NEWS

Assini kicks off congressional run

David Riley
@rilzd
Mark Assini greets supporters after announcing that he will run for Congress in 2016 at the Italian-American Community Center in Gates on Tuesday.

Republican Mark Assini offered a familiar message Tuesday night as he kicked off another campaign for the U.S. House: Congress is broken, and re-electing Washington, D.C. insiders won't fix it.

Assini, who was re-elected earlier this month as Gates supervisor, will again challenge U.S. Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-Fairport, after he narrowly lost to her last year. The next election is in 2016.

His plans were among the most poorly kept secrets in local politics, but he made it official in a packed room at the Italian-American Community Center in Gates.

Slaughter seeks a 16th term representing the 25th Congressional District, which includes most of Monroe County. She also has rolled out a new campaign website and ads touting her record.

Assini's message was similar to his 2014 campaign, saying that Congress is stuck in partisan bickering and gridlock.

Mark Assini

"We need less of Washington-style politics and more of talking with each other, not yelling at each other," he said.

Congress must help address the fact that Rochester is the fifth-poorest city in the U.S., Assini said — a problem that he tied in part to rising health care costs and an anemic upstate economy.

Citing terrorist attacks on Paris on Friday, Assini also vowed to work on defeating "radical Islam."

He also promised to limit himself to four terms, saying that career politicians are part of the problem in Congress, and pledged to avoid negative campaign ads.

Slaughter released a statement Tuesday that said she will run on a record that includes fighting for and securing federal money to redevelop the Inner Loop, build a new Amtrak station, add jobs to Eastman Business Park and bring AIM Photonics to Rochester.

She said she accomplished this despite "a deeply divided and contentious Congress."

"With much more work to do on behalf of my constituents, I will never stop fighting to create good paying jobs here at home while standing up to those in Washington who want to rig our economy for the special interests," Slaughter's statement said.

Mary Ann Clarno fixes her husband Mark Assini's collar while he waits to take the stage.

Slaughter defeated Assini last year by just under 900 votes out of about 190,000 ballots cast.

At the end of September, Slaughter had $747,600 in her campaign account, while Assini had about $2,122, according to financial disclosure reports.

DRILEY@Gannett.com