Scott Murphy: Pork Cheerleader and Probable Dodge Ball Player

By Bill Claydon

Cross posted to Red State

On September 1st, incumbent Democrat Congressman Scott Murphy (NY 20) did an interview with North Country Public Radio about his reelection campaign. I must say he probably was great at playing dodge ball. It's only 11 minutes long and certainly worth a listen if you like boilerplate fluff.

The interviewer noted that with a district that has a majority Republican registration, he must win over Republicans and Independents and asked if this was possible in the current situation. Like in his opening statement during the August 26th debate with opponent Colonel Chris Gibson, Murphy just went on about being a businessman. There was no reference to his record of voting with San Francisco extreme liberal Nancy Pelosi almost 90% of the time, and supporting all the key bills in the Obama/Pelosi agenda. Murphy suggested people see him as a businessman. He may see it that way, but many others see him as a Pelosi rubber stamp.

Murphy noted that when he travels around, people say they are tired of the bickering, and want politicians to behave in an open and thoughtful way. Murphy is adept at stating the obvious. Of course people are tired of bickering and want politicians to behave in an open and thoughtful manner!

Mr. Murphy cited accomplishments such as federal money for local sewer projects. The Congressman has not even served a full term and he's already well versed in the game. He believes it's an accomplishment to cite the pork he brought home for his district. The federal government should not be involved in determining local projects. People send money to Washington only for Congresspersons and Senators to play games over who gets to bring it back to their state/district.

What is telling is that Murphy did not list any accomplishments in terms of reducing taxes, burdensome regulation, etc. to let businesses create an environment for jobs. Instead, he talked about loans from the Small Business Administration as another accomplishment. Maybe if we had a better business climate, businesses would not need loans from the SBA. Unfortunately, continuing to rubber stamp the Obama/Pelosi agenda of tax, borrow, and waste prevents us from having a good business climate.

In terms of ObamaCare, Murphy cited a few good things about it and misrepresented his opponent's position by claiming Colonel Gibson would like to simply do away with all the good things. Colonel Gibson supports repealing the current multi-thousand page ObamaCare nightmare, complete with the unconstitutional mandate for everyone to buy insurance, and replace it with something that keeps the very few good points of ObamaCare. Murphy seems to have forgotten about Gibson's plan to replace the current ObamaCare law.

As with almost any appearance or interview by Scott Murphy, he called himself a "fiscal conservative." Anyone who is a fiscal conservative does not waste thousands of taxpayer dollars on mailings telling his constituents he is a "fiscal conservative." A fiscal conservative does not vote for bills like ObamaCare, Cap and Trade, the DISCLOSE Act, the second "stimulus," etc., or give support to things like the original FAILED "stimulus."

Speaking of the original "stimulus," Murphy said it was absolutely necessary. Yes, wasting money on expensive road signs to announce that a paving job was done with "stimulus" money was absolutely necessary.

Asked about what Democrat congressional leaders could do to help him, Murphy said he did not want their help. No kidding! Nancy Pelosi and her extremist agenda have "helped" Murphy by putting him in a precarious position. He cannot talk about his dismal record of rubber stamping the Pelosi/Obama mess get through Congress. He must talk as if he has no record. On the other hand, Pelosi, Hoyer, and other Democrats in "safe" seats have donated to Murphy's campaign. He certainly deserves SOMETHING for being such a huge supporter of their agenda.

Murphy cited town halls, saying people want to talk about both national and local issues. How would he know what they want in 2010? Throughout August when Congress was out of session, Murphy announced last minute town halls. Typically, less than 48 hours notice was given. One recent town hall was done in Saratoga Springs, NY. According to the press release it was only open to residents of a given nursing home. Saratoga Springs is a populated area within the largely rural district. Within reasonable distance are towns like Clifton Park and Halfmoon. The town hall should have been open to allow area residents to hear from their Congressman. On the other hand, Murphy did a recent town hall in Halfmoon (with very little notice given) which I am told did not go well.

Congressman Murphy also stated that he visited all 137 towns in New York's 20th district in 2009. He plans to do that again. Time is running out. Visiting these towns last year required a very ambitious August schedule complete with multiple well announced events in a single day. He had nothing like that this year. Soon Congress will be back in session so he will need to be in DC. If his opponent Colonel Gibson wins on November 2nd, will Scott Murphy still visit the towns he has yet to visit by that date?