Roger Stone And The Tedisco Campaign Don't Have Their Stories Straight

When the name "Roger Stone" is mentioned, people take notice, especially in elections where there is no victor days after the ballots have been cast. So when the long-time New Yorker was spotted in upstate New York at Jim Tedisco's headquarters, intrepid (and left leaning) reporters were on the trail. That has made for some very unhappy Republicans.

From The Albany Project:

So Liz, being the dogged reporter that she is, actually started making phone calls to inquire as to just why Roger Stone showed up in NY-20 in the midst of a fiercely contested and oh so close recount and just who he is working for. She didn't have much luck. Also, her inquiry seems to have struck a nerve. Stone insists he has "no formal role" in the recount and that assertions otherwise are "left-wing blog crap" from "paranoid" liberals. [...]

Irene Jay Liu at CapCon goes a bit further and asks both the Tedisco campaign and the NRCC if Stone may be in the district at their behest. Both camps deny it and I'm pretty sure at least one of them is being, shall we say, less than truthful. She even gets a dig in at those of us who pay attention to such goings on as chasing a "white whale" in Stone. But, whatever.

Roger Stone, controversial GOP political consultant and white whale of sorts for New York's liberal bloggers, has been spotted in Upstate New York.

More specifically, the liberal "The Albany Project" alleges that Stone was spotted at the campaign headquarters of GOP 20th congressional candidate Jim Tedisco, which has pro-Murphy blog commenters all in a tizzy.

The Tedisco campaign says, unequivocally, that Stone has no involvement in the campaign. From Tedisco campaign spokesman Tyler Brown via email:

We've had no contact with Mr. Stone and he is not affiliated with the campaign in any capacity.

(He is not a volunteer and he is not on loan from the campaign committees).

Stone has not been retained as a consultant for the campaign by the National Republican Congressional Committee, said spokesman Paul Lindsay.

Let's make this simple. This is Roger Stone and (most likely) his pal Michael Caputo:

This picture was taken minutes after they left Tedisco's HQ. Period. Stone and Caputo may indeed not be technically working for the Tedisco campaign or the NRCC, but for the Tedisco campaign to claim that they have had "no contact" with Stone is simply not true. They know it. Stone knows it. Now you know it.

Unfortunately, as Philip points out, the contradiction in Tedisco and Stone's story is glaring...and it means one of them is lying. The obvious answer is that Tedisco's campaign responded too quickly to press inquiries and lied to cover themselves. So now that presents even more problems. First and foremost, the story continues and takes away Tedisco's ability to create a narrative in the media. Second, it shows that Tedisco and/or members of his campaign are liars. Finally, it robs the Republicans of Stone's ability to do what he is paid to do (whomever is paying him for this), which is to create havoc for the Democratic candidate. If he could do it to Al Gore, then he could certainly try and take on Scott Murphy. Now, thanks to great reporting in and around The Albany Project, that will not be happening.

More To The Spitzer Story Than We Thought

It is old news that Roger Stone hated Eliot Spitzer with a passion. Of course it was quite the hub bub when he left that nasty message on the answering machine of Eliot's dad last year. Besides angry messages, could there be more to Stone and Spitzer...and especially in regards to the ex-Governor's downfall this month?

From RawStory:

Last November, his lawyer wrote a letter to the FBI. In it, GOP political operative Roger Stone's attorney, Paul Rolf alleged that New York Governor Eliot Spitzer "used the services of high-priced call girls" while in Florida, basing his information on a "social contact."

The letter, dated Nov. 19, said Stone gleaned the information from "a social contact in an adult themed club."

"The governor has paid literally tens of thousands of dollars for these services," Rolf wrote. "It is Mr. Stone's understanding that the governor paid not with credit cards or cash but through some pre-arranged transfer."

It continued, including particular detail -- Stone's lawyer wrote that the governor hadn't taken off his calf-length socks "during the sex act."

It's unclear whether Stone's letter sparked the investigation: court papers say the investigation began "in or about October 2007."

It wouldn't be surprising if this were the work of Roger Stone. The Republican operative has long been an agent of dirty tricks in order to take down Democratic officials. He worked in the political department of Richard Nixon (not the button making and sign-waving kind either), spreading malicious rumors about Michael Dukakis and helping to create chaos in Miami when they were trying to count all the ballots in 2000.

Oh and of course GOP loudmouth (not to mention an exposer of CIA undercover agents) Robert Novak made mention of Stone in connection to Spitzer while the house was falling around Spitzer in the last couple weeks. You know when Novak drops a bomb, something usually stinks about the official mainstream story.

NY GoOPer Goes After Spitzer's Dad

Roger Stone is a seasoned Republican consultant who has used dirty tricks on his opponents since he began working for Richard Nixon. Now that he is in New York, he has turned his vitriol against our own Governor. Stone left a threatening message on the answering machine of Eliot Spitzer's dad Bernard earlier this month. When he was confronted about it, he claimed that the Democrats must have mimicked his voice to play a trick of their own.....are you kidding me? Is that best defense you've got?

From The New York Times:

The message, left at Bernard Spitzer’s Manhattan office just before 10 p.m. on Aug. 6, says that Mr. Spitzer, 83, a wealthy real estate developer, would be “compelled by the Senate sergeant at arms” to testify about “shady campaign loans” he made to his son during Eliot Spitzer’s unsuccessful campaign for attorney general in 1994.

Mr. Winner’s committee has been holding hearings into a scheme by some of Governor Spitzer’s top aides to use the State Police to embarrass the Senate Republican leader, Joseph L. Bruno. Senate Republicans have said they were considering reviewing Bernard Spitzer’s 1994 loans to his son.

“If you resist this subpoena, you will be arrested and brought to Albany,” the message says, according to a transcript. The message also calls Governor Spitzer a “phony” and a “psycho.”

Bernard Spitzer’s lawyers hired Kroll Associates, the private investigative firm, to trace the message, and their report was included with the letter to Mr. Winner. The firm traced the number that appeared on Mr. Spitzer’s caller identification system, linking it to listings under the name of Mr. Stone’s wife, Nydia.

I'm sorry, but trying to make believe that it was someone else calling from your wife's phone is just too easy to uncover in this day and age. He may have been good at his craft in the 1970s (and even as part of the Bush recount team down in Florida seven years ago) but now it seems he has lost his edge....and is just a plain-old dirty man.