By Gabriela Resto-Montero
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
UPPER EAST SIDE — Reshma Saujani has moved into attack mode against rival Rep. Carolyn Maloney in the East Side Congressional race, claiming that the incumbent stole several of her campaign ideas and proposed them as legislation in recent weeks.
The stepped-up rhetoric against Maloney's record comes as a recent poll emerged showing Maloney with 75 percent of the vote to Saujani's 7 percent, with 17 percent of voters saying they were still undecided.
Saujani, whose campaign has heavily courted the South Asian vote and relied on financial contributions from tech entrepreneurs, said that Maloney ripped off her ideas on immigration and entrepreneurial innovation.
"I'm proud of the innovative ideas I've offered during this campaign, on immigration reform and other issues, and I'm glad that my opponent apparently likes them as well," Saujani said in a statements May 7.
Saujani said Maloney adopted her idea for a start-up visa with her sponsorship of the Start-Up Visa Act of 2010.
Maloney introduced the bill, which calls for granting two-year visas to immigrants who begin start-ups with qualified investors, on the House floor on April 29, eight days after a Saujani Op-Ed piece proposing a similar idea. Sen. John Kerry authored the bill's Senate version.
But Maloney's campaign dismissed the idea that the congresswoman had taken the ideas from Saujani as political maneuvering.
"These political attacks aren't doing anything to create jobs, expand health care, or bring economic activity to our district," said Maloney spokeswoman Alix Anfang. "Every day Carolyn Maloney fights for New Yorkers and for our district. And she gets results."
As Chair of the Joint Economic Committee, Maloney also called for increased federal spending on research and development for tech innovation, a move Saujani also credited to her own advocacy of the issue.
