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.)
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