More tragicomedy in Albany

Sometimes when I read the political news, I don't know whether to laugh or cry at the hypocrisy.

In the 20th NY Congressional district special election, Republican Jim Tedisco, who was trailing Democrat Scott Murphy after election night by 59 votes, is now apparently ahead by 12 votes, according to Politickerny.com.

Updated: After more re-counting Friday, the race is apparently now an exact dead heat.

"We want total openness and transparency, and let the chips fall where they may. We feel secure when the ballots are counted we will win," Tedisco said. The transformation in The Grandstander's attitude in now demanding that no voter is disenfranchised is remarkable. I'm sure many wish the Eureka moment had come three weeks earlier, when his henchmen were disenfranchising thousands of citizens.

Even more amusing was the spin put on the race by the national GOP. The Times-Union quoted National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Pete Sessions, "Jim Tedisco has closed the gap in a district that has come to exemplify Democratic dominance in the Northeast in recent elections."

Democratic dominance?!

As Planet Albany blog pointed out, the 20th is the most Republican congressional district in New York state.

How much so?

As of last November, Republicans had a 70,000 voter ADVANTAGE in the district's enrollment.

A 70,000 advantage in enrollment translated into (so far) a 12 vote lead for a well-known state politician against a businessman who was completely unknown in his own town of residence.

If a matchup of two candidates with these respective qualities can result in a virtual dead heat in a district with these enrollment demographics, then it shows how thoroughly discredited the GOP brand is after eight years of Bush-Cheney... even in a place that's been represented by Republicans in the House of Representatives for approximately 114 of the last 120 years.

This is the last place in New York state that should be under 'Democratic dominance.'

But there's plenty of hypocrisy in our state legislature too. Both Governor David Paterson and Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith came to office on the promises of reform and transparency and then proceded to shove through what most everyone has called the most secretive budget process ever in New York... no small insult given the recent history of the place.

Of course, the shoving through is not quite done yet because two Democratic senators have been in and out of the hospital. With a narrow 32-30 majority and no lieutenant governor to break any ties, Smith needs every single vote to pass the budget bills. He just better hope he can increase his majority post haste, in case the one indicted for allegedly slashing his girlfriend's face with broken glass is convicted.

But Senate Republicans have been even more hypocrtical. First, they were whining about the slow pace of democratization of the chamber by the Democrats... a chamber the GOP controlled non-stop for over 40 consecutive years. Now, they're snivelling about the allocation of budget resources, again blaming the Democrats for acting like... them.

Senate Republicans are unhappy that they're getting just $8 million of the $85 million available for member items in their chamber. That is about the same level the Democrats received when the Republicans were in charge, a top Senate Democratic official said.

You can't make this stuff up.

Accordingly, The New York Daily News (a surprisingly decent source of reporting on state news) is running a series of Albany entitled State of Shame. The most recent piece is here and it has links to previous pieces.