Scott Murphy

Remember in the spring. Barack Obama was popular and in the NY 20 special election Democrat Scott Murphy and his allies in the press were lambasting Republican Jim Tedisco for being both on the wrong side of the stimulus bill and insufficiently vocal in his opposition to the stimulus bill.

Shoe's on the other foot now.

Murphy holds small-biz roundtable on health care … yesterdayAugust 5, 2009 at 3:35 pm by Casey Seiler

When it comes to announcements of events hosted by congressmen, the past tense isn’t usually the first tense to be used. Politicians are much more likely to alert the public, or at least the media, to events before they happen. But this morning, we received a release headlined CONGRESSMAN MURPHY HOSTED SMALL BUSINESS ROUNDTABLE TO DISCUSS HEALTH CARE REFORM — as opposed to TO HOST or HOSTS.

Since health care is a fairly red-hot topic this summer, we were kind of disappointed to have missed out on Tuesday’s Ballston Spa session, and wondered why it wasn’t included on a schedule of Murphy’s district events sent out by his office last week. That release included a half-dozen groundbreakings, forums and two upcoming “Congress-On-Your-Corner” forums (4 p.m. Friday at the Slate Valley Museum in Granville and 11 a.m. Saturday at the Golden Harvest Farm in Valatie)......

Murphy has taken a middle ground on the White House’s health care proposal, expressing support for substantial reform and the idea of a public option as well as concerns about its impact on the federal deficit. (Murphy’s fiscally cautious side was displayed as well last week in his vote against the $2 billion replenishment of the “Cash for Clunkers” program.)

Now here's real political courage. Hold meetings and announce them to the press AFTER they've occurred.  Why not just use stock photos for your franked newsletter if they are just staged photo ops, Scott?

Then again, maybe this is the way Democratic Congressmen will need to greet their constituents these days.  

At least MD's Frank Kratovil "took it like a man"  He's the exception. 

Given all the talk about Obama's nominees and their problems paying taxes, you might believe these issues are confined to inside-the-beltway Democrats.  Apparently not.

This piece in today's Politico suggests Democratic congressional candidate Scott Murphy (NY-20) has some tax problems of his own.  Murphy will face New York Assembly Minority Leader Jim Tedisco in a special election to fill the seat vacated by Kirsten Gillibrand who was recently appointed to the Senate. Politico writes this:

"Murphy has been the Democratic nominee for less than a week, but already he finds himself on the defensive for not paying thousands of dollars in taxes on a start-up computer software company he owned more than a decade ago."

Democrat Murphy seems out of step with the standard set recently by White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said this about two Obama nominees that withdrew due to non-payment of taxes.  Here's Gibbs:

“I think they both recognized that you can't set an example of responsibility but accept a different standard in who serves. They both decided and recognized that their nominations would distract from the important goals and the critical agenda that the president put forward.”

The Democrats' tax problems are part of a growing narrative taking root among Republicans.  For example, Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) said this recently at the GOP retreat last weekend according to Politico:

It’s easier for the other side to advocate for higher taxes because you know what?” Cantor asked the crowd.“They don’t pay ‘em,” the crowd hollered back in unison.

Not a great start for the Democrats in NY-20, a seat many believe is a toss-up.

NY Democrats have chosen their candidate to try and replace Kirsten Gillibrand in the NY 20th District special election.

The have have selected "political newcomer" Scott Murphy a venture capitalist from Glens Falls to take on Assembly Minority Leader Jim Tedisco.

I'm not sure holding a nominating meeting at a diner on Super Bowl Sunday was the best way to drum up awareness of a candidate whom the Democrats admit was unknown, but I'll take Democrat bungles as well as Republican brilliance on this one. In picking Murphy, the Democrats passed over well known former news anchor Tracy Egan, so evidently they think Murphy  can overcome the lack of name recognition.

An editorial in Rensselaer County's daily paper, the Troy Record, opined that "Tedisco is going to be tough to beat." noting Murphy's arrival out of political nowhere.

Murphy is going to try and argue he has created jobs in chronically depressed upstate New York.(His firms webste indicates only a handful of his investments are in upstate NY)  Redstate's Brian Faughan however, points out a lot of checkers in Murphy's record such as deep ties to Missouri politics (quite unlike uber-Albany Gillibrand) and a Geithner-esq record of meeting his NY state tax obligations.

I note that Murphy's firm is deeply involved in "affordable housing" projects in St. Louis. I'm not going to spend my morning dissecting the balance sheet of these deals; but my experience in CT projects of this type suggests that the per unit taxpayer subsidy for these deals probably exceeds the average value of owner-occupied single family homes in the 20th District. Mowever , such deals provide tax credits to large corporations to offset their other liabilities. His firm also is deeply involved in the heavily subsidized Midwestern biofuel industry. 

(Note to NYS Republicans: Talk to tenants and take pictures of these housing developments.  Don;t ignore this sort of issue like the McCain campaign;slumlords don;t last in politics.)

Governor Paterson has yet to set a date for the special election.  I suspect he may put it off to try and let Murphy get around this sprawling district first. 

Democrats have had a good time running high tech businessmen in open seats. I'm not sure this counterprograms someone with Tedisco's resume well, though.  

Game (sorta) On!