With a tentative date of March 31 for a special election in the 20th Congressional District in place, all parties have launched into a political blitz to capture the vacated seat in an abbreviated race.
The two front runners are Democrat Scott Murphy and Republican James Tedisco, who are both touring the district’s 10 counties with vigor, stopping at restaurants, businesses and conducting an endless string of campaign office openings to stump on the issue at the forefront of every voter’s mind: the economy.
Murphy, who officially kicked off his campaign a week after Tedisco with a rally on Thursday, Feb. 12, is making job creation the central plank of his platform. The Glens Falls businessman is taking credit for the creation of 1,000 jobs via his help in the development of local businesses.
He also supports President Barack Obama’s $790 billion economic recovery package.
It’s far from a perfect bill, but given the state of the economy, he strongly backs President Obama’s call for bold and immediate relief and he supports his economic policies, said Murphy spokesman Ryan Rudominer.
In what is one of the opening direct salvos of the coming battle, the Murphy campaign has accused Tedisco of dodging questions when it comes to his position on the recovery.
Tedisco spokesman Joshua Fitzpatrick indicated the Assembly minority leader favors any effort to provide relief to Americans, but takes issue with what he calls various instances of pork that were included in the package.
`He supports any legislation that will create jobs and provide relief to middle class families,` said Fitzgerald.
`This is Washington-style, Mickey-Mouse pork barrel politics at its worst,` Tedisco said of the package in a press release. `Thirteen dollars of tax relief per week is a slap in the face to middle class families and small businesses that are hurting and need help.`
Tedisco is making an effort to connect with those voters in his `Road to Recovery` tour, as he darts across the district to stump in diners, businesses, fire stations and farms. He’s also taking the campaign digital with his Internet-based `$20 for NY-20` fundraiser that kicked off over the President’s Day weekend, in which supporters were asked to donate a Jackson to his efforts.
`There’s been a terrific response, and we’re going to be continuing to do more with the blogger community and the online community,` said campaign spokesman Joshua Fitzpatrick. By using the ‘Net, Tedisco is drawing on donations from across the country, he added.
Also looking to tap into the Internet is third party candidate Eric Sundwall, an IT consultant from Niverville who is the state Libertarian Party chairman, who is already blogging, on Facebook and issuing statements via YouTube. Using technology to his advantage might be vital to acquiring 3,500 voter signatures in just 12 days to make the ballot, a task he freely admits will be a significant challenge.
Gov. David Paterson’s delay in announcing the election date to fill Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s former seat has worked to Sundwall’s advantage, giving him time to organize his petitioning efforts. His campaign is working with the group Free and Equal Elections Foundation, which works to put independent and third-party candidates on ballots across the nation. He’s also been working with the Libertarian Party.
`Between the two efforts, we feel we have a reasonable plan to pull off close to 4,500 and 5,000 signatures,` said Sundwall. `Right now, we’re focusing all our resources on the petition drive.`
Like Murphy, Sundwall has never held an elected office, but he did take a stab at the 20th in 2006 (but didn’t have enough signatures to get on the ballot). His father served on the Kinderhook Town Board for eight years. And as host and producer of the cable access political commentary program `Capital Outsider,` Sundwall argues he might have less of a name recognition problem than Murphy.
But unlike Murphy, Sundwall is quick to criticize the recovery package.
`We’re against this stimulus plan, and we’re actually offering specifics on how we would accomplish some of this,` he said.
Those ideas include eliminating the 18-cent federal gas tax and making spending and tax cuts. He also prescribes to the four-point Ralph Nader/Ron Paul third-party plan that involves a quick removal of soldiers from Iraq and a capping of the national debt.
The size of war chests for this race is as yet unknown ` the Federal Election Commission should set deadlines for financial disclosures once Paterson officially declares the election (suspected to be Monday, Feb. 23). Tedisco has spent some of his money on the race’s first television ad, though, that touts the statesman’s efforts to offer property tax relief, create jobs and reform education. It makes no mention of Murphy.
The Republican Congressional Campaign Committee certainly is, though. It’s made accusations that Murphy hasn’t paid taxes, has supported businesses that did the same and that Murphy failed to vote in the eight elections in the early 2000s, when he lived in New York City.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has fired off allegations that Tedisco has cost taxpayers $21,000 in travel expenses for his commute.
When asked, representatives from both campaigns said the accusations against their candidates were Washington-style posturing, and that what voters really want is a plan for economic recovery.
According to Paterson, voters of the 20th will go to the polls on March 31, not long after village elections on March 18. Combining the two would not only have offered not cost benefit, but would likely have meant voters would have had to vote in two locations for the two elections.
`Because the village lines run differently from town and city election districts, it would be very confusing,` said Saratoga County Board of Elections Commissioner William Fruci. `I’m glad the dates are different.`
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