Also at The Albany Project
The 20th Congressional District special election between Scott Murphy and Assembly Minority Leader Jim Tedisco remains a dead heat today, but Tedisco is, in one real way, acting as if he's going to win.
According to the Saratogian, Tedisco will resign his Assembly leadership position today.
According to the Times Union, Tedisco faced the probability of a no-confidence vote in his leadership by the Republican conference today.
Tedisco himself confirmed he was resigning on Fred Dicker's radio show this morning (podcast available here later today).
Details from the Dicker interview, below.
In his friendly chat with Dicker, Tedisco stated that he was resigning because he had planned to all along and "Now, we've got a transition to Congress."
He denied that he was being forced out:
No truth to it whatsoever. This was my decision.
snip
It would be silly to go another eight weeks, transitioning and counting votes, and trying to raise money to go to Washington, while you're trying to lead this conference.
snip
It's no question that I've gotta go and now transition to Congress.
Tedisco is settling in for a recanvass/absentee verification process that could take eight weeks, well beyond when overseas military absentee ballots are opened on April 13.
I couldn't spend another eight weeks trying to be leader and raising money for the lawyers that have to go through this count.
snip
The Pelosi crew is coming in with every single attorney they have available.
Tedisco responded briefly to criticisms, some from within his party, that he ran a lousy, too-negative campaign:
We did not run a picture-perfect campaign, but I think we brought it back the last two weeks when I took over.
That's BS -- Tedisco's attacks on Murphy, some of them bald-faced lies, only intensified in the last two weeks.
More pure BS is Tedisco's repetition of his absurd claim that he read every bill he voted for in the past, and would do the same if elected to Congress.
The guy just does not know the campaign is over, and there's no need to keep on lying.
And Tedisco's adopted the Rove strategy -- in a close election, act like the inevitable winner and begin talking about the transition.
Scott Murphy also needs money for the final phase of the campaign, please help out here.