Barclay to Hoffman, Doheny: Take a deep breath

Here's an interesting release that was issued by a former 23rd Congressional District hopeful and current Republican Assemblyman Will Barclay of Oswego County.

Barclay tells Doug Hoffman and Matt Doheny it's time to take a deep breath and unite in order to defeat incumbent Democrat Bill Owens in November:

With the Associated Press projecting Matt Doheny as the winner in yesterday's Republican primary for Congress in NY-23 - but with Doheny not declaring victory and Doug Hoffman not conceding defeat -- State Assemblyman Will Barclay of Oswego County (R-C-I), a man who only months ago was himself a contender for that nomination, is calling upon both Doheny and Hoffman and their supporters to "take a breather and start thinking about working together for their common objective of defeating liberal Democrat Congressman Bill Owens in November."

"It is certainly reasonable to wait for the counting of all the absentee ballots before declaring the winner," said Barclay, "and, given the preliminary miscount in one county in last year's special election, it is not unreasonable for Doug Hoffman to wait for the automatic recount."

"What would be unreasonable," Barclay added, "would be for either Doheny or Hoffman to refuse to gracefully accept the verdict of the voters and give aid and comfort to Bill Owens and his liberal Democrat allies by campaigning against the candidate the people chose."

"There is no better way for either Doug Hoffman or Matt Doheny to demonstrate his commitment to the conservative Republican principles he has espoused than by joining with me - right now, today - in publicly committing to not merely endorse, but also actively campaign for, the candidate the people chose so we can replace Bill Owens as our representative in Congress," said Barclay. "By doing so he will perform a great service to our party and to our country."

Said Barclay: "Going forward, what should matter most to both candidates, and to their supporters, is the fact that Bill Owens has been an enthusiastic willing enabler of the disastrous extreme liberal Obama-Pelosi-Reed agenda that has trampled sound constitutional governance, wreaked havoc on the nation's deficit and debt and dangerously debilitated our guard against the threat of terrorism. For the good of our country, for the good of the people of Central and Northern New York, we need to defeat Bill Owens in order to help reverse the disastrously detrimental direction that Washington has been taking."

In February when he was considering running for Congress, Barclay initiated and voluntarily signed a "unity pledge" to support for Congress against Democrat Bill Owens whichever candidate that Republican voters freely chose in the primary election contest and promised to campaign to help that candidate and urge all his supporters to do the same. "We Republicans need to set aside any personal vanity or personal ambitions and unite behind the people's choice in the critical common goal of defeating Bill Owens," he said then - and repeated today.