COOPERSTOWN _ Republican Richard Hanna, a contractor who lives in the town of Otsego, is running for Congress against incumbent Democratic Rep. Michael Arcuri of Utica.
``I'll be making formal announcements in Utica and Binghamton Thursday, and Auburn, Friday,'' Hanna said Wednesday by telephone from his home at 6016 State Route 80 on Otsego Lake.
Hanna, 57, has considered entering this race for months, crisscrossing the large 24th Congressional District, which includes all or parts of 11 counties. In his travels, he has found people eager for a less partisan, more-effective federal government, he has said in several interviews with The Daily Star this year.
``I think the Republican Party has made a mistake in its choice of social issues,'' he said earlier this spring.
Rather than concentrating on ideology, the Grand Old Party should make a concerted effort to shore up Social Security and Medicare, programs that are running out of money, he said.
Hanna, owner of Hanna Construction Co. of Barneveld, also said he believes the United States must make strides to compete in world trade markets.
``Americans should not be afraid of foreign competition, but meet the challenge,'' he has said.
Hanna, nephew of former Utica Mayor Edward Hanna, said he will sit down with reporters in the coming days and lay out his positions on a variety of issues.
Last month, Hanna was unofficially endorsed by the Otsego County Republican Committee, according to Sheila Ross, party chairwoman.
Other committees have been awaiting his formal announcement, Ross said Wednesday.
``I'm glad he's running; I think he'll be a strong candidate in this district,'' she said.
Oneida County Republican Chairman Mark Scheidelman also thinks highly of Hanna, according to the website of the National Republican Congressional Committee.
That committee has been highly critical of Arcuri, stating by e-mail to The Daily Star two weeks ago that ``Michael Arcuri has racked up a very extreme voting record in Congress. Voters in New York deserve a representative who will fight for their views and values in Washington, not a representative who votes in lock step with the most liberal leaders of the House.''
On Wednesday, Carrie James of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee hit back, stating, ``Richard Hanna joins a long list of wealthy Republicans trying to buy a seat in Congress.
``In the six months that Richard Hanna has spent hemming and hawing about whether to run for Congress, Congressman Arcuri has been tirelessly fighting NYRI and working to make college more affordable. Richard Hanna has been silent.''
Arcuri, former Oneida County district attorney, said months ago that he would seek re-election to the seat he captured two years ago in a race against former state Sen. Raymond Meier, R-Western.
Arcuri, 48, succeeded Rep. Sherwood Boehlert, R-New Hartford, who represented the district for more than two decades.
The incumbent has said he is running on his record, which includes opposition to the proposed New York Regional Interconnection power line, voting to raise the minimum wage and focusing on ways to upgrade security at the nation's and state's border.
Arcuri, a member of the transportation and infrastructure and House rules committees, is a co-sponsor of a bill to temporarily halt stockpiling oil in the nation's strategic reserve, a measure intended to help curb the rapid rise in gasoline prices.
The Center For Responsive Politics, on the Internet at Opensecrets.org, reports that as of March 31, Arcuri had $590,541 in cash on hand for his re-election effort. He raised more than $2.2 million in the hotly contested 2006 race.
The 24th Congressional District is home to 161,117 Republicans, 126,294 Democrats and 75,747 independent voters, according to the state Board of Elections. U.S. representatives make $165,200 a year.
