Tedisco's having given up the fight should not distract us from how dirtily he and his party waged it, fighting tooth and nail to force a "victory" in the election to fill Kirsten Gillibrand's House seat.
This is how he would have "won"--indeed, the only way he could have "won." The fact that the Republicans are over as a national party doesn't mean that they won't keep on trying to "win." On the contrary: They will continue trying to play exactly as they've played it since 2000. MCM Tedisco Tries To Make Roadkill Of Sam Seder's Ballot By <http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/blogs/kleefeld>Eric Kleefeld - April 23, 2009, 5:39PM http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/04/tedisco-tries-to-make-roadkill-of-sam-seders-ballot.php We can now add another illustrious name to the list of absentee voters whose ballots in the NY-20 special election have been challenged by the campaign of GOP candidate Jim Tedisco: Sam Seder, the liberal talk-radio host with Air America! Sam <http://twitter.com/SamSeder/status/1588124171>posted a message on Twitter yesterday: "NY20th race Tedisco challenged my absentee ballot. 4 days before the election I was jury foreman for a trial in NY20th. Challenge Fail." The Tedisco camp had previously challenged U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand's ballot -- the person that Tedisco is seeking to replace in Congress -- and now Sam is on the list, too. The jury had served on March 26 and March 27, and Election Day was March 31. Since this past October, Sam has maintained a second place in New York City for his radio job, and voted absentee because he would be at work on Election Day. Other than the need to be in New York City for work, he has been living full-time in Columbia County. In fact, I was able to confirm with Columbia County Democratic election commissioner Virginia Martin that Sam's ballot has indeed been challenged by the Tedisco campaign -- on the grounds that he does not legitimately live in the district. Martin overruled the challenge, while the Republican deputy commissioner sustained it, keeping the vote out of the count until further notice. Sam told me that he found out through a friend of his who had contacted the county for the list of challenged ballots. "He was sending out e-mails to people saying, check on this list to see if your name was on it," Sam said. And he was quite surprised to find his name on the list: "I thought there was no way that my ballot was gonna be challenged." Sam was none too impressed when I told him that the Tedisco campaign alleged that he wasn't a resident of the district. "Jerks," he said. "I mean, I could tell you I've attended far more Livingston town meetings than Jim Tedisco has." He added: "I just think it's ironic that this guy doesn't live in the 20th, and he's challenging my residency." And Sam's service on a jury should be proof enough that he's a resident. Columbia County commissioner of jurors Loretta Salvesvold could not confirm for me the circumstances of any individual juror, but she could explain to me the general law that eligibility for jury service is dependent on a person's primary residence being in that area -- that this is where the person spends most of their time. An e-mail for comment to the Tedisco campaign has not been returned. (Also, it is indeed true that Tedisco doesn't live in the district. However, the federal Constitution does not have a district-residency requirement, only a state-residency requirement. There are in fact House members on both sides of the aisle right now, who either don't live in their districts or didn't at the time when they were first elected -- and this number goes up significantly if we count the ones who really live in Washington.) --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's "News From Underground" newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to newsfromunderground-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the "Unsubscribe or change membership" link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the "Unsubscribe" button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
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