Assembly Minority Leader Jim Tedisco was chosen by county party bosses as the Republican candidate for the March 31 special election to replace Kirsten Gillibrand in NY-20, after she was appointed to Hillary Clinton's Senate seat.
The only current member of Congress from New York not represented in Robert's chart yesterday was Scott Murphy, the newest member of the delegation. Murphy's report was filed a day later than the rest,
The complete report can be found here, but the short version is this. Murphy raised $325,347 in the third quarter (his first full quarter as an elected representative). He also posted operating expenses of $78,489, leaving him with $501,045 cash on hand.
Those numbers substantially outpace comparable upstate districts such as Eric Massa's and Chris Lee's, and for the entire state runs a narrow fourth place behind Dan Maffei.
The official Murphy press release also made a point of noting that he's now raised over $3 million dollars since the beginning of the special election cycle in February.
It's no doubt good news for Murphy, since signs suggest that semi-vanquished candidate Jim Tedisco is planning to try again for the seat next year.
ALBANY-Assemblyman Jim Tedisco's Congressional campaign committee-which was just terminated after his failed bid against Scott Murphy this spring-failed to report more than $110,000 worth of contributions in its quarterly filing just before the election. The filings have since been amended.
After his special-election loss to Scott Murphy in April, Jim Tedisco sulked for a while and was unusually quiet.
But, with his finger to the teabag wind, Tedisco's been getting back in the media lately, opposing a $200-per-child state grant to welfare families for back-to-school expenses (paid for with stimulus funds and a grant from a George Soros foundation), and proposing a state constitutional amendment to allow recall elections for state elected officials.
Scott Murphy's victory in NY-20 was a statement on many levels. Certainly it proved the GOP still hasn't hit bottom in its freefall. It also showed the decay of the GOP in New York, as throughout the Northeast and the nation as it transitions into a regional Southern party of hard-core reactionary activists; in fact, I wonder at what point it will officially change its party name to the Christian Nationalist Party just to end all unnecessary euphemisms.
And Murphy was certainly as great a candidate as Tedisco was a terrible one.
But there were many attributes of Tedisco as a politician and individual that were just so underwhelming, so uninspiring, and so ill-informed, that Tedisco was just so Albany. And the voters found that so unappealing.
First off, it was Tedisco's sense of entitlement. It's not that anyone who lives outside a district they want to represent is automatically a bad choice. But Tedisco's whole approach to the election was that he deserved the nomination because he was the big man in the nearby Republican machine. It didn't really matter who his constituents would be because in Albany the politicians choose the voters, not the other way around. It's almost like Tedisco just expected to gerrymander himself into the district after the next census, like any Albany politician has the power to do.
It was also Tedisco's inability to take a clear stand on the issues. This was never better demonstrated than by Tedisco's waffling fiasco on the Stimulus Bill. Not being one of the 3 men in the room all those years meant Tedisco never really had to think or make decisions about policy. Sure, he had a lot of general stances that were required to make him acceptable to the Republican primary electorate, all that matters when districts are gerrymandered to the point of making the general election theoretically uncompetitive. But keeping up-to-date on current events and the ramifications of policies just isn't required in Albany if your name isn't Sheldon Silver, David Paterson, or Malcolm Smith. In that light, Tedisco's Stimulus PR failure makes a lot more sense.
And finally, it was Tedisco's lack of real connection to the voters in his district. Aside from his obvious situation of not living in the district, he ran a terrible campaign and couldn't find a salient issue to run on. I attribute this to plain old political atrophy. Being in Albany so long since his first election in 1983 in his gerrymandered Assembly district and all the benefits of being an Albany incumbent had guaranteed him re-election over the last 26 years. Essentially all he really had to do to keep his seat was not get caught with a "live boy or a dead girl," as they say. He just didn't understand that he needed to earn the House seat because he never had to earn any of his Assembly elections since 1983.
So while the reasons for Tedisco's loss are numerous, let's also consider that the voters might not have rejected a candidate who wasn't just so Albany.
Now that Jim Tedisco has conceded his loss to Scott Murphy, the Monday morning quarterbacking by disappointed Republicans has begun.
Most of it is local -- op-ed pieces, columns and blog posts excoriating Tedisco and every Republican who had a hand in him getting the nomination and/or who helped fund his campaign.
But one bit of it is on the premier Republican editorial page in the country -- Rupert Murdoch's Wall Street Journal.
I've posted a number of statements today from a number of sources about Congressman-elect Scott Murphy's win in NY-20, but none of them are sourced higher than this one. The President of the United States weighs in:
I want to extend my heartfelt congratulations to Congressman-elect Scott Murphy for his victory in New York's 20th Congressional District. With this hard fought win, Scott has shown he is willing to fight the tough battles on behalf of the people in his district.
As a candidate, Scott courageously championed the economic plans we need to lift our nation and put it on a better path, and he will continue to do so in Congress. With his proven record of creating high paying jobs and standing up for Upstate New York, Scott will bring to the nation's capitol the change New Yorkers need.
Rep. Pete Sessions (Texas), chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, said that although Tedisco came up short that his message of fiscal discipline provided GOPers a blueprint on which to run next year.
-em mine.
Um, what?
Jim Tedisco had all the name recognition, a 21 point lead and a district with 70,000 more registered Republicans then Democrats. If this race provides the "blueprint" for your efforts next year, then well, ya know, um... best of luck with that. Really.
Bonus Video: A walk down the Memory Lane of Broken Dreams...
Congressman-elect Scott Murphy Thanks the People of New York's 20th Congressional District, Looks Forward to Working on Their Behalf
Glens Falls, NY- On Friday, after receiving a phone call from Assemblyman Jim Tedisco conceding the race, Congressman-elect Scott Murphy issued the following statement:
"I am honored and humbled to be going to Washington to represent the families of New York's 20th Congressional District.
"First and foremost, I wish to thank the voters in this election for putting their faith and trust in me. I can't wait to get to work on their behalf in Washington.
"I thank Assemblyman Jim Tedisco for his kind words today. It was an honor to compete with him in this hard-fought campaign. I look forward to working with him to move Upstate in the right direction.
"My thanks to Senator Kirsten Gillibrand for her extraordinary leadership and support for my campaign. Living up to her example of honest representation and hard work is something I will aspire to do every day.
"I'd like to thank President Obama and Vice President Biden for supporting my campaign and for their inspiring leadership for our country. I can't wait to start working with the President to deliver the urgently needed recovery funds to Upstate New York.
"My thanks as well to Governor Patterson and to the New York Congressional delegation, especially Congressman Paul Tonko who spent so many days with me on the campaign trail. I'm honored to be joining the outstanding New York delegation in the House.
"I look forward to rolling up my sleeves in Washington to bring jobs, opportunity, and prosperity back to Upstate New York."
The NY-20 special election is now officially over.
GOP candidate Jim Tedisco, who trailed by 401 votes as of yesterday's vote count, has called Democrat Scott Murphy to concede, according to Murphy spokesman Ryan Rudominer.
Congratulations to the new Rep from NY-20, Scott Murphy. More on this soon.
There's breaking news out of the 20th Congressional District. Democrat Scott Murphy has declared victory over Republican James Tedisco.
Murphy's spokesman said Tedisco called to concede just a short time ago.
UPDATE III: Statement from Senator Gillibrand:
"This campaign was about who would work with President Obama to get the economy turned around and the voters have made the right choice.
"I was proud to give Scott Murphy my full support in his campaign for Congress. Having spent so much time campaigning alongside Scott these past several weeks, I know Scott will be the kind of hard-working and effective leader New Yorkers in the 20th District will be proud of.
"I know Scott and I will work closely with President Obama to create jobs, make health care more affordable, and invest in education. I will be proud to have him as a partner."
UPDATE IV: Statements from DNC Chair Gov Tim Kaine, DCCC Chair Chris Van Hollen and the WFP are in the extended entry.
Jim Tedisco fell further behind Scott Murphy today as more absentee ballots were counted in the nationally significant 20th Congressional District special election. (For the numbers update, check out Ken in Tex's excellent diary.)
But more interesting, since the race is essentially over, was an Albany Times Union story that sheds unflattering light on Tedisco's character.
It seems that last year, Tedisco, as Assembly minority leader, gave more than $30,000 to a top staffer for a politically related legal bill, and kept it secret from his fellow Republican members.
Former NY-26 Congressman and NRCC Chair Tom Reynolds is the latest GOP big to state the obvious about the race in NY-20. He essentially concedes that the race is over and Tedisco lost.
Former GOP congressman Tom Reynolds, who recently headed the party's campaign committee, is the latest Republican voice skeptical that Jim Tedisco will be able to overcome a 273-vote deficit to Scott Murphy in the New York special election.
Reynolds, who chaired the National Republican Congressional Committee from 2002-2006, told POLITICO that Democrats did a better job of turning out their vote despite being outnumbered by registered Republicans in the district.
"For the Democrats, bragging rights are what they are and they get momentum for winning a very tough seat for them," Reynolds said. "And the Republicans will try to minimize it, and when all is said and done, the special will have little or no impact for what will happen in 2010."
In what appears to be something of a slight, Reynolds even says Tedisco has "earned the right" not to be the party's candidate in 2010, but "to be a candidate for the party's nomination."
Judge Jim Brands, the "pizza stain" judge has just ruled that not only can ballots be challenged on a case by case basis, a move that could delay the seating of a representative for the 20th for quite some time, but that the campaigns can now have access to the applications for absentee ballots so that Tedisco's lawyers can try to argue that the voters that cast those ballots aren't actually residents of NY-20. That's pretty rich when one considers the fact that Tedisco himself is not a resident of NY-20 and couldn't even cast a vote for himself.
This is certainly a break for Tedisco, but I don't know of anyone that thinks that this have any effect on the outcome. That 273 vote lead is just too great a hill to climb.
Jim Tedisco, the GOP nominee in the disputed NY-20 special election, has just won a legal victory for now, with Judge James V. Brands reversing himself on a major ruling from last week, which had appeared to stop Tedisco in his tracks in his efforts to challenge absentee votes for Democrat Scott Murphy. But he still has a lot of work to do in overcoming Murphy's current 273-vote lead.
Brands had ruled last week that Tedisco and the GOP were not entitled to copies of the original absentee-ballot applications. Brands has now agreed with the Tedisco camp's arguments that the legal precedents he cited didn't truly apply here, and that the law does entitle Tedisco to those absentee applications.
Tedisco's camp has challenged a large number of unopened absentee envelopes that are presumably votes for Murphy, saying that these individuals are not genuine residents of the district or are otherwise ineligible. And those applications are key evidence, needed to even begin winning a challenge.
However, Brands also declined to issue a blanket ruling on what constitutes residency for voting purposes -- indeed, there is an acknowledgement that the issuing of a ballot by the local officials itself provides a presumption of regularity. As such, Tedisco will now have the ability to argue against counting ballots, but will have to do so on a case-by-case basis.
So much for the corpse of the once secret ballot and all.
I ca assure you this, however. This will end. The people of the 20th will have a new representative in Congress.
Nate Silver once again runs the numbers and finds that Jim Tedisco has "almost no chance of winning" in NY-20.
Based on challenged ballot counts provided by FiveThirtyEight by the Scott Murphy for Congress campaign, it appears that the majority of ballot challenges in the special election in New York's 20th Congressional District were made by the Republican Candidate, Jim Tedisco. As these changes are resolved by election officials, Murphy, the Democrat, will almost certainly add to his current 273-vote lead. He appears bound for a narrow, but relatively unambiguous, victory.
...
At this point, Jim Tedisco's best strategy is to do whatever he needs to do to improve his chances in 2010 and beyond, something that probably requires the right combination of aggrievedness and graciousness. Barring an unanticipated legal intervention, he has almost no chance of winning this election.
It's over, Jim. The people of the 20th have been without their full complement of representation in DC for almost 3 months now. They deserve an end to this.
The final tally of the paper ballots and the machine recanvasses from all 10 counties per the BoE:
Murphy - 79,839
Tedisco - 79,566
The only votes left to count are the 1,300 challenged ballots and attorneys for both campaigns will be in court Monday morning arguing over them. Regardless of how those arguments go, there just isn't any credible way to make Tedisco the winner here, no matter what he and his lawyers say.
The long and the short of it is this: Murphy has won. Tedisco has lost. Sure, it was close, but it's now effectively over. Tedisco's Escape From Albany plan is deader than a doornail, folks.
It's time for Tedisco to make that obligatory phone call. It's time for him to concede.
Scott Murphy's lead continues to widen despite Jim Tedisco's rather bizarre efforts to have himself declared the winner of a race that he is losing. New numbers from the BoE (pdf) show Murphy's lead has grown to 264 votes.
Given that the Murphy lead is widening, I wonder if the Tedisco camp will petition to have Jimmy Disco declared Senator.
It continues to look good for Scott Murphy in his close down-to-the-absentees contest with Jim Tedisco in the nationally significant 20th Congressional District special election -- Murphy's official lead is 178, and most of the uncounted absentee ballots are clearly votes for him.
Over at Tedisco-supporting Planet Albany, the blog of longtime, though evidently laid off last November, Schenectady Gazette reporter Bob Conner, Conner has essentially thrown in the towel.
And today's counting session in Dutchess County was handicapped by the county GOP elections commissioner taking off, with Tedisco's lead lawyer, to go see the Yankees' opener.
As absentee ballots continue to be counted in the 20th Congressional District special election between Democratic candidate Scott Murphy and Republican candidate Jim Tedisco, Tedisco continues to campaign, appearing this morning on Fred Dicker's WGDJ-AM radio show.
Tedisco defended his junkyard-dog attacks on absentee voters, including his incredibly stupid challenge of Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand's absentee ballot, which made the front-page of the Albany Times Union and is otherwise all over the local media.
While Dicker's show has been a friendly place for Tedisco for years, Dicker challenged some of the junkyard dog's tactics today.
If I were a doctor, I'd call this one. Jim Tedisco's Escape Albany Plan was pronounced dead today at roughly 4:30pm EST. The conservative judge that the Tedisco campaign wanted to hear their case on all their ballot objections, just basically laughed the them out of his court. Judge Jim Brands just ruled that most of Tedisco's objections were invalid.
Judge James Brands just ruled that most of the over 1,200 contested absentee ballots in the race to replace Kirsten Gillibrand in Congress were objected to improperly based on discrepancies in their applications. This means many more ballots will be counted.
Henry Berger, an attorney for Democratic candidate Scott Murphy, argued this morning that these ballots should all be counted because boards of election already issued them. Any problems with those ballots - from an invalid reason for the request to a missing date - cannot be challenged because the determination was already made by elections officials to send them out.
In other disastrous news for Jimmy Disco, his "stronghold" of Saratoga County netted him only 163 votes
