops Bishop’s $263,000 in total receipts in the same period. Altschuler has personal wealth after founding two successful start-up business services companies: OfficeTiger and CloudBlue. Bishop, who is in his fourth term, represents New York’s 1st district, which includes the Hamptons, Smithtown and Brookhaven. He has cruised comfortably to re-election in each of the last three cycles. However, Barack Obama took only 51 percent of the vote in the district, and President George W. Bush narrowly won the district in 2004, making it potentially competitive if Bishop faces a strong challenger. In Altschuler’s introductory ad, which is running on cable and touches all seven towns in the district, he seeks to contrast himself with Bishop, who he says is “all about the old way— of doing things — “big government, more taxes, more spending.—“My top priority is to create a pro-growth environment, lower taxes and more jobs,— says Altschuler, who is tagged as a “conservative businessman— in the ad.Democrats are already attacking Altschuler for basing OfficeTiger’s operations in India, accusing him of outsourcing jobs. But Altschuler has denied his company eliminated existing American jobs and claims that he has created more than 700 jobs in the United States.Alstchuler faces a primary against attorney George Demos and possibly others.