Mike Oot

Mike Oot is the Democratic candidate in the 2008 congressional elections for the 23rd Congressional District (map) of New York. He is the Democratic nominee seeking to challenge incumbent Rep. John McHugh (R-N.Y.). T

Bio
Many members of Congress probably dreamt of one day walking Washington’s hallowed halls as children. Some dreamt of the influence, others the power, but it was not until very recently that Mike Oot thought about joining the ranks of Congress, and it certainly was not for any of those reasons. He was born in Denver, Colorado where his father, Capt. Lawrence J. Oot was stationed in 1949. A few years later, the family returned to Central New York, where Mike resided until he attended Alfred University and then Western New England School of Law. Upon graduation, he returned to our area to begin a remarkable career fighting major corporations by representing the injured, ill, and disabled.

Mike Oot has always believed in giving back to the community in which he lives. Long an advocate of public schools, he is one of the founders and Vice-President of the Stockbridge Valley Educational Foundation: a highly successful fund raising group that works hard to find voluntary, rather than tax dollars, for student activities. Elected to the Stockbridge Valley Central School Board, Mike served as its President and representative to the New York State School Boards Association, as well as to New York’s Rural Schools Conference.

He, like so many other individuals, regardless of party affiliation, was incredibly unhappy with the direction our country had taken over the past eight years. America had seemed to lose its way from the land Mike remembered as a boy. Healthcare is in crisis, the economy in shambles; our brave troops sent to fight a war without the proper equipment and armor. The cost of college is rapidly becoming too expensive for our children, our schools are woefully inadequate, and the protections afforded to us by The Bill of Rights have become dangerously eroded; our government has even begun wiretapping its citizens without warrants. After thinking about the possible causes for all of these problems, Mike Oot could come to only one answer: our politicians no longer represent us.

Too often, their allegiance lay with the highest bidder. That’s certainly not me and that’s almost certainly not you. Government is broken, and the people no longer trust their representatives. Washington is filled with career politicians serving almost endlessly and doing more harm than good. We do not need someone to talk out both sides of their mouth, and we certainly don't need someone that only visits their district when they are up for reelection. How can they know what their people need, when they are so rarely amongst their people? The solution was clear, what better way to restore the America that he knew as a boy than to have a concerned citizen just like you to represent your needs in our capital? That is why Mike is running. Our children are why he is running. Mike Oot is running because his country needs him now more than ever.

A SHORT MESSAGE FROM MIKE
I have been apart of this district nearly my entire life; I know many of the needs of the people that call this wonderful district home. In the coming months, as I travel around all corners of Northern and Central New York speaking with more of you, I hope to learn more, and I promise to take that knowledge with me when I go to Washington. I hope that you will support me in my endeavor. Mike Oot has five children and lives in the Madison County town of Stockbridge, NY, with his wife Ann.

2008 elections
Oot is seeking the Democratic nomination to challenge Rep. John McHugh (R-N.Y.) in the 2008 congressional elections.

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Campaign contributions
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Committees
Oot will be assigned committees if and when he is elected to Congress.

Contact
http://www.mikeootforcongress.org

info@mikeootforcongress.org

Mike Oot for Congress PO Box 08 Munnsville, NY 13409

315-420-6776

Related SourceWatch articles

 * 2008 U.S. congressional elections
 * 2008 U.S. congressional election dates
 * Portal:New York and the U.S. Congress

External resources

 * 2008 Race Tracker page on New York’s 23rd Congressional District
 * Aaron Gifford and Mark Weine, Lawyer to seek McHugh seat, The Post Standard, September 27, 2007.
 * FEC Disclosure