News stories tagged with "barie"

(01/26/12) As the country buckles down for a lengthy and volatile presidential campaign, voters in the North Country are preparing for another election in New York's 23rd Congressional District.

Two years ago, the Upstate New York Tea Party was right in the thick of things. The group's chairman, Mark Barie, became a major player in the congressional battle between incumbent Representative Bill Owens, a Democrat from Plattsburgh; Matt Doheny, a former Wall Street financier who now lives in Watertown; and Doug Hoffman, an accountant and businessman from Lake Placid.

In March 2011, Barie suffered a brain aneurism and three strokes. Today, in part one of a two-part series, Chris Morris looks at Barie's road to recovery as he prepares to re-enter what's sure to be a big political fight in the 23rd District. more

(11/04/10) Political fallout continues this week following Republican Matt Doheny's defeat in the 23rd district House race.

Doheny lost to Democrat Bill Owens by roughly 5 thousand votes.

More than 9 thousand votes went to Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman, who had dropped out of the race in early October.

Yesterday, Hoffman's campaign sent out a press release denying that he had played the role of "spoiler."

He blamed Doheny's loss on bad decision-making by Republican "party bosses."

The Doheny campaign fired back, telling the Watertown Daily Times that Hoffman refused to help the Republican candidate beat Bill Owens.

Brian Mann spoke last night about this on-going political feud with Mark Barie, head of the Plattsburgh-based tea-party group UNYTEA.

(09/30/10) In the North Country's 23rd Congressional District, UNYTEA ended its support for Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman. The Tea Party group has not endorsed Republican primary winner Matt Doheny.

Mark Barie is chairman of UNYTEA, which claims around a thousand members across the region. He tells Jonathan Brown the group's steering committee met with Doheny yesterday.

(09/24/10) Another big player in this year's campaign is Mark Barie, organizer of the UNYTEA tea party group in Plattsburgh.

Barie has been a staunch supporter of Doug Hoffman and once described him as the only true conservative running in the NY-23 race. But Barie said yesterday that he is dismayed by Hoffman's decision to stay in the race, despite losing the GOP primary. He spoke with Brian Mann.

(09/16/10) Two days after the Republican primary in the 23rd district, the election drama continues.

Doug Hoffman issued his first statement late yesterday afternoon calling the race "fluid." Hoffman said "thousands of absentee and military ballots remain to be counted," adding -quote--"There is no clear victor."

Watertown businessman Matt Doheny still holds a lead of roughly six hundred votes. But at least 1700 absentee ballots remain to be counted. It remains unclear whether Hoffman will continue in the campaign as a third-party Conservative.

Meanwhile yesterday one of Hoffman's closest allies through the primary told North Country Public Radio that the Hoffman campaign had been mismanaged and is "no longer viable." Mark Barie, head of UNYTEA, says he will "throw Doug Hoffman under the bus" if that's what it takes to beat Democrat Bill Owens in November. Barie spoke with Brian Mann last night.

(09/02/10) Matt Doheny and Doug Hoffman slugged it out last night in Plattsburgh, when the two Republicans met for their first debate.

They're fighting for the chance to face Democratic Representative Bill Owens in the November election.

With the primary just two weeks away, both men agreed on most of the issues.

But they spent ninety minutes questioning each other's integrity and arguing over who has the best shot to reclaim a House seat that was once a Republican stronghold.

As Brian Mann reports, more than 200 people turned out to hear what the two men had to say. more

(09/02/10) This week's debate between Doug Hoffman and Matt Doheny in the NY-23 Republican Primary was fierce and raw at times, but the two men also laid out a staunchly conservative agenda, promising to repeal President Barack Obama's healthcare plan, opposing same-sex marriage and embryonic stem cell research, arguing for an end to earmark projects in the North Country and a full stop to stimulus spending. The debate was organized by UNYTEA, one of the region's largest tea party groups.

(01/15/09) Yesterday, we reported on the dozens of North Country families that are traveling to Washington DC for the inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama. But there's a debate underway over what Obama's victory means. Are we a post-racial society now that we have our first black president? What does it mean that blacks and whites still lead very different lives in this country? On Tuesday, that conversation spilled over into a surprising venue: a Rotary club luncheon in Plattsburgh. As Brian Mann reports, two prominent civic leaders wrestled for an hour with some of the thorniest and most controversial issues in our society.