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Feb

11

NY Gillibrand special election: Dems choose male candidate


From The Fix:

Paterson To Set Special Date (Finally): After several weeks of hemming and hawing, Gov. David Paterson appears ready to announce the date of the special election to replace appointed Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D) in the 20th congressional district. Paterson told a local television station yesterday that he would announce the schedule for the special today; under state law, once Paterson declares the seat vacant the special election must occur within 30 to 40 days. Both parties have already picked their nominees: state Assembly Minority Leader Jim Tedisco will carry the Republican banner and wealthy businessman Scott Murphy will be the Democratic standard-bearer. A poll released recently by Tedisco’s campaign showed him leading 50 percent to 29 percent although that survey is almost entirely a test of name identification at this early point in the race. The district is extremely competitive and the special election will receive significant attention from both national parties.

From what I could turn up on the Dem’s choice, wealthy isn’t all it’s cracked up to be – and the chosen has no political experience in NY. From NPR’s Political Junkie:

Democrats have come up with Scott Murphy, a venture capitalist who has never run for office before, has been involved in politics in his home state of Missouri — and who, according to Politico’s Josh Kraushaar, failed to pay “thousands of dollars in taxes on a start-up computer software company he owned more than a decade ago.” In the wake of l’affaires Geithner and Daschle, not to mention allegations about House Ways and Means Chairman Charlie Rangel, Republicans feel they have a winning issue.

More on Murphy and his problems:

Murphy, 39, a Missouri native who has never run for political office before, is fairly new to the area, moving to Glens Falls, Warren County, about three years ago. His wife grew up in Washington County on a dairy farm.

Murphy’s campaign spent much of its first week beating back claims that a company he owned, Small World Software, failed to pay about $21,000 in state taxes in the late 1990s; about $750 has yet to be paid.

Murphy responded that he no longer owned the company when the tax issues arose, saying “I don’t pay taxes for businesses after I sell them.”

This is really the best the Dems there could do? What does that say about their cultivation? Here’s a slightly more objective round-up of info on Murphy with more personal info, an interview and angst at Swing State Project over the feeling that the seat is being tossed away.  And this Missouri-based item feels dissed by Murphy because of his downplay of his MO roots.

Maybe no one expected Gillibrand to be selected as Hillary Clinton’s sucessor, but that is no excuse to be constantly working on having women in the pipeline.  No excuse.

According to CQ Politics, three of the finalists were women:

The chairmen of the Democratic Party committees in the 10 counties that make up the district will meet in Albany and interview six finalists prior to voting.

The Democratic contenders for the special election are:

• Tracy Egan, a former news anchor with local television station WTEN.

• Suzy Ballantyne, political director of the New York State AFL-CIO.

• New York Assemblyman Tim Gordon.

• Saratoga Springs Public Safety Commissioner Ronald Kim.

• Carol Schrager, a Greene County attorney.

• Scott Murphy, an investor with Advantage Capital Partners.

That list was culled from more than 30 Democrats who originally expressed interest in the seat.

The voting will be weighted based on the number of party voters represented by each county. Saratoga County boasts the largest population base in the 20th District and holds the most weight in the voting.

So what happened? I’m still trying to google that up, but yesterday, a commenter left this opinion at a local paper’s website:

One Saratoga County Democrat chairman I spoke with said they are having buyer’s remorse [about selecting Murphy to run as the Dem candidate] and that there is heavy pressure being placed on Murphy to step down due to “family issues.”

The GOP did have at least one woman under consideration:

Sensing a rare opportunity in a state where Democrats dominated in recent elections, five other prominent Republicans have joined [New York Assembly Minority Leader James] Tedisco in expressing interest. They include:

• John Faso, former Assembly minority leader and the Republican candidate for governor in 2006. He has been endorsed by Columbia and Green counties.

• State Sen. Betty Little of Queensbury, N.Y., who has been endorsed by Warren, Washington and Essex counties.

• Three Republicans who ran to challenge Gillibrand in 2008 — Richard Wager, a former aide to New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and his predecessor, Rudy Giuliani; U.S. army veteran Michael Rocque; and Sandy Treadwell, the 2008 GOP nominee and a former New York secretary of state.

They chose Tedisco.  Betty Little is quoted in this piece about her reaction, but apparently there is a Women for Tedisco grassroots group.

If you know more, please drop a link or comment – I’ve not been able to find any comment about Murphy’s selection by any Dem women.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 9:47 am February 11th, 2009 in Campaigning, Congress, Elections, Gender, Hillary Clinton, Politics, Voting, Women, leadership 

Comments

One Response to “NY Gillibrand special election: Dems choose male candidate”

  1. 1 Matt on February 11th, 2009 10:41 am

    Thanks to Pelosi, Reid and Obama, the Republicans will be making steady gains in the Congress over the next few years. The latest generic ballot now shows a tie between Democrats and Republicans nationally, a major movement since November. This seat will go back into Republican hands.

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