Tedisco comes out against stimulus After being assailed for not saying how he'd vote, Congressional candidate says he'd opposed the stimulus
By RICK KARLIN, Capitol bureau Last updated: 3:09 p.m., Monday, March 16, 2009
No, no, no, 1,000 times no. That’s pretty much the answer that Assembly Republican Minority Leader and Congressional candidate Jim Tedisco finally gave, after weeks of being beaten up for his refusal to answer, as to how he’d vote on the $780 billion federal stimulus bill.
“No. That’s the answer,” said Tedisco, who is running for the 20th Congressional district seat formerly held by Kirsten Gillibrand.
“I’m going on the record now to say I would have voted no.”
Tedisco, who has seen his lead in this largely Republican district fade to 4 percent over Democrat Scott Murphy, made his negative pronouncement a few minutes ago at an Assembly press conference in which he urged closer scrutiny of the copious bonuses that AIG insurance is giving its executives. He also congratulated AG Andrew Cuomo for his pushback against the bonuses as well.
Clearly, though, the news that came out of this event was Tedisco’s effort to clarify the nagging question about the stimulus, which Murphy has supported.
Tedisco did offer some caveats. He said his main objection to the stimulus was the $300 billion in pork that was attached. Those monies, he said, would be better used to augment the stimulus tax cuts and if he were in Congress he would have offered an amendment to that effect.
He also used his stimulus discussion to attack Murphy on a couple of new fronts. How, asked Tedisco, could Murphy be so sure that the stimulus was a good thing that he would say he supported it the day after it was offered, and before he presumably could digest the 1,100-page bill.
Tedisco’s record speaks for itself and for upstate New Yorkers
On March 31 the residents of the 20th Congressional District will express their support for one of the two candidates to represent them in the federal government. One candidate, Republican Jim Tedisco, offers an extensive record of experience and accomplishment in public office. The other, Democrat Scott Murphy, is an unknown with no legislative experience and is campaigning on a single issue — that had he been in Congress at the time of the vote on the $787 billion federal stimulus package, he would have voted in lock step with his party in passing the 1,588-page legislation. Assemblyman Tedisco has represented upstate New Yorkers honorably and effectively during his tenure in elected office. He has championed the cause of lowering property taxes by supporting the STAR program and proposing legislation to cap property taxes. Tedisco stood up to disgraced former Gov. Spitzer on the plan to grant driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants. Tedisco’s support of gun owner rights has earned him the support of gun owners and sportsmen. The assemblyman has always been accessible and accountable to his constituents and will not forget his upstate New York origins. Mr. Murphy has provided little insight to the public about how he would govern. He has expressed his concurrence with the actions of his party in passing the massive stimulus package that will result in increased debt, higher taxes, the devaluation of U.S. currency and rampant inflation. Voters have learned little, however, from Murphy’s commercials about his positions on many important issues facing our nation including the cost, power and role of government, our nation’s defense, energy independence and immigration. His position on gun ownership is unknown. Will he, if elected, represent the views and values of his constituents or, like his predecessor, abandon his convictions and principles to curry favor with Democratic party bosses? On March 31, residents of the 20th Congressional District must decide which candidate will best represent their interests and views and fight the status quo to affect needed change. Jim Tedisco will continue to work for us, his friends, family and neighbors.
Carl Strock THE VIEW FROM HERE Carl Strock can be reached at 395-3085 or by e-mail at carlstrock@dailygazette.com. Jim Tedisco hammered by unions I happen to live in the 20th Congressional District, so I have been privileged in recent days to receive a steady stream of high-quality mail regarding Jim Tedisco and Scott Murphy, two gentlemen competing to represent me in Washington. By high-quality I mean glossy and professional with crisp photos and punchy text, and I also mean effective as propaganda, shading and bending the truth enough to do damage but without passing over into outright lies. Well done material. And it’s free, too. My favorite comes from organized labor, attacking Tedisco, and it’s my favorite simply because of the irony of it. In his 26 years as a member of the Republican minority in the state Assembly, Tedisco has been as subservient to organized labor as his colleagues, both Republican and Democratic, voting most of the time for whatever giveaways the unions brazenly request. And now what happens? The hospital workers’ union known as 1199 SEIU (for Service Employees International Union), one of the most powerful in the state, wages a major campaign against him, spending some $227,000 so far to send out mailings denouncing him as an “out-of-touch politician” and blaming him for “tax and fee increases,” “massive budget defi cits” and “record job loss,” not to mention rising property taxes. Which is pretty funny since as a minority member he has had no power to achieve any of those things even if he had wanted to. Why, the state doesn’t even set property taxes; local governments and school districts do. Then AFSCME (the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees), in its own glossy mailings, ties him to Rush Limbaugh, celebrated radio gasser of the patriotic right, and promises that if elected to Congress, “‘Roadblock Jim’ Tedisco will stand in the way, just like Limbaugh wants.” That one comes with a photo of Limbaugh, his face knotted in maniacal anger, shouting, “I hope Obama fails.” To be sure, the Republican State Committee is running its own effort against Murphy, accusing him of creating jobs in India, of all un-American places, supported by a handsome photo of the Taj Mahal, and digging up a state document showing that 11 years ago his company failed to pay $15,000 in unemployment insurance, which, with penalties, grew to almost $20,000. It’s slick and it’s a welcome addition to my mailbox, but it’s not as hard-hitting as the anti-Tedisco material from the labor unions, and it’s not as distorted. Why, 1199 SEIU even lambasted Tedisco for sticking taxpayers with “$10,000 in per diem expenses and $21,000 in gasoline” when he lives “only 17 miles from Albany,” which sounded pretty outrageous, and you had to look down in the fi ne print of a footnote to ascertain that those expenses were over a 12-year period. So what’s going on? What did Tedisco do to earn such animosity? Well, for one thing, in early 2002 he voted against the hugely generous deal that Gov. Pataki struck with Dennis Rivera, head of 1199 SEIU, to distribute some $1.7 billion to hospitals and other health-care agencies over the course of three years, with much of the money going to Rivera’s hospital-worker members. For another thing, he has opposed the Orwellian-named Employee Free Choice Act, which would in fact limit employees’ free choice by making secret-ballot elections for union representation less likely. As things stand now, the National Labor Relations Board certifi es a union to represent workers at a given workplace only after an election. With the new law, it will have to certify if a majority of the workers simply sign cards, which would be done at the behest of union organizers, in person, and thus be an open invitation to intimidation. Under the lastest version of the law, which keeps getting modified as its anti-democratic absurdities are exposed, 30 percent of workers could still force an election by signing petitions, so elections would not be outright abolished as in previous versions, but it would certainly make elections more difficult by putting the burden on employees. Passage of the law is a top priority of organized labor, indeed their litmus test for loyalty this year, and Tedisco flunks the test, as most Republicans do. This gives you an idea of the power of organized labor in New York politics. It’s not how much money they give to a campaign, which year to year might not be all that much for any one candidate. It’s what they’re capable of doing against you if you defy them. Tedisco or anyone else could live without this or that $500 contribution, but it’s tough to get elected when voters are being bombarded with professionally produced cards describing you as an out-of-touch politician who raises taxes on them and milks them for expense money. Also when thousands of union members are available to work phone banks to get out the vote for your opponent. That’s what our state politicians fear, and that’s why they toe the line. They fear that all of a sudden an obscure opponent like Scott Murphy, with no electoral experience, will get major-league backing. That’s why they vote to fatten pensions and protect union members from every manner of economic pressure that other...................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....amp;EntityId=Ar00701
Golub endorses Tedisco for House SCHENECTADY — One of Schenectady’s movers and shakers has endorsed James Tedisco for the 20th Congressional District seat. Neil Golub, president of the Golub Corp., appears in a TV ad for Tedisco that began airing Tuesday. It’s the first time he’s ever publicly endorsed a candidate, according to the Tedisco campaign. In the ad, Golub cites Tedisco’s contributions to Schenectady as the Assembly minority leader, including his role in fighting to keep Bellevue Women’s Hospital open, starting the Metroplex development authority downtown and restoring funding to the Schenectady Free Health Clinic. Golub and his wife, Jane, together donated $4,800 to Tedisco’s campaign, according to records filed with the Federal Election Commission last week.
Wow...Golub stuck his neck out on this one, huh? Wonder why, since he never did before.
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
People who I know in the know sat Tedesc is finished for good now and that the momentum is swinging even harder against the right wing repubs then before and you can put that in the bank over there
This is too close to call. Jimmy T has regained momentum and found his sea legs after a shaky start.
Jimmy was there leading the opposition to Spitzer's licensing of illegal aliens when his opponent was in Missouri. Finally Jimmy T is focusing on the military, on foreign policy, on the death penalty for terrorists. Nobody campaigns like our Jimmy T.
It was close.... Missouri "Murphy sounds like he'd prefer to fight the war on terror with lawyers". NY POST endorsement. 3/20/09--Slam Dunk for Jimmy T in the final 2 minutes of play.
Whoa how bout Brooklyn's own Carolina Lizarri, Binghamton's own Johnny Boy Mertz, City of Schenectady albany street resident Joe Sue RahRah, u guys kill me with your hypocrisy. ROTFLMAO
so are you also saying LAzzari is in brooklyn now? Didnt she lose last year against Ang? She moved away with the lizzard tail between the legs eh? Well when these people lose they go away and abandon us here hometowners. Like my father would say FANAPOLI!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What are you weirdos talking about? PDQ, please go back on your meds; Sal, stay off of whatever you are taking, please. Lazzari lives in the historic house where she allegedly got "pork" to fix up that barn we all read about. I haven't heard that she moved to Brooklyn. As far as the other two people, I don't even know WHAT you are smoking. Mertz is from Binghamton?
"While Foreign Terrorists were plotting to murder and maim using homemade bombs in Boston, Democrap officials in Washington DC, Albany and here were busy watching ME and other law abiding American Citizens who are gun owners and taxpayers, in an effort to blame the nation's lack of security on US so that they could have a political scapegoat."
The same Krat morons that supported carpetbagger Hillary are attacking Carolina? She moved here 30 years ago, raised a family, built up a business-yeah exactly like Missouri Murphy who has been in NY one year and has the nerve to run for Congress.
By the way where's Strawberry Fields {D-MIA} from? Ya know the guy that never attends County Bored meetings and when he does never says nuthin. Sure ain't Schenectady County.
No Sal, she ran on the same ticket as ANG and still lives in Rotterdam. She should run against Judy D this year.
Logged
This is too close to call. Jimmy T has regained momentum and found his sea legs after a shaky start. 
