June O'Neill: It's Not a Referendum, It's Just a Seat the G.O.P. Bought

SARANAC LAKE—June O'Neill, the Executive Committee chair of the state Democratic Party, says that the race to replace John McHugh in Congress is not a public verduct on Barack Obama's administration.

"No, it's not a referendum on Obama," she told me Tuesday afternoon. "It wasn't a referendum on Obama in New York 20 and it's not here. If you are the Republican Party and you are running inferior candidates as they do, I would want to change the topic too."

A resident of St. Lawrence County, O'Neill decried the outside forces that have pumped up Hoffman, including the Club for Growth, which spent over $1 million on his candidacy.

"A victory for Hoffman means that as a resident of the 23^rd Congressional District, I don't accept that. This district is not for sale," she said, agreeing with Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. "We pretty clearly know what Mr. Hoffman was against but we don't know what for sure he's for."

"You judge a person by the company they keep, didn't your mother tell you that?" she added. "It's pretty scary, all the money that's been poured in here to buy the race for Hoffman."