Over the past few weeks I have been telling you about a VERY important Congressional Special Election in the 20th District in NY. Jim Tedisco continues to hold a lead over his challenger to take back this previously long held Republican district just given up by Ms Gillibrand (D) when she was appointed to succeed Hillary Clinton.
As you can see from the article below this election is thought of as a test for or against the Obama stimulus/pork spending/anti America policies enacted since 1/20/09. If you are fed up with what is happening in Congress and the White House this is a great chance to take action to change this seat to GOP.
PLEASE do what ever you can to help Jim Tedisco win this seat and give the GOP the boost we need as we prepare to attack the NJ & VA Governor's races later this year. You can make a gift to this race by going to www.GOP.com. Any gift you decide to make will be meaningful!
Obama Spending Plan Faces First Test in New York Race
By Heidi Przybyla
March 26 (Bloomberg) -- A special U.S. congressional election in Upstate New York may provide an early referendum on a politician who’s not on the ballot: President Barack Obama.
The race in New York’s 20th district will replace Kirsten Gillibrand, a Democrat who was appointed to fill Hillary Clinton’s U.S. Senate seat when she became secretary of state.
The March 31 contest between Democrat Scott Murphy and Republican Jim Tedisco has taken on broader significance because the candidates have made their dispute over Obama’s $787 billion economic-stimulus bill the campaign’s central issue. Both national parties are pouring funds into the race.
Murphy, 39, has hammered Tedisco over his opposition to the stimulus plan, and Tedisco, 58, has criticized Murphy for supporting legislation that allowed American International Group Inc. executives to receive million-dollar bonuses.
Obama, 47, endorsed Murphy yesterday and sent an e-mail to 60,000 of the president’s supporters in the district equating a vote for Murphy with support for the administration’s policies.
The vote is the first contested race for federal office since Obama took office in January, and it comes as the administration confronts growing public scrutiny over the economic-recovery plan, the AIG bonuses and a budget proposal that would expand the deficit to $1.4 trillion next year.
Before Gillibrand won the seat in 2006, the 20th district had been held by a Republican for almost 30 years. Recent polling shows Murphy, a businessman and venture capitalist, closing in on Tedisco, a state assemblyman.
‘A Republican District’
“This is a Republican district, it was drawn as a Republican district and it shouldn’t have been like this,” said Alan Chartock, professor emeritus of political communication at the State University of New York in Albany. “We’re still riding Obama.”
Republicans, who hold only three House seats in the Northeast, are eager to boost morale after losing control of Congress and the White House. Gillibrand won re-election last November with 62 percent of the vote, while Obama won the district with 51 percent.
“It’s high stakes” for Republicans, said Eric Uslaner, a politics expert at the University of Maryland in College Park. “If they lose, it’s more feelings of being out in the wilderness looking for their Moses.” If they win, they’ll say, “we’re back.”
‘Change the Psychology’
Days after being elected, Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele came to Albany, the state capital, to signal the importance of the contest. Yesterday, Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine sent an e-mail to a list of more than 500 party donors appealing for campaign funds to support Murphy.
The Republican National Committee and the National Republican Congressional Committee have spent almost $1 million combined on the contest. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has spent $574,000, including about $223,000 in the past week alone.
Stu Rothenberg, editor of the nonpartisan Rothenberg Political Report, said Republicans have more at stake than does Obama. “It’s much more important for Republicans than for Democrats,” he said. They are “trying to change the psychology, win an election and get some good news.”
David Wasserman, House editor of the Cook Political Report, warns against interpreting the vote as a referendum on Obama if Murphy loses narrowly. “That is the likeliest scenario,” he said. Unlike Gillibrand, Murphy is a relative newcomer to the district and Obama’s popularity may only carry him so far, he said.
Lead Narrows
A Siena College poll conducted March 9-10 gave Tedisco a 4- percentage point lead over Murphy, compared with a 12-point lead in a poll conducted two weeks prior. The poll of 712 likely voters had a margin of error of 3.7 percentage points.
The race has taken on a negative cast over who’s to blame for the U.S. recession. For weeks, Murphy has been pounding Tedisco over his reluctance to say how he would have voted on the stimulus bill.
Tedisco finally said he would have opposed it, and Murphy took out an ad accusing his opponent of saying “No” to creating 76,000 local jobs.
The Republican’s ads, in turn, tie Murphy to AIG and government waste. This week, Tedisco staged a walk down Broadway, the main street in Saratoga Springs, to highlight the “greed and indifference on Wall Street and in Washington” that’s hurt people on Main Street.
‘Fight Against Waste’
Tedisco said Murphy overlooked language in the president’s bill that he said allowed AIG executives to reap $165 million in bonuses. “What did Scott Murphy know about the AIG bonuses loophole and when did he know it?” Tedisco said.
In a March 24 debate hosted by New York’s WNYT Channel 13, Tedisco vowed to “fight against waste and stand up and blow the whistle on Wall Street’s greed” while Murphy highlighted his support for Obama’s stimulus plan.
“My opponent couldn’t tell us what he thought for 30 days,” he said. “I’m in favor of the 76,000 jobs here in Upstate New York that will be saved or created.”
The 20th congressional district is a largely rural area that includes the Adirondack and Catskill mountains and the Hudson Valley, where registered Republicans outnumber Democrats by 70,000.
Unemployment in Warren County reached 8.5 percent in December, up from 5.7 percent the previous year. In Essex it was 9.2 percent. The region is home to manufacturers like medical instrument maker Navilyst Medical Inc. and paper producers like Finch Paper LLC.
Tom Reynolds, former chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, said the race is getting more attention as the vote nears.
“There will be a lot of hoopla for a couple of weeks, no matter who the victor is,” he said.
1 comment:
Well, we know the fact that Scott Murphy is a wall street millionaire. But, this event is not all about resources neither career. This is much more of Public Service, Community Accomplishment, Leadership, and Good Conduct. Jim Tedisco is know from the start as a devoted public servant. Community always count on him for a long time. Never committed a crime during his tenure. It is obvious that he's opponent has no, even a bit background in public service. Anyway, this is not about whose party's gonna win but a leader that would serve his people with all the quality of being a good leader.
Scott Murphy has a millions unpaid taxes including penalties, Murphy's company failed to pay insurance at almost a million, Murphy signed the stimulus bill with out reading the content. He was ask about stimulus bill during his interview at the white house, and the respondents was felt empty with him because of his unacceptable ideology about the bill. Besides, Murphy has a lot of misconduct during his college including sexually addict. Paying those, shall I say "Birds" just to have an hour happiness. Wow, this is not the congressman we are looking for as a candidate.
Let's see if the times union does it's job and asks Murphy about this.
Scott Murphy for Congress truth about bonuses
Scott Murphy for Congress tax problem
Scott Murphy for Congress against death penalty
I'm voting Jim Tedisco.
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