Chris Gibson Rally at the Hall of Springs in Saratoga County

by Bill Claydon

While Bill Clinton spent his time on a last ditch effort to bail out Scott Murphy’s (D-NY 20) sinking fortunes at the Hall of Springs in Saratoga County, 250-300 supporters of Colonel Chris Gibson braved cold temperatures in the mid 30s to stand up for the kind of change New York’s 20th district needs. Rather than a Pelosi puppet who serves as her representative to New York’s 20th district, we support a man who will actually represent us in the US House of Representatives.

Let’s make it clear there were far more than the “couple of dozen” Gibson supporters as claimed by WGY radio. I was personally there. If anyone wonders why tea party people don’t take the mainstream media seriously anymore, this is a great example. When the mainstream media learns about such things as accuracy in reporting about events related to non-leftist candidates, we may again take their reporting with something more than a grain of salt.

Police cordoned off an area close to the entrance so we could rally for Gibson. Gibson supporters were enthusiastic and energetic despite being out early morning in the cold. While Democrat politicians and others went in, Gibson supporters chanted his name, asked where the jobs are, reminded people there is just one more day, etc. After the attendees went inside, we said he pledge of allegiance and sang various patriotic songs.

Clinton was late to the event, likely messing up schedules for his subsequent appearances all the way down the line. Regardless of the extended time, most of the Gibson supporters were able to stay until Democrat politicians and the other guests left. We greeted them with Gibson signs and chants for the man who will hopefully be our new representative in January.

In chatting with one Gibson supporter, he noted that the fact that Clinton was doing this one early did not seem so good for Murphy. We felt Clinton was basically checking this one off his list. For a candidate who might have some promise, a more appropriate time would be lunch time or the afternoon when more people could show up. The bigger the crowd, the better it looks. But Clinton had other candidates to try to bail out later in the day…

Highlights included a Gibson supporter wearing a Clinton mask, riding a bicycle around with Gibson signs. Another gentleman announced that he became an American citizen in August and his first vote would be for Gibson. The crowd cheered. He pointed out that he escaped Canadian “health care.”

Many of the Clinton event attendees came out with Murphy signs. What might have been interesting is to see how many of these people might have attended the event if Bill Clinton wasn’t present. (I’m guessing it would be double digits or maybe even a single digit number.) Many waved their Murphy signs at us. Some laughed along and showed some enthusiasm for the guy whose poll numbers were bad enough to warrant Clinton taking time away from other candidates who seriously need his help. Other attendees were visibly disturbed that people might actually support a candidate other than the one they were supporting. At one point, a particular supporter turned around with a sour look on her face and started angrily questioning one of the Gibson supporters. She seemed like she might be ready to get in his face. Thankfully, a park police officer was right there to ask her to move along. People need to understand that freedom of speech is not a one way street.

But I really cannot understand why anyone would be sour or upset. They should just laugh the 250-300 Gibson supporters off. Afterall, Murphy has voted for most of the legislation Pelosi has rammed through Congress. Pelosi knows what’s best for all Americans, doesn’t she? And Murphy has rubber stamped almost 90% of Pelosi’s big government whims. So shouldn’t Scott Murphy have a lock on reelection, likely coming out with a 20 to 30 point lead? But then, if he was doing so well, there would be no need for Bill Clinton to take time away from his busy schedule to appear with Murphy…

NY-28 Republican candidate Jill Rowland threatened by man with knife

By Sam Foster

Whoa, how did I miss this one?  According to Dr. Jill Rowland's FB page (she's the Republican candidate for NY's 28th Congressional District), she was threatened last week by a man with a knife:

Rochester, NY – Wednesday evening, Jill Rowland, the 28th congressional district candidate, was attending a question and answer round table discussion at the Radisson hotel in downtown Rochester. Dr. Rowland was an invited guest of the Turkish American Business and Development Council. At around 10 PM, a man clad in sunglasses and of questionable attire entered the hotel lobby and headed directly toward the sizeable group. A campaign staff volunteer approached the man and asked him if he needed any help. The man did not respond and appeared to retreat momentarily. He then darted to the opposite side of the group where he promptly positioned himself in a threatening pose directly across from Dr. Rowland and the representative from the Turkish consulate. The Rowland Campaign volunteer, alarmed by the irregular behavior, immediately approached the man once again. The man did not respond or move initially, but upon further prompting by the campaign staffer, the man walked away visibly agitated. The man then raised his hands in a threatening manner toward Dr. Rowland and the businessmen and assumed confrontational stances, so the campaign staffer summoned the hotel security immediately.. The man seemed to be familiar with the hotel and was able to expeditiously exit by way of an unconventional path and was now holding what appeared to be a weapon in his hand.

911 was called and the man was followed up East Main Street to the Hyatt parking lot and was subsequently arrested on South Avenue. After a thorough search of the man,an open utility knife was found hidden on his person.

No one was injured in this incident. The businessmen and campaign staff were extremely pleased and appreciative to the hotel security and the fast acting and professionalism of the Rochester police department.

I checked the news releases and no one has covered the story, except for Gateway Pundit!

Why is the left so angry?

by Bill Claydon

I really don’t understand this. We have the Joy Behar meltdown which resulted in Sharron Angle getting $150,000 in donations. We have Bill Maher calling people who disagree with his far left extreme views “ignorant” and later going into a profanity laced rant. Finally, we have rank and file liberals having such angry tones in various blogs online.

Relax. Haven’t liberals lectured the tea party that anger is not the answer? So, why are their icons like Joy Behar going into hysterics and causing people like Sharron Angle to get so much money? And why are the rank and file liberals getting so frustrated? Don’t they take their own advice?

Liberals, don’t get so upset. Look at New York. Polls show that Status Cuomo is way up there. Rest easy. You’ll get more of the same. Big, bloated government, higher costs, more people who can afford it moving out of New York because of the out of control government waste. There are few businesses moving into New York unless they get corporate welfare, which means few reasonable private sector jobs. And now, Governor Paterson has announced a layoff of almost 900 state workers. The battle with the unions over that layoff will go beyond the end of Paterson’s time in office, so the mess will be dumped onto Cuomo. Cuomo likely has presidential ambitions. So, he’s probably going to push through on the layoffs so as to at least make it look like he tried to do something with New York’s fiscal mess. The attorney general’s office was a mere stepping stone, and Cuomo has places to go. It’s not like he would just stop at the governor’s office. That too will be a stepping stone. In fact, he’ll actually need to run for and win a second term in 2014 (not hard with those brass knuckles Eliot “the Steamroller” Spitzer says Cuomo has) so it’s not like he’s just going to do what he did in the attorney general’s seat. But then he could try for the White House in 2016.

Now, if you are concerned about state layoffs, there are two candidates that would probably stand against such things. They are Howie Hawkins of the Green Party and Charles Barron of the Freedom Party. Their solution is to just “tax the rich” and “cut tax cuts” even though “the rich” are in the best position to leave the state. I can’t tell you where Jimmy McMillan stands on this issue because his major issue is that “Rent. Is. Too. Damn. High.” And, McMillan has parlayed that into being parodied on Saturday Night Live and having a doll that looks like him. Mission accomplished for Jimmy McMillan’s “gubernatorial campaign” aka attempt at getting notoriety. Anyway, for those who want to tell Cuomo not to step all over state workers on his road to a possible future Democrat presidential nomination, I would think Hawkins or Barron would be your best bet.

Then there are the Senate races. Speaking of Joy Behar, there is another guy who likes to throw around the word she used. Unlike Behar who used it against a public figure (Sharron Angle), Schumer likes to use it on common, ordinary people such as flight attendants. See, Schumer likes big government regulation for other people, but not when it must also apply to him. He’s an elite Senator, you see. But liberals shouldn’t be too upset. Polls show New Yorkers want more of the same so they will likely be sending Schumer back. In fact, if Harry Reid does not win his seat (Nevada is not as “enlightened” as New York), Schumer could be the Democrats’ leader in the Senate.

Next we have Schumer’s rubber stamp who is great at letting Schumer do most of her thinking for her, Kirsten Gillibrand. He’s a lucky guy to get two votes in the US Senate. Polls show New Yorkers like Schumer so much that they will likely be sending his second vote back to the Senate for another two years. It’s funny how someone can change so much when they get a promotion. Kirsten Gillibrand as 20th district Congresswoman would hardly recognize Kirsten Gillibrand as Senator. People in the district she formerly represented seem to notice the difference. I’m not sure if she was a phony then or if she’s a phony now.

So, I just don’t get the level of anger from liberals, especially in New York. They’re going to get the same old. Then they can complain about the costs here in New York. They should be happy with the big government waste for which they will be voting. Better yet, they’re just going to vote for the boring nonsense Democrat candidates. But if they really want some new and seriously left leaning ideas, they have a plethora of third party candidates for whom they could vote.

Since liberals suggest that their policies have been good for America (such as the FAILED “stimulus” that was supposed to keep unemployment at or below 8%), they should have nothing to be worried about. All Democrat candidates should be running 20% ahead of their nearest opponent as the populace chants “hope and change” and “yes we can.” Oh, wait, we already had that. It was called 2008. Now the fad is over.

Scott Murphy Supporters Don't Care About the Law

by Bill Claydon

Scott Murphy's (D NY-20) campaign seems to be in a freefall as we head towards election day. From the campaign releasing an advertisement showing a digitized version of his opponent, Colonel Chris Gibson, riding an alligator and accusing Gibson of "feeding on the middle class" to supporters sending our mailers with ludicrous accusations, the stench of desperation is huge.

But a recent accusation on a mailer takes the cake. It accuses Gibson of being against tax cuts for small businesses. If that's not bad enough, the mailer gives absolutely no indication of what entity or organization paid for the ad. The law requires that mailers indicate the group responsible for the mailers. The Gibson campaign will be turning these over for investigation. Of course, this is an easy risk for Murphy supporters as they can make this accusation at the end of campaign season and deal with the consequences later --- when authorities will likely have to sort through numerous complaints from many campaigns. After a bruising election season, such things will not be covered by the media and with the results decided, the general public will not care after November 2nd.

Scott Murphy needs to denounce such tactics. He championed the so-called DISCLOSE Act, claiming he is for openness and transparency. It's truly sad that he does not seem to be so concerned about such things from his supporters now that he is running behind in polls.

But then, this is nothing new. Murphy claims he wants to help small businesses, get the government out of the way, etc. But he votes almost 90% with Nancy Pelosi's agenda.....which grows government and gets it involved with more and more of our lives, creating a terrible environment for small businesses.

Let's hope enough voters see through the Scott Murphy smoke and mirrors on November 2nd.

NY Election Projections Do Not Impact Larger Tea Party Movement

by Bill Claydon

Regardless of what is said below, tea party members and others concerned about the direction of our country must get out to vote. We have some promising congressional elections even if not such good polling in statewide elections.We might be a minority in New York, but we should show ourselves to be as large of a minority as possible.

New York is a deep blue state. The majority of people continue to vote in status quo big government politicians, and there seems to be little outrage when things like the VLT scandal are revealed. Despite the loss of 1.5 million people (according to a print only article in the Albany Times Union a few Sundays back) for states with lower costs, the majority of voters seem to just want more of the same in mediocrity, high property taxes, and an environment where chosen businesses will only relocate to the state if they get enough corporate welfare. Of course, that corporate welfare ultimately costs the middle and lower classes in higher land taxes to pay for more government services, but people don’t care. As to the 1.5 million who left for less expensive states, as New York is one of the best states for welfare and Medicaid, they can be replaced by people who will continue to vote in the status quo. The burden to pay for this will of course fall on a smaller and smaller group of people who cannot afford to move out.

There was never a question that Andrew Cuomo was going to win the governor’s race as polls show. This is New York. New Yorkers seem to want the status quo(mo). A nobody with a “D” after their name could win. Yet for some reason, due to the frustration people are feeling, Cuomo’s statements in the 90 Minute Comedy Variety Show Starring Jimmy McMillan (aka the 2010 New York Gubernatorial Debate), occasionally seemed to reflect tea party ideals. Of course, they were packaged in a polished career politician style presentation. I doubt Cuomo will actually stick to these ideals once he takes over. What will be more interesting is to see the share of the vote given to Paladino. The self-proclaimed “steamroller” won nearly 70% of the vote against John Faso in 2006. Had the uninspiring and boring Rick Lazio remained on the ticket, I suspect he would have been lucky to get 25% of the vote. Paladino could win a higher share of the votes.

In one of the US Senate races, a majority of New Yorkers will likely choose Chuck Schumer, a man who likes big government regulations but does not agree with personally following them. When he was told to turn off his cell phone by a flight attendant, he called her a filthy name. Schumer’s rubber stamp, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, was sitting next to him when he did that and did not seem to have a problem with it. But then, she defers to Schumer most of the time anyway. Despite the Democrats protecting Gillibrand from any serious primary challenge, and despite her near total change in position from her days as Congresswoman from the 20th District, a majority of New Yorkers will likely vote to give Schumer what is basically his “second vote” (the only US Senator to have one) for two more years.

In the attorney general and comptroller races, it is likely that the candidate with a “D” after their name will win.

As an uber liberal state, the tea party in New York is small compared to other states. But let’s look at what the tea party has done in NY. The favored candidates by the dysfunctional New York State Republican Party to run for the governor’s race and the Gillibrand Senate seat were beaten by tea party favored outsiders who had to gather signatures to get into the primary. At least for a time, Cuomo did not have smooth sailing to the governor’s mansion. This is a step.

While other states which are more centrist or conservative leaning may see the status quo changed in the 2010 election, things will be far more gradual in New York. We can’t expect serious change in one election cycle. Change will take several election cycles here. Some might point to Massachusetts where Scott Brown won and ask why the same can’t happen in NY. First, Brown is a RINO. Second, he won in a special election where people from all over the country could concentrate their efforts. In 2010, New York is competing with almost every other state. Even some in New York may be helping candidates who are from states where they have a better chance to win. Certainly there is very little outside help coming in.

So, while liberals might be quick to use tunnel vision and focus on New York as some sort of barometer of tea party success, it’s just wishful thinking on their part. Rather than being discouraged, we can look at what is happening in other states. Clearly, not enough people have woken up in New York. But don’t worry. Just give the projected winners time to wake more people up. Conditions in New York will get worse. Whether people become part of the “tea party” movement or not, more and more will see that there is a problem as time goes on. A few more election cycles will be needed before New York catches up to much of the rest of the country.

Scott Murphy making same mistakes as Tedisco Campaign did in 2009

by Bill Claydon

New York's 20th congressional district has a huge Republican advantage in party registrations compared to Democrats. The 2006 election season was largely a Democrat year. Combined with the fact that all sorts of negative news came out about sleazy ex-Congressman John Sweeney, Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand was able to take the seat. In 2008, Gillibrand easily won reelection. In early 2009, then New York Senator Hillary Clinton was given the consolation prize of Secretary of State since she lost the Democrat primary to the so-called "hope and change" candidate. While Caroline "y'know" Kennedy was assumed to be the frontrunner to replace Hillary, ultimately the seat went to Kirsten Gillibrand. With the departure of Hillary, Chuck Schumer then TRULY became New York's senior Senator, even though he had held that title on paper since 2001. Gillibrand provided him with an extra perk in my view: she has basically given in to him for at least 90% of her voting decisions.

Anyway, in the race to fill Gillibrand's seat via special election, the Republicans nominated then New York State Assembly Minority Leader Jim Tedisco. The Democrats had to pick through a bunch of no-name candidates. It was expected that Tedisco would handily win, and a Democrat had to run as the sacrificial lamb.

Scott Murphy, who had lived in Glens Falls for around three years by the 2009 race, happened to have a lot of money. He was chosen over nearly three dozen other candidates --- many of whom likely lived in the district far longer --- because of money.

While Tedisco spent years in the NYS Assembly and had a long record of accomplishments, the Republican National Committee came along and basically ran ads simply bashing Scott Murphy. Murphy was a nobody in the area....until the RNC gave him all sorts of free publicity. They created sympathy for the man with their attack ads. Even among conservatives, there was disappointment with these kinds of ads.

When Tedisco finally asserted control over his campaign and ran some positive ads, it was too late. The damage was done. Murphy had been given name recognition by the other side and generated sympathy.

What should have been a landslide victory in a heavily Republican district turned out to be too close to call. After seesawing for weeks, Murphy won by a few hundred votes and Tedisco conceded.

Fast forward to 2010. Despite Murphy's claims that he is a business man, cares about small business, wants to get the government out of the way, blah blah blah, he has established a record of voting nearly 90% with Nancy Pelosi to expand the federal government. District residents have felt he ignored them and instead listened to his union DC Democrat masters. His campaign war chest is loaded with donations from "safe" Democrats, Wall Street, big unions, trial lawyers, etc.

Murphy started releasing ads. Some ads were positive about himself, though they did not talk specifics about his extensive DC record supporting Pelosi's agenda. Other groups released ads touting the fact that Murphy has Sunday dinners with 52 family members as some sort of reason why he belongs in Congress. (Maybe if he is retired from Congress he could eat with those 52 family members every night of the week?) Another one touted the jobs he created, except they forgot to mention that many were in India.

But then Murphy started releasing attack ads against his opponent, Colonel Chris Gibson. One ad has a wild accusation about Gibson cutting Medicare by 75% when the Colonel has never been in Congress! Another one showed Gibson riding an alligator, gobbling things up. Murphy's ads tend to mention Gibson's name. Even in the "I approve this message" part of the ad, Murphy has been shown mentioning Gibson's name. He should have been saying "My opponent" if he had to reference Gibson at all. Strategically, it is just foolish for the incumbent to provide free publicity for the challenger.

Did Murphy learn anything from the 2009 campaign which greatly benefitted him?

Evidently not. Murphy's poll numbers are down into the final week of election season. Murphy needs to be "rescued" by Bill Clinton on the day before election day. (Bad idea to have such a high profile candidate this late into the race.) It just doesn't look good.

Should Murphy be toppled, some of this will be due to his advertising mistakes, along with ignoring many in his constituency and false statements about Colonel Gibson such as the Medicare accusation.

Has Scott Murphy jumped the shark, er, gator?

by Bill Claydon

Incumbent Democrat Scott Murphy (D-NY 20), one of the eight flip floppers on ObamaCare, released a rather entertaining ad this week, full of the standard Democrat class warfare fear inducing rhetoric. The ad reeks of desperation.

First it was announced that in the last days of election season, Bill Clinton has to take precious time to campaign for Murphy rather than spending it with other desperate Democrats. The next day, a Siena poll was released showing Scott Murphy’s opponent Colonel Chris Gibson nine points ahead of Murphy. In between these two announcements, Murphy released the following ad:

Murphy’s campaign press release presents this as if it’s something serious. The fast pace combined with the comical nature of the ad leave the viewer questioning whether the campaign really took any of these issues seriously when giving their okay for this ad. A slower pace with depressing music might have done a slightly better job delivering these tired old Democrat talking points.

The graphics were creative and the ad was likely expensive to produce. Of course, when one’s campaign gets all sorts of money from Democrats in “safe” districts, as well as Wall Street, trial lawyers, big business, big unions, and other liberal groups, he has money to throw around. And why wouldn’t he get this money? Afterall, Murphy was a good Pelosi lapdog, voting with her almost 90% of the time. He served as an excellent representative of Nancy Pelosi to New York’s 20th Congressional District.

The ad could basically be a template. It’s just standard talking points from the left, hoping to reach those who don’t bother to study the issues. Insert any Republican in there, make a couple of minor adjustments, and it could be used for any desperate Democrat’s campaign.

So let’s look at the ad. Colonel Gibson, a man who put his life on the line for our country, is shown riding an alligator, being accused of getting ready to “feed on the middle class.” Ridiculous, silly, and shameful, all at the same time. The first point is whining about Gibson wanting “tax cuts for the wealthy” and claims it will “add $700 billion to the deficit.” Excuse me? Supporting the extension of the Bush tax cuts across the board does not add $700 billion to the deficit. There is no guarantee that the government is actually going to take in an extra $700 billion in tax revenue as a result of letting the Bush tax cuts expire. In fact, with the Obama Recession and continued uncertainty from employers about the mess that is ObamaCare, tax revenue will continue to remain low. Employers aren’t sure about hiring and that means less production. Less money because of lack of employment means less business revenue, which ultimately means less tax revenue. But the government could actually reduce its spending and stop adding to the deficit. However, that will never happen with the likes of the Pelosi/Reid Congress that is addicted to spending.

To borrow an Obama phrase (and remember, I don’t have a teleprompter), let me be clear. The one who has actually added (over) $700 billion to the deficit is none other than Scott Murphy’s boss, Nancy Pelosi, and her buddy Barack Obama, when they rammed the FAILED “stimulus” through.

Then the ad accuses Gibson of putting “more tax burdens on the middle class,” as Gibson rides an alligator which gobbles up a family. Mr. Murphy was the one who put more tax burdens on the middle class. He claimed he wanted to extend the Bush tax cuts for the middle class. But then he voted with Speaker Pelosi and a majority of Democrats to adjourn Congress before helping the middle class. I can only conclude that getting home early to work on his campaign was truly more important to Mr. Murphy than helping the middle class. The vote was 210-209. Had he voted the other way, it could have been a tie and this may have prevented adjournment from happening.

Next it shows the gator gobbling up a building, accusing Gibson of wanting to eliminate the Department of Education. It follows by claiming this will raise property taxes by $800 per year. What? Eliminating mandates from faceless bureaucrats in DC will raise property taxes? Oh please. Maybe if the schools would get the salaries of their administrators (not to mention the sheer number of administrators and assistants) under control as well as other costs, New York would no longer have a reputation of having some of the worst property taxes in the nation. (Let’s not forget the costs of bureaucrat salaries, office space, supplies, equipment, energy, building maintenance, etc. saved with the elimination of a bloated federal department. That too could reduce additional deficit spending.)

As Gibson is accused of raising property taxes, the gator gobbles up a house, revealing scenery that just does not look like it belongs in Upstate NY. Well, that’s understandable. What can we expect from the gentleman from Missouri? Scott Murphy spent a great deal of time in Missouri. Having lived less than three years in Glens Falls, he then decided to run for Congress from New York’s 20th district. Therefore, with such little time in the area, I can fully understand how Murphy would approve an ad showing scenery that simply does not belong in Upstate NY.

Scott Murphy could have taken this final week to make the “closing argument” on a positive note. He should have touted his support for the “stimulus,” the second “stimulus,” ObamaCare, the Disclose Act, and all the rest of the Obama/Pelosi agenda he supported, which has added to the deficit and kicked the costs on to future generations. He could have explained why he felt this would be good for New York’s 20th district. He should have gone on a positive note. No, having dinner with 52 relatives is not a reason to send someone to Congress. But he should have been able to use his record to demonstrate why he feels he deserves another term. Instead, he chose to release a desperate ad full of standard Democrat fearmongering talking points. What a shameful and pathetic way to end the campaign season.

But at the same time, in my opinion it’s a very entertaining way to expose desperation…