Candidate Tedisco Rejects Help From National GOP

Upstate New York Republican Jim Tedisco is taking control of his campaign for a House seat away from national Republicans, days after a poll showed his commanding 12 point lead shrinking to four.

The Glens Falls PostStar reported yesterday that Tedisco reacted to the bad poll numbers by announcing that his campaign would be commandeering the content of its advertising from the National Republican Congressional Committee.

"I'm taking over and we're going to run a campaign that relates to the people of the 20th Congressional District," Tedisco said, according to the PostStar.

The Huffington Post contacted NRCC headquarters in Washington for comment. A spokesman chose to praise Tedisco for his independence.

"Upstate New Yorkers support Jim Tedisco because he has a history of being an independent voice who has never been afraid to challenge the status-quo," writes deputy spokesman Paul Lindsay in an email. "Now, more than ever, Jim is the type of fighter that middle-class families need in Washington. "

The election is important not just for Tedisco, but also for Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele, whose ability to lead the party to electoral victories is already facing serious skepticism. The March 31 special election -- called to fill the seat vacated by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand -- will be the first under Steele's chairmanship.

NRCC spokesman Lindsay also offered harsh criticism for Tedisco's opponent, Democrat Scott Murphy: "The NRCC has an obligation to hold Scott Murphy accountable for the past he is trying to hide as a Wall Street executive whose actions represent everything that has gone wrong with our economy."

Yesterday's survey from Siena College (PDF) said Murphy made his gains in particular on the economy, which likely voters said is the most important issue.

UPDATE 5:13 PM: Tedisco campaign spokesman Adam Kramer shares the following statement with the Huffington Post:

Jim Tedisco has always been an independent voice whether it has been when he stood up to his own party on legislators' pay or when he stood up to Gov. Spitzer on the issues of driver's licenses for illegal aliens. Jim wants to ensure that voters get an opportunity to hear his message on job creation, lower taxes, and restoring fiscal sanity to Washington, even when it might not be the easiest or most popular thing to do with members of his own party.

Comments

[saysay]

heeeeeeees' stillllllllll a REPUBLICAN­!!!!!!....­..and heeeeeeeeeee was a "knowing" wall street was messing around with peoples 401k guy toooooo!....look closer people!!!...we've got to use magnafying glasses with these politians now and we have to use the resources of info ourselves instead of relying on what others say cuz they know him.............if we dont , we'll be back here again in 20years wondering what happened.....

[Petey131]

O.K. run as a rethug but distance yourself from the rethugs.....does this make sense? All rethugs are cut from the same fabric. This rethug is the same as all the rethugs....

[kareemachan]

But it will probably go over better with the voters if it seems like he's backing away from some of the things that the GOP seems to be embracing these days - he can look more independent and forward-thinking that way. "Look" being the operative word...

[lovable]

im going over to fox and to politico and see if they report this. i bet they dont ha ha ha

[Raspathway]

His "independence" doesn't seem to have stopped RNCC radio commercials backing him, one of which I heard just a few hours ago. Sounds a lot like McCain's campaign "suspension" which was immediately followed by lots of campaign commercials.

[DaNoid]

I'm with you...the ads the NRCC cooked up for Tedisco are typical sleaze.

Ad #1 says that Scott Murphy is the "Poster Boy" for everything wrong on Wall Street, accuses him of cheating on corporate taxes that were not his reponsibility because he was no longer an executive for the company due to a merger, and then calls him a "Wall Street Insider". Please note, Scott Murphy is a venture capitalist and if he were a Republican, undoubtedly the NRCC would refer to him as an "Entrepreneur".

Ad #2 says that Scott Murphy has been hostile towards the military and called them racist and sexist and opposed allowing the ROTC on his college campus. Now, yes, he did sign his name to a Harvard college newspaper editorial that opposed the ROTC being allowed on campus...but that was in 1989...20 years ago! How about something relevant?

I've heard more from the NRCC than from Tedisco himself...do they care more about the seat than he does?

[AnnfromCA]

Good for him. National help doesn't do much, even for Dems.

[barackobama4prez]

national help in 2004, 2006 and 2008 helped dems earn a majority. by 2014 we will be a super majority.

[magibrotherhood]

first Spector maybe going rogue---now Tedesco...­......rogu­e elephantitis

[poco767c]

Rats leaving a sinking ideology.

[behindEnemyLines]

the only rats that are running away are those that Obama tries to appoint to a cabinet position.

[RobertBliss]

Right, because that totally makes sense and is completely the same thing as people running away from the political party to which they supposedly belong.

[chgoblue]

Yep, cause McCain didn't try to RUN from W during the campaign, right? We saw how that worked out for him anyway!

[stevier]

Another layer of the republican party dysfunction....Talk about a melt down.

[sposton]

The days of Republican party outside the bible belt are numbered. Regional religious party has nowhere to go but down toward the ever increasing ideological purity which sheds off everyone else. What these extremists never realized is that they were supposed to be just one constituent bloc among many; now they will be left all alone. They will still have their obstructionist southern senators but they too will be increasingly irrelevant. Time for a new moderate right wing party.

[lenoirlady]

I say a big YEAHH! to your first sentence. They are out of step with the entire world, but mainly WE THE PEOPLE!

[lynettema]

But the media runs after them as if they didn't notice that the Republicans lost big in Nov and polls show we the people still don't buy anything they are selling.

[widdles]

Silly Jim. He thinks his poll numbers dropping is because the RNC is in charge of his campaign??

It would never enter his head that perhaps it is the entire GOP party and its idiotic turn of events that is the cause of his poll numbers (and I am sure many other Repugs will be facing the same thing) dropping??

Small pea brains don't have much room for reasoning, do they.

[sposton]

It is just a cynical ploy to make him look more independent.

[Leonard Williams]

It was Sam Cooke who had a hit song in the early 60s titled, "A change is Going To Come." Looks like he was right!

[aloha43]

Oh, no. Another maverick.

[bubbuh]

That's going to be the replacement party: the Maverick Party. They even have a uniform.
http://www.whirligig-tv.co.uk/tv/children/westerns/maverick.jpg

[DeeDeeDaGumby]

omg , its Bart and Brett...my bros are named for those guys...

[Topsailsman]

When no one votes for skunks, the skunks get out the paint to cover the white stripe. But they are still skunks.

[UnknownSoldier]

He looks like Mel Brooks

[HeartT]

OOOOOOwwwweeee. We are getting so smart. There are still a few yahoos brave enough to speak their bull, but for the most part, we are becoming a thinking public. There is no other explanation for the comments I've read here. Finally, we can see and say out loud that Republicans make absolutely no sense most of the time.

[gloriousbeing]

He looks like just another older white guy in a very expensive suit.....just what this country needs, cause we haven't had enough of those in our history! UGH!

[Eoin45]

...just what this country needs, more judging by attire, appearance and age rather than substance cause we haven't had enough of that in our history either. I don't support any Republicans but I'm real tired of this sort of shallow, ageist analysis too. Especially when it comes from progressives.

[FightingTheRight]

Got it.

After being called every nasty name the "radical right' can come up with, since the beginning of the Clinton Presidency, now progressives aren't being nice enough???!!!!

Did you conplain when then President Clinton, was called the "Head Bubba", by the right?

[lenoirlady]

No 45, Tired, puffy old white guys from the deep South who spit when they speak, are just petty and out of step. Now you will admit, their hair is always greasy and their suits are all expensive. You are just continueing to be defensive on behalf of the WOGFDS. They are no longer effective nor palatable to the rest of us from the South. Hopefully their days are numbered in Washington. Younger, brighter and more centrist Rep. would be more welcome.