Murphy voted last night to spend $150 billion in, as Murphy said in a release, "immediate investments to improve our crumbling infrastructure and create good-paying jobs right here at home."

Democrats call the bill the Jobs for Main Street Act; as the Washington Post notes, it has no Senate companion and is almost entirely symbolic. The National Republican Congressional Committee is calling it the "Son of Stimulus," and attacking Murphy (and other marginal Democrats in New York like Eric Massa, John Hall and Tim Bishop) for their affirmative votes as a "spending crusade" that "is burying middle-class New York families under mountains of debt."

"Before even being elected to Congress, Scott Murphy came out in favor of the first stimulus," said Joe Sciarrino, an NRCC spokesman. "Now that he was able to cast an actual vote, it looks like he waited until the last minute to gauge the political winds and hand Pelosi a victory.  Not exactly the type of conviction voters want in their elected officials.  But still, he's willing to double down on round two even though New Yorkers are still waiting for the first stimulus to create jobs."

Murphy's special election win over Assemblyman Jim Tedisco was largely seen as a referendum on the newly elected Obama and the economic stimulus plan he guided though Congress last winter. Tedisco--who is mulling another run against Murphy--stalled before finally coming out against the stimulus package as "porkulous." These attacks are a harbinger for Murphy's 2010 re-election battle.

Josh Schwerin, a spokesman for Murphy, said his position remains clear.

"As he has been since day one, Congressman Murphy remains focused on creating jobs in Upstate New York and working to turn our economy around," he said. "Whether its projects to improve our infrastructure like the $49 million in broadband funds announced today, or the Small Business Administration loan workshops he's held, his top priority remains fighting to create jobs for the people of the 20th district."

Over the week, Republicans closed the tent. The establishment is now backing Doug Hoffman, an accountant who was nominated by the Conservative Party after Republicans picked Scozzafava. He has won the primary that never happened.

It's brewed for weeks: presumptive presidential candidates Sarah Palin and Tim Pawlenty declared their support for Hoffman. National PACs upset with Scozzafava's support of the federal stimulus, EFCA, same-sex marriage and abortion rights poured on money and attacks. Fred Thompson cut an ad for Hoffman.

At some point, Hoffman had gone from odd-ball spoiler to the best chance the Republicans have of keeping the seat out of Democratic hands. The National Republican Congressional Committee stopped attacking him and the Democrats, whose candidate Bill Owens was slowly and quietly building support, started.

The fatal blows to Scozzafava came Thursday. Representative Pete Sessions, chairman of the NRCC told Politico that if he won, Hoffman would be welcomed "with open arms." That night, George Pataki, the moderate former New York governor told a reception of Conservative Party members that he was backing Hoffman. It was a harbinger that the state Republican establishment--Chairman Ed Cox has skipped many opportunities to fight for Scozzafava--was gone along with the national guys. Then word of a new poll got around: Hoffman and Owens were in a dead heat, and Scozzafava was fatally lagging. She issued a statement Saturday morning, and "released" her supporters to do as they pleased. Dede Scozzafava never backed away from her moderate positions, and they killed her.

"You could smell it coming a mile away," said Jim Ellis, the Franklin County Republican chairman whose own views are more conservative than Scozzafava's. "I think Dede had the misfortune of running at a time when that particular message that she was putting out there had no relevance, and the NRCC basically wouldn't let her do what she normally would have done."

It was the local party officials--guided by Ellis--who settled on Scozafava; not the national partisans. Some chairs had reservations, but Scozzafava built a coalition of moderates to get the nomination, leaving bad feelings in the minds of some of the more conservative chairs.

It didn't matter at first. Scozzafava was the first declared candidate, and built an operation consisting of the consulting firm Capitol Public Strategies--a haven for old Pataki hands like Dave Catalfamo and Bill McGahay--and two staff operatives: Matt Burns and Michael Backus, John McHugh's former chief-of-staff. The NRCC sent two staffers and set about doing what the NRCC does: attack the opponents.

Predictably, the factions clashed. The internal staffers plotted a strategy based on Scozzafava's record in the Assembly, producing ads like this one and advising Scozzafava to not sign a national Taxpayer Protection Pledge that Hoffman was touting.

But no money was coming in. Scozzafava had in the past run with the support of labor unions and small-time donors that knew her over her political career. On a national scene, this completely blunted her in Republican fund-raising circles, especially with Hoffman as an alternative.

"Social stands might make people unsettled, but it's the economic issues that are really driving people and donations away. She's alienated the conservative, free enterprise wing of the party," said one prominent New York Republican. "Card check? The stimulus? I can't make a call to anyone on her behalf because of those things."

The money to pay Capitol Public Strategies ran out. The internal staff was overwhelmed.

The NRCC was left holding the bag, and as Ellis said, was unwilling to build on the support Scozzafava had, lest it alienate its own national donor base.

"Where were the pro-choice women's groups? Where were the marriage equality folks? How come no one went up to Doug Hoffman's accounting firm with signs attacking him for hating their gay daughter?" said one Republican operative familiar with the campaign.

"The argument was that she didn't have a clear path to victory," said a different operative familiar with the campaign.

Finally, the NRCC bailed and Scozzafava walked away. Loads of Republicans uncourageously jumped off the fence.

"By suspending her campaign it makes it possible for the Republican Party and the Conservative Party to unite and support the basic core values of the Republican Party on Tuesday," said Rick Lazio, who seeks both parties' blessing in a run for governor. "I congratulate her for her selflessness and join her and other Republicans in supporting Doug Hoffman for United States Congress."

"Dede Scozzafava has placed her Party and her principles over politics and position for years," said Cox, whose spokesman on Thursday insisted he was working hard to support her. "For those who know her, her actions today come as no surprise because they show real leadership. It is testament to her character and strength under difficult circumstances. Throughout her career, she has built a record of standing up for the people of the North County. This move demonstrates her commitment to ensuring that those people have a Republican, fiscally conservative voice in Congress."

"With Assemblywoman Scozzafava suspending her campaign, we urge voters to support Doug Hoffman's candidacy in New York's 23rd Congressional District," said Sessions, along with Republican Leader John Boehner and Whip Eric Cantor. "He is the only active candidate in the race who supports lower taxes, fiscal responsibility and opposes Nancy Pelosi's agenda of government-run healthcare, more government and less jobs. We look forward to welcoming Doug Hoffman into the House Republican Conference as we work together for the good of our nation."

Ellis told me he's "weighing" supporting Hoffman. Scozzafava is conspicuously not: given the mud he's slung at her, that probably breaks more favorably for him than would any endorsement.

"I could talk a lot about things that went right, and things that went wrong, but there's no point," Scozzafava said in an interview this morning. "Things happen for a reason, and I believe there's better things to come."

Bill Nojay, a conservative Republican talk show host in Central New York said that one of two questions at stake is now settled.

"She was out of sync with a new evolving direction for the Republican Party both nationally and in New York State. When you have George Pataki endorsing the Conservative, that tells you that the most experienced Republicans recognize that there's been a sea change in Republican politics," he told me. "And now that Dede's out of the way, it's now a take off the gloves yea or nay on the Obama administration."

Scozzafava's fall coincides with the rise of Doug Hoffman, the Conservative Party's nominee, who is now at 23 percent, according to the Siena College poll. Two weeks ago, a poll found Scozzafava leading by 7 points.

Widely seen as a spoiler, Hoffman has been attacking Scozzafava from her right flank as Owens chisels away from the left. The result is a path to victory for Owens, who was a dark horse when Democratic leaders picked him as their standard-bearer but who has raised a lot of money and flooded the airwaves in the past few weeks.

"With just 10 points separating the three candidates, this is likely to be a very tight—and fiercely fought—campaign right through Election Day, now less than three weeks away," said Steve Greenberg, a spokesman for the Siena Poll.

Interestingly, and in a repeat of another special election in upstate New York, negative advertising by Republicans seems to be backfiring. Scozzafava's unfavorability ratings are rising—they now stand at 32 percent—and the poll found voters less likely to vote for her because of her ads. Most of the television spots are not being produced or funded by the Scozzafava campaign—she is very short on cash—but rather are attacks conceived of and funded by the National Republican Campaign Committee.

The poll surveyed 617 likely voters and has a margin of error of 3.9 percent. The special election will take place Nov. 3, and Greenberg predicted things will get crazier before then.

"Over the coming weeks, voters will likely be inundated with mail and commercials for and against all three candidates," he said.  "Millions of dollars will be spent in support of the candidates and millions more will be spent attacking them.  With one in six voters still undecided, who these undecided voters choose to support—if they choose to vote at all—will likely determine the outcome of this race.  And given how tight the race is, this election may very well be won by a candidate with less than 40 percent of all the votes cast."

The NRCC put together this Web ad, set to sounds of a classical violin, which blasts Owens for not yet filing a personal financial disclosure form. It includes footage of Owens shot by a tracker, and ends with the open-ended question on-screen.

Even though a date for the special election has not been set—the signal from David Paterson is that it will fall on Election Day—Owens is already on the air with a positive biographical spot. He's not as well known as his Republican opponent, Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava, and the idea is to introduce him to voters as warmly and fuzzily as possible. It's the same play the Democrats made with now-representative Scott Murphy's special election; they're even using the same ad company.

Republicans in the Murphy race also went negative before they went positive. This Web ad comes a day after the NRCC started airing a radio and TV spot attacking Owens.

"They want to write his story before he does, which is a fairly common technique," said Joe Mercurio, a political consultant in New York who normally works for Democrats. (He told me that in this race, "the Republicans may have the better candidate, and in a tight, contested election that may be the difference.")

Scozzafava's campaign has not yet put out any advertisements, positive or negative. (In the recent special election that yielded Murphy's win, negative advertising seemed to hurt Republican Jim Tedisco.) Matt Burns, Scozzafava's campaign spokesman put out a statement saying the NRCC ad was "unfortunate." (Tedisco never rebuked the NRCC so sharply.)

"It'd be this campaign's preference to allow voters to make their decision on who is the best person to represent them from what they're hearing from the candidates, not from outside interests," Burns said. "Ads from outside groups are the sad reality of politics today and, frustratingly, are produced independently of the campaigns and candidates in the 23rd Congressional district."

Democrats are so far not attacking back, and may not need to. Doug Hoffman, the Conservative Party's nominee, today is airing this spot, which contends that Scozzafava is a liberal, and notes her votes for same-sex marriage.

Owens still serves served (and has since the early 1990s) as a director of Champlain Enterprises, the parent company of Commutair, which provided air flights to Plattsburgh before pulling out in 2007. It was sued in 2001 by two members of the employee stockholder plan that claimed they were sold overvalued shares. The case—which named Owens as a defendant, along with Champlain, its owners and a third-party that calculated the value of the stock offering in question—has been dismissed and upheld in various decisions, and is currently pending before Federal District Judge David Hurd.

The employees who filed the suit claimed that Owens, as a director of the company, had a fiduciary duty to prevent and correct the mistake. (A good roundup of the court documents is here.)

Jon Boughtin, a spokesman for the Owens campaign, pointed out that Owens was eventually removed as a defendant. The suit now focuses on the third-party that valued the stock offering, U.S. Trust Company.

Also, at one point in the 1990s prior to the filing of this suit, the Internal Revenue Service sought over $100 million in taxes and penalties related to the misevaluation of the stock offering. Owens represented Champlain in the resulting litigation, which was settled in 1999 for $658,727, plus interest.

"Bill Owens is doing everything he can to fly under the radar in this race, but voters have a right to know about his role in overseeing a company that admittedly short-changed American taxpayers by over one million dollars," said Paul Lindsay, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee. "In trying economic times like these, such an irresponsible business failure raises serious questions about what else Owens is trying to hide from central and northern New Yorkers who know so little about him in the first place."

Owens, as well as Conservative Party designee Doug Hoffman, has not filed the required personal financial disclosure form.

Boughtin said that "this is a deceitful, partisan attempt to connect Bill Owens to mistakes made by a third party. U.S. Trust failed to live up to its responsibilities, resulting in the federal tax liens. Bill Owens had no ownership in Champlain Enterprises or U.S. Trust."

"These misleading attacks are a desperate attempt by Republicans to distract from Dede Scozzafava's family business's outstanding tax liens—something she has offered contradictory answers on for almost two months," Boughtin said.

The Republicans raise this issue about Owens after seeing their own candidate, Dede Scozzafava, dogged by stories about her connections to a troubled business run by her brother, the latest of which (by North Country Public Radio's David Sommerstein) hit the airwaves this morning.

UPDATE: Boughtin called to say that the bio on Owens' law firm site is outdated; Owens resigned from the board of Champlain Enterprises in October, 2008.

The NRCC is sending robocalls to voters in the 20^th district--where Murphy was elected this spring to succeed Kirsten Gillibrand--attacking Murphy's support for a bill with  "public option" the NRCC says will introduce "taxes on small business, explode the deficit and incentivize companies to drop their good private coverage."

The call also takes issue with reducing Medicare funding--the Obama administration says the cuts will be made up for through savings--as a way to finance the plan, and mentions Nancy Pelosi, the house speaker, twice.

On Wednesday, demonstrators from MoveOn.org held a vigil outside Murphy's office in Hudson to "make sure he's fully committed," in the words of one, to a "strong" public option.

Murphy's spokeswoman Maggie McKeon said that in town hall meetings over the last month Murphy "has said that he supports the concept of a public option that is designed to compete on level playing field with private insurance. Also critical to this debate is ensuring that choices are maintained, and skyrocketing health care costs are reduced."

The entire script of the robocall is below.

Hello, I'm calling from the National Republican Congressional Committee with an important message about health care.  Nancy Pelosi and Congressman Scott Murphy are considering a health plan that would raise taxes on small business, explode the deficit and incentivize companies to drop their good private coverage... and they plan to help pay for this by cutting Medicare - cutting it by 500 billion dollars according to President Obama's own projections.  America's seniors deserve better!  Congressman Murphy votes with Nancy Pelosi 87.3 % of the time... Call him today at 202-225-3121 and tell him this time he needs to make a stand for our seniors and vote against the Democrats' 500 billion dollar Medicare cut. Paid for by The National Republican Congressional Committee and not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee. 320 First Street, SE, Washington, DC 20003. 202-479-7000.

"All of a sudden we've got to go out and get a non-party person to run on the Democratic ticket? I guess the question is, are they running away from their president?" said Jim Ellis, chairman of the Franklin County Republican Party.

I spoke with Ellis for several minutes just now, and he said that he expected Owens to run to the right of Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava, his party's nominee for the seat. (Scozzafava's campaign hasn't returned several inquiries I've made over the course of the day.)

This echoes the sentiment of Conservative Party leader Mike Long, who said Scozzafava is "the most liberal" of the candidates in the race. The Conservative Party has nominated accountant Doug Hoffman.

"I would expect that he's going to run to the right of him. He's Darrel Aubertine without being Darrel Aubertine," Ellis said of Owens, invoking the name of the popular state senator who was the presumptive Democratic nominee before withdrawing from consideration after Republicans preemptively attacked. "If it had been him, or Darrel Aubertine, or Mr. X, they would have all run to the right of Dede. Because that's what the data is telling them. I've got to be honest, I don't really know. But the data, supposedly, is that people are fed up with the spending and fed up with the arrogance of the Congress of the United States. As Jefferson said, a little rebellion is a good thing."

Ellis had a tough time actually coming up with anything too bad to say about Owens himself, though. He said he didn't consider his lack of legislative experience a problem. The phrase he repeated to me was "running away from their president," which foreshadows a talking point we're likely to hear more of in this race.

Last night, National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman Paul Lindsay issued a statement that didn't address the merits of Owens's candidacy, or attack it. It just pre-emptively defended Scozzafava, who Owens has yet to mention.

"Now that Bill Owens has been selected by his party, it is only a matter of time before he will try to distort Dede Scozzafava's work to create jobs and fight against wasteful spending in Albany," Lindsay said. "We are prepared to assist Dede in whatever capacity we can to fight against the false attacks and personal smears that have already been spread by her opponents. Voters in central and northern New York are looking for a common-sense leader who can work across party lines to better their communities, and Dede is the only candidate in this race who has a record of doing just that."

A special election for the seat is expected to fall in November, but has not been formally called.

The National Republican Congressional Committee is seizing on comments reported this morning by the Elmira Star-Gazette to attack all of the Democrats in the state's delegation considered marginal—Dan Maffei, Mike Arcuri, Tom Bishop, Mike McMahon and John Hall. Massa's had said that a current health care proposal from Congressional Democrats will "destroy Medicare."

"New York seniors can only hope that John Hall will take a hint from fellow Democrats who are lining up to oppose Nancy Pelosi's disastrous healthcare agenda," said NRCC spokesman Ken Spain in one of the attack emails. "Unfortunately, Hall's history of marching in lock-step with his party leaders does not bode well for those seniors that actually want to keep the healthcare plans that they have. With millions of Americans concerned about losing their current coverage, John Hall seems poised to once again turn his back on the people he claims to represent in order to deliver a vote for Nancy Pelosi and the rest of his party bosses."

The House of Representatives adjourned last week, and many members are spending the recess in their district defending their positions. Hall appeared alongside Majority Leader Steny Hoyer earlier this week to defend his support for the plan, which would create a public option for health care.

Massa has not backed the current House plan. But in response to the NRCC attacks, the freshman from the Southern Tier offered this statement:

Rather than addressing their concerns about the bill, the Republican Party continues to use divisive, irresponsible rhetoric to try and discredit those who want real health care reform in an attempt to cover up their own failed approach.

I applaud all those who choose to get this bill right rather than those who are using cheap, political tactics.

Federal campaign filings show the union invested more in independent expenditures than even the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee toward Murphy's victory, between their political action and political education committees.

A memo from 1199's New York political director, Kevin Finnegan, to the SEIU national political director John Youngdahl, that was provided to me, details the union's spending in the race, including large amounts on direct mail and for radio and television ads. The total dollar amount was $548,812.

"We're confident Murphy will continue to be a progressive voice for working New Yorkers and we look forward to working with him in Congress," Finnegan wrote. (Full text below).

In response to the memo, George Gresham, president of 1199's east division noted that the union worked to elect Obama, and "supporting Scott Murphy's candidacy with an aggressive independent expenditure campaign is a natural extension of our efforts to support the president in passing meaningful, comprehensive healthcare reform."

He said Murphy will be a "strong ally."

Each party's congressional committees were also heavily involved in the campaign: the National Republican Congressional Committee spent $817,681 in the race ($14,500 on Tedisco's behalf, and $803,181.10 against Murphy) while the DCCC spent $373,051 in the race (both $296,425 against Tedisco, as well as $76,626 of party-coordinated expenditures.)

Here's the breakdown on who spent for and against Murphy, and here's the breakdown of who spent for and against Tedisco.

There was nothing matching 1199's spending on the Republican side; Tedisco's campaign got help from the Pro-Palin Our Country Deserves Better PAC to the tune of $156,403 both on his behalf and against Murphy. These included radio ads and mailers. Tedisco also received help from the Republican National Committee.

That's on top of what each campaign spent. Tedsico's committee spent about $1.4 million during the race, while Murphy's campaign committee spent $1.9 million. This leaves the campaign in about $350,000 of debt, of which a personal loan from Murphy is the largest chunk (there's about $100,000 in cash on hand).

Tedisco's committee ends the cycle with about $127,000 in cash on hand, enough to cover the remaining $124,000 of a loan Tedisco gave himself.

Below is the 1199 memo.

Memorandum

 

To: Jon Youngdahl

From: Kevin Finnegan

Date: April 29, 2009

Re: Recap of NY-20 Murphy Election Work

________________________________________________________________

 

Below is a brief summary of our electoral efforts in NY-20.  After this lengthy recount, members and activists in the capital region are both thrilled and relieved that Murphy was ultimately victorious.

 

1199 SEIU member activists and staff did an incredible job going door-to-door in small cities throughout Dutchess, Columbia and Saratoga counties working nights and weekends for over three weeks! 

 

Our extensive mobilization efforts and the conversations activists had with voters across the district about issues critical to working families helped put Murphy over the top in a district where Republicans had a huge enrollment advantage. 

 

Murphy's victory reflects swing voters' support for President Obama's domestic agenda and a recognition that the President's priorities of national healthcare reform and allowing workers the right to unionize through passage of the Employee Free Choice Act are essential to turning our economy around.

 

We're confident Murphy will continue to be a progressive voice for working New Yorkers and we look forward to working with him in Congress.

 

• Final Election Result: WIN (399 votes)
• Members in District: 5,558 (including 1199 SEIU and 200United)
• Member Outreach: Members received 2 pieces of mail along with persuasion and GOTV live calls

 

Member Participation:

 

• Doors Knocked: more than 10,000
• Phone Calls: more than 5,000
• Election Day Volunteers: 100

 

Independent Expenditure:

 

• Voter Mail: $246,000 (6 pieces)
• TV Ad: $150,000 (split cost between 1199 Federal PAC and SEIU COPE)
• Radio Ad: $150,000