Tedisco: I Would Vote No on the Stimulus

ALBANY--It's no longer a hypothetical question.

Assembly Minority Leader Jim Tedisco just came out against the stimulus package passed last month by Congress after having previously saying only that he supported a package with amendments. The question has been used by his Democratic opponent, Scott Murphy, in their race to succeed Kirsten Gillibrand in Congress.

"My position is: yeah, I worked as hard as I could have to get those amendments in and to get them passed. I realize now that people don't understand that if they didn't get passed, I would have voted no," Tedisco said. "I'm going on the record now to say I would have voted no, because what we should have done was go back to the drawing board, get a stimulus package that truly creates jobs, invests in infrastructure and the economy."

He was asked if his previous position may have hurt him.

"The only way it's hurt me is that it's allowed him to get a free ride in answering a whole bunch of questions. What's his public service record? Who has he ever stood up to in government? And who he has he ever stood up to for? What is his credentials?"

He seemed defiant in explaining his position to me and some other reporters, who missed a press conference he had called to call for an investigation of AIG's issuance of bonuses.

"Jim Tedisco is back. And he's ready to go. And watch out Scott, because now we're going to talk about the real records of both of us and that's what the public of the 20^th Congressional District deserves."

This puts him in line with embattled R.N.C. Chairman Michael Steele, who traveled to the district and said the race will be a "battle royale."