Scott Murphy still supports economic stimuli. Republicans are still attacking him for it.
Murphy voted last night to spend $150 billion in, as Murphy said in a release, "immediate investments to improve our crumbling infrastructure and create good-paying jobs right here at home."
Democrats call the bill the Jobs for Main Street Act; as Read More
ALBANY—Assembly Republicans are wishing Greg Ball the best in his bid for the State Senate.
"Is he? Oh, I thought he was running for Congress," Assemblyman Ron Canestrari, a Cohoes Democrat, said, referencing an already-begun race against Representative John Hall that included robocalls and town halls on health care. "As long as he's out Read More
ALBANY—He ran for Congress as an outsider, the non-politician who was fed up with the course of government. It shouldn't be too surprising that he's never been to the State Capitol.
I found Doug Hoffman gawking at the chamber's ornate ceiling, indulging what he monotonically insisted is a deep passion for architecture, chatting Read More
ALBANY—Assemblyman Jim Tedisco smells blood.
The Schenectady Republican--and former leader of his chamber's minority caucus--had a press conference in September to decry a proposal requiring people to buy new license plates, and may attend a rally at the Capitol Monday staged by county clerks. The issue is gaining steam, and David Paterson--who proposed the Read More
ALBANY—David Paterson officially officially proclaimed a special session on Tuesday to consider his $3 billion plan to bridge a mid-year deficit as well as other miscellaneous legislative business, even though no budget-cutting agreements have been reached among the governor and legislative leaders.
Paterson's formal proclamation for the session is a political wish list: Read More
ALBANY—"I liken it to Nancy Pelosi," Assemblyman Jim Tedisco, the last Republican to lose a Congressional election in New York, told me Oct. 22 when I asked if there was any chance his party would abandon his colleague Dede Scozzafava's sputtering--and now defunct--Congressional bid. "She's got 25 blue dog, conservative Democrats. She doesn't Read More
ALBANY—"I liken it to Nancy Pelosi," Assemblyman Jim Tedisco, the last Republican to lose a Congressional election in New York, told me Oct. 22 when I asked if there was any chance his party would abandon his colleague Dede Scozzafava's sputtering--and now defunct--Congressional bid. "She's got 25 blue dog, conservative Democrats. She doesn't say, 'Well, Read More
ALBANY—It's nearing the end of the race to replace John McHugh in Congress. A leading Democrat just told the party is "not going to leave anything on the table" to help Bill Owens.
My mind is returning to the special election in the 20th District this spring, where the final poll showed long-shot Scott Read More
ALBANY—Could Doug Hoffman actually win a seat in Congress?
He's been cast, understandably, in the spoiler role—the guy running to the right of Republican Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava, who would siphon off enough votes from her that Bill Owens, the Democratic Party's nominee, would win the race to replace John McHugh. But the legs Read More
ALBANY—The special election between Scott Murphy and Jim Tedisco last spring was, in many ways, a referendum on the federal stimulus package. So how's it working out in the 20th District?
"Is there any?" asked Tory Mazzola, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, which attacked Murphy during the campaign. NRCC has been Read More
ALBANY—Assemblyman Jim Tedisco had some advice for his colleague Dede Scozzafava, who like he did last spring, is running in a special Congressional election: stay the course.
"Just keep working hard," Tedisco told me by phone. "It's always a battle when somebody tries to distort your record. The Democrats are very good at that. Read More
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 after the special election. The filings have since been amended.
Officials at the Federal Elections Commission sent two letters to Tedisco's Read More
ALBANY—Amid the chaos in the State Senate, Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb offers this to get headlines: calling on David Letterman to resign.
Kolb, in a letter to CBS head Les Moonves, decried off-color jokes Letterman made about Alaska Governor Sarah Palin on air, and specifically sexual innuendo about her 14-year-old daughter.
Letterman Read More
ALBANY—Here's a funny exchange between Jim Tedisco and Danny O'Donnell during last night's Assembly debate on same-sex marriage.
It starts with O'Donnell, the bill's sponsor, agreeing to yield to Tedisco, saying, "For the congressman, anything."
"I wish," Tedisco replied, referencing his recent loss to Scott Murphy in good humor. "Do you have Read More
ALBANY—The health care workers union SEIU 1199 spent over $500,000 to help Scott Murphy defeat Assemblyman Jim Tedisco in their race to replace Kirsten Gillibrand in Congress.
Federal campaign filings show the union invested more in independent expenditures than even the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee toward Murphy's victory, between their political action and Read More
