Murphy Catching Up With Tedisco

Most of the morning papers reported the latest Siena poll as is, showing Jimmy Tedisco's 12-point lead over Democratic newcomer Scott Murphy. On the face of it the news isn't so good for Dems to hold onto Gillibrand's seat, but it must be pointed out that the only other poll had Tedisco up by more than double a couple weeks ago. Sure, it was a NRCC internal and naturally should skew to Tedisco, but I doubt by so much.

Devtob at The Albany Project points out some important numbers within the poll:

Tedisco leads on all the issues, but his lead is smallest (34-30) on the economy and health care (32-28). Other issues, and Tedisco's lead in parentheses, are: "successfully ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan" (29-22); education (33-28); homeland security (40-18); and "bringing more federal money into our district" (35-27).

The poll found that Tedisco is strongest, with a 20-point lead, in Saratoga and Rensselaer counties, where Tedisco's antics as a blowhard spokesman for the powerless wingnuts in the Assembly have been a staple of Albany media legislative coverage for more than 20 decades.

In the northern part of the district, where Murphy lives (Tedisco does not live in the district), Murphy actually leads by 2 points. In the southern part of the district, Tedisco leads by 11.

In general, I think this poll is good news for Murphy, for the following reasons.

He's substantially closed the gap; most voters view the economy as the top issue, and Tedisco has embarrassingly refused to state his position on the stimulus package to help the economy; he already has Gillibrand's endorsement, the TV ad is sure to follow; Tedisco's lead in Saratoga and Rensselaer counties is mostly based on name recognition (Gillibrand won both of those counties handily in November); and, most notably, there is lots of room to move up Tedisco's 20 percent unfavorability rating, especially if future TV ads and other media accurately portray him as a hot-headed loudmouth, too conservative for the district, a career politician who has never lived in the district, and, if elected, a minority member of the House who would deliver a lot less for the district than Scott Murphy.

This is what Murphy has to focus on and so far, he's doing a good job hammering Tedisco for his inability to state a position on the Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Act (H.R.1). Health care is going to be coming up more and more in the news as Obama begins to press for a bill in March. If Scott can show he'll be in the President's corner, expect those health care numbers to turn in his favor as the district is very much in support of Obama. Also, take advantage of local fact checkers, especially when you speak truth and Tedisco tries to claim credit for things that he was passively associated with.

The Tedisco Stimulus Shuffle

Which way he goes, no one really has any clue. He still can't take stand on one of the most important pieces of legislation so far this year. What kind of Congressman could he possibly be? More importantly, if he can't make up his mind, how is he supposed to represent the interests of his district?

The Not-So Fiscal Conservative Side Of Jim Tedisco

Assembly Minority Leader Jim Tedisco can talk a good game about caring for his constituents and good old fashioned Republican values. He doesn't want to take a position on a bill in Congress that gives a strong stimulus to the economy because it was too long to read. He called things in there (so he read a little?) earmarks and pork-barrel politics. It sounds great, really. Fighting for the common man, hurrah. Too bad it just doesn't match up with the Jim Tedisco he doesn't want people to see.

From The Albany Project:

First, a little background, the Assembly now has 109 Democratic members and 41 Republican members. The Republican number has declined to a record-low level under the three-plus years (two election cycles) of Tedisco's "leadership."

But, even though there are many more Democrats than Republicans in the Assembly, Tedisco has seen fit to give out three times more free cars to his members and staff than are provided to Democratic members and staff.

According to the Times-Union blog post (it really should be a story, and may be tomorrow), the Democrats in the Assembly super-majority give out four free cars -- to the Speaker, the Majority Leader, the Ways and Means Committee chairman, and the Assembly chief of staff.

"Fiscal conservative" Tedisco gives out 12 cars -- to himself and nine other members and two top staffers.

A "free car" is worth $300-$500 a month. Do the math, and it's clear that Tedisco is spending about $40,000 a year more on free cars than the Assembly majority.

And that doesn't even include the gas for those cars. Fiscal discipline is all well and good to prevent job creation, but when it comes to getting him and members of the Assembly GOP a set of wheels...bring on the perks of office!

Or you could support Democrat Scott Murphy instead, because New York's 20th District deserves better.

We're Still Waiting Governor

It has now been more than a day since the bombshell broke about our Governor and his dealings with a prostitution ring. Now that we have many more details than yesterday afternoon, it is clear that not only did the Governor commit a misdemeanor by having several liaisons with hookers, but he violated the Mann Act and funneled money in not so ethical ways. Those two counts add up to 25 years in jail if he faced the full extent of the law. Prosecutors haven't said anything about charges yet, but that hasn't stopped the Republican caucus in the state Assembly from acting.

From MSNBC:

NEW YORK - As Gov. Eliot Spitzer faced mounting calls to resign, Republican legislators indicated they will seek to impeach him if he doesn't quit within 48 hours, a spokesman for a leading New York assemblyman said Tuesday.

"The governor has 48 hours to resign or articles of impeachment would be introduced," Josh Fitzpatrick, spokesman for Assembly Republican Minority Leader James Tedisco, told Reuters.

Online editions of the New York Times and Wall Street Journal reported that Spitzer's top aides expected the governor to resign, although the timing remained uncertain.

While the resignation rumors go back and forth, the clock is ticking for the Governor. Now no Democrat (myself included) likes the idea of Spitzer being impeached, but that is exactly what the caucus intends to do. If it ended up being a party line vote then Spitzer would escape (but not the press) but I have a feeling there are many people in the Assembly that would vote to impeach him. The hypocrisy of it all is so damning it would be ridiculous for an Assemblymember to try and go back to their district and explain that vote. There is one thing that will start to make this go away, and that is the Governor's resignation.