I'm really sorry to hear this. He is one of my heroes here in NYS, the other being my Rep. Paul Tonko. Both of whom are genuine Progressives. Tonko replaced a middle of the road Democrat. Did not know Maurice had colon cancer. This will be a voice that will be hard to replace. Does anyone know if there is someone waiting in the wings?

He's a good old time LIBERAL, and don't you forget it!

I'm a tad older than most on these forums, and no one uses the Liberal term anymore. Even I stopped using it a couple of years ago. By continuing to use "Liberal" just to keep it's bright and pristine image isn't going anywhere. This is now 2012 and don't YOU forget it.

I remember when Kennedy made his speech to the Liberal Party.
Just because the CONs have "made" it a bad word, doesn't mean it is a bad word.
I'll remain a LIBERAL, until the bitter end, I don't care if it's 2012, or 200,012!
Some of us resent this wishy-washy "Progressive" moniker, just because it doesn't sound as radical as "Liberal," and I'm one of them. When they come down on me for being a Liberal, I tell them everything that Liberals got for them, in case they forgot it.

"I believe in human dignity as the source of national purpose, in human liberty as the source of national action, in the human heart as the source of national compassion, and in the human mind as the source of our invention and our ideas. It is, I believe, the faith in our fellow citizens as individuals and as people that lies at the heart of the liberal faith. For liberalism is not so much a party creed or set of fixed platform promises as it is an attitude of mind and heart, a faith in man's ability through the experiences of his reason and judgment to increase for himself and his fellow men the amount of justice and freedom and brotherhood which all human life deserves.

I believe also in the United States of America, in the promise that it contains and has contained throughout our history of producing a society so abundant and creative and so free and responsible that it cannot only fulfill the aspirations of its citizens, but serve equally well as a beacon for all mankind. I do not believe in a superstate. I see no magic in tax dollars which are sent to Washington and then returned. I abhor the waste and incompetence of large-scale federal bureaucracies in this administration as well as in others. I do not favor state compulsion when voluntary individual effort can do the job and do it well. But I believe in a government which acts, which exercises its full powers and full responsibilities. Government is an art and a precious obligation; and when it has a job to do, I believe it should do it. And this requires not only great ends but that we propose concrete means of achieving them.

Our responsibility is not discharged by announcement of virtuous ends. Our responsibility is to achieve these objectives with social invention, with political skill, and executive vigor. I believe for these reasons that liberalism is our best and only hope in the world today. For the liberal society is a free society, and it is at the same time and for that reason a strong society. Its strength is drawn from the will of free people committed to great ends and peacefully striving to meet them. Only liberalism, in short, can repair our national power, restore our national purpose, and liberate our national energies.


What do our opponents mean when they apply to us the label "Liberal?" If by "Liberal" they mean, as they want people to believe, someone who is soft in his policies abroad, who is against local government, and who is unconcerned with the taxpayer's dollar, then the record of this party and its members demonstrate that we are not that kind of "Liberal." But if by a "Liberal" they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people -- their health, their housing, their schools , their jobs, their civil rights, and their civil liberties -- someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad, if that is what they mean by a "Liberal," then I'm proud to say I'm a "Liberal."
http://bureaucountydems.blogspot.com/p/something-to-think-about.html

Language is my life and indeed my livelihood, and while there are words I'd dearly love to ban, liberal isn't one of them.

I lived in Hinchey's district for many yrs. and am so impressed with him. Utterly dependable progressive on every issue, and a genuinely good guy.
Unfortunately, the district is right leaning except for a few pockets, but despite that, he always managed to get reelected for all those terms. He will be greatly missed. Concerned over who will replace him.

You couldn't get more people in there with a shoe horn!
I thanked my congressman for all that he has done for the district, and wished him well in all of his endeavors. I even "mic checked" him voicing those things from "WE THE PEOPLE."

His press release with his full accomplishments can be found here: http://hinchey.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1809:hinchey-announces-he-will-not-seek-reelection&catid=71:2011-press-releases

Here are a few key accomplishments:
• Between 1982 and 1992, Hinchey led an investigation into organized crime's control of the waste-hauling industry that led to the conviction of more than 20 criminal figures, including one for murder.

• Hinchey successfully led the fight, first in Albany and later in Washington, to force General Electric to pay for and clean up the 1.3 million pounds of PCBs it dumped into the Hudson River between 1947 and 1977. Dating back to his days as Chair of the State Assembly's Environmental Conservation Committee, Hinchey fought against numerous attempts to delay and narrow the clean-up process, and he worked tirelessly to make sure the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency held GE responsible for the cleanup. In 2011, Hinchey visited the upper Hudson River to laud the commencement of the second and final phase of the cleanup as a critical step forward in removing PCB contamination that has plagued the Hudson River for many decades.

• Hinchey was one of the first and most outspoken members of Congress to oppose President Bush's effort to invade Iraq. He subsequently became a forceful critic of ongoing operations within Iraq and led the call for the removal of U.S. forces, which has now occurred.

• Hinchey led the congressional outcry against the NSA's warrantless surveillance program that was instituted under President Bush. He requested, and helped successfully secure, the launch of an independent Department of Justice probe to determine any wrongdoing.

• Hinchey is the primary leader in Congress to protect drinking water and the environment from the risks of hydraulic fracturing. He is a co-author of the FRAC Act, which would mandate public disclosure of chemicals used in fracking fluid and allow the EPA to regulate fracking activities under the Safe Drinking Water Act.


NOBODY can replace him. I just hope we get someone good to represent the district, and will work my buns off to do so.
Read his entire statement in the press release at the link above. It made me cry!

and haven't been back to Ithaca since '93. I encourage those in Hinchey's district to get active and elect a progressive Democrat in his succession in 2012!

New York must lose two Congressional seats in the redistricting. With Hinchey retiring, chopping up that district will be an obvious and painless way to account for one of the lost seats.

The district isn't exactly "compact and contiguous" -- see map: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:New_York_District_22_109th_US_Congress.png The redistricting can readily move pieces into various other districts to make the new map work.

There's a broader sense in which there'll be no successor, of course. Hinchey has been a stalwart liberal despite being in a more centrist upstate district. He won his first election by only three percent, and even in 2010, after nine terms in office, he won by only four percent.

I'm grateful for the people like Jerry Nadler who are uncompromisingly liberal, but they represent very liberal districts, and they don't imperil their political futures. Hinchey could always have tacked somewhat to the right and given himself a nice cushion of votes, but he didn't. He kept fighting the good fight, and damn the torpedoes.

He's 73 so I can understand his decision to retire -- but, damn, he will be missed.

Associated Press
ALBANY, N.Y. — The wife of retiring New York Congressman Maurice Hinchey has been charged with driving while intoxicated and text-messaging while driving.

Albany police say 49-year-old Allison Lee-Hinchey of Hurley was involved in a minor accident shortly after 9 p.m. Wednesday. The Times Union of Albany reports (http://bit.ly/zQMteC ) that she told officers she was texting when her car rear-ended another vehicle while she was headed to her home in Ulster County.

Lee-Hinchey, a lobbyist for an Albany-based firm, was charged with DWI, following too close and aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle.

Police tell the newspaper her blood alcohol level was 0.14 percent, nearly twice the legal threshold.

more:http://online.wsj.com/article/AP4f2cd83cd1f44cc78a9c4c207920922a.html

He stated (privately) that it had nothing to do with it.