As Edward M. Liddy, the embattled CEO of the American International Group, sat down before a House Financial Services Subcommittee in Washington, the growing scandal over bonuses going to AIG employees made ripples in New York as Scott Murphy and James Tedisco latched on to the latest economy-driven news item in their battle to win the 20th Congressional District special election.
Republican candidate Tediscoclutching a newly won endorsement from the U.S. Chamber of Commercerailed Democrat choice Murphy for supporting the federal stimulus package, which Tedisco said allowed AIG to hand out the $165 million in bonuses.
`Did Scott Murphy knowingly support a bill that handed out millions in taxpayer-funded bonuses to greedy Wall Street executives, or did he simply not read the bill?` said Tedisco, who only recently announced his opposition to the spending package after taking roughly one month to review it. `It’s time Scott Murphy explained himself.`
Murphy, who stumped outside of Shenendehowa High School today on the need for the recovery money, didn’t see eye-to-eye with his opponent.
`I favor President Obama’s economic recovery and jobs package, which imposed strict caps on bonuses for Wall Street companies taking Bush bail out money,` said Murphy. `Tedisco is opposing the strict caps on executive compensation and bonuses that the recovery package mandates, and that is an outrage to the voters of this district.`
Tedisco recently said his campaign would be moving forward with a new message that highlighted his record and accomplishments and avoided making attacks on Murphy. Before that, the Assemblyman’s ads often referred to Murphy as `just another Wall Street millionaire.`
A recent Siena Research Institute poll showed Murphy just four points behind Tedisco, almost within the poll’s margin of error. The special election is scheduled for March 31.“