Chris Gibson for Congress
By Mark Frost
Chronicle Editor
Maybe it all came too
easy for Scott Murphy.
Harvard-educated mil-
lionaire moves into town,
his wife (Jennifer Hogan) from one of
the region’s most prominent families.
Decides after a few years here he wants
to be the congressman. No prior pub-
lic service. No working his way up the
northern New York ladder.
Uses his fortune to squelch other
possible
nominees.
(The Daily
News
quoted
a county
Democratic
chairman
as saying,
“Murphy
came to
the table with $600,000 in a mix of his
own money and contributions.”)
Taps his well-heeled Manhattan
friends. His Website in January 2009
reported a fund-raiser on Jan. 29 — ap-
parently the campaign kick-off — at the
Central Park West apartment of Anthony
Vasapolli and Rochelle Hestnas. “Sug-
gested contribution” of $2,400 to be a
“Sponsor,” $1,000 to be a “Host.”
Wins the election by 726 votes out of
160,000 cast, amid the honeymoon glow
of Obama’s presidency after painting
his Republican opponent as a feckless
Albany insider who balked at backing
the stimulus spending.
As his first act in Congress, Scott
proudly sponsors the union-backed,
slyly-named “Free Choice” Act that would
enable a workplace to unionize by col-
lecting signatures on a petition, instead
of a secret ballot. You don’t need much
imagination to see how easily intimida-
tion could be applied. Whaddya mean
you won’t sign?
When we interviewed Scott at the The
Chronicle, I expressed objection both
Published Oct. 28, 2010 • The Chronicle, Glens Falls, NY - chronicle@loneoak.com
to the loss of the secret ballot and to a
separate provision in the bill that would
impose a contract if the two parties
didn’t agree to one.
Scott said, “...right now they go to arbi-
tration if they don’t get to an agreement.”
I said, “They do?”
He said, “I’m pretty sure. We’ll double-
check.”
I said, “Double-check that. That’s a
pretty major thing.”
He said, “I believe initially, in an initial
contract, they go to arbitration if they
don’t reach a contract. But I could be
wrong. That is what I was told by some
businesses recently.”
I half-expected Scott or one of his
people to do the research and get back to
me. They never did. It would have
impressed me if they had. It would have
sent a signal not just of diligence but of
service and humility, a recognition that
I’m a citizen with a legitimate concern.
When John Sweeney first ran, I backed
his opponent Jean Bordewich (one of the
best candidates I’ve ever encountered),
but over time John Sweeney won me
over. I asked questions; he responded.
When Kirsten Gillibrand first ran, I
backed John Sweeney. Over time Kirsten
Gillibrand won me over. She seemed ac-
tually to be trying to tune in to northern
New York. One day I saw her at Poopie’s
in a Democratic entourage; she sur-
prised me by knowing my name. That’s
politics, that’s how it’s done.
One might have thought that Scott
Murphy, a Democrat in an overwhelm-
ingly Republican district, would have
felt the need to learn the local landscape
and comprehend the self-reliant conser-
vatism that is fundamental to northern
New York. Instead he compiles a record
that he could just as easily run on in
Manhattan or even in Nancy Pelosi’s
district.
Besides his ardent backing of the
stimulus (which I call G.E.P.A. — the
Government Employee Protection Act),
he voted for the Health Care law (whose
ultimate goal, I believe, is a government
takeover); for Cap-and-Trade, that would
drive up energy and fuel prices; for the
financial reform bill that might do some
good and will undoubtedly do a lot of
bad, as Glens Falls National Bank CEO
Tom Hoy detailed in a letter to share-
holders.
Sure, Scott pays lip service to fiscal
conservatism, but it’s all for show. For
the really huge spending projects, he
walks the Democratic Party line, then
tosses some symbolic crumbs he figures
the local yokels will swallow.
Scott is a believer in Big Government,
Big Labor and Big Business, which,
despite rhetoric to the
contrary, benefits from Big
Government, which may
be why Jamie Dimon, the
CEO of JPMorgan Chase,
the quintessential big bank,
shows up on Scott’s list of campaign do-
nors, to the tune of $2,000. Big Business
likes more regulation because, first, they
have lobbyists to shape it and, second,
they can divvy the added overhead into
millions of transactions. Not so easy for
a relatively little guy like Glens Falls Na-
tional. It’s the Pepper Turkey scenario.
Scott Murphy the candidate is pack-
aged goods, a narrative concocted by
slick and arrogant political operators
who issue a press release declaring
“Huge win for Scott Murphy in Fi-
nal Debate,” as if it’s a fact, instead of
something for the public to decide. Scott
purports to condemn his opponent for
“negative” campaigning, but it’s a ploy
to be negative himself. “Time after time
Chris Gibson has been caught lying,”
intones a Murphy press release. Mur-
phy’s people seek to crucify Gibson on
something out of context, rather than
engage in a positive, civil discussion.
Some people — the ones perhaps pre-
disposed philosophically — buy the act.
A friend at a not-for-profit said, “Mark,
I’m surprised you’re not enthusiastic
about Scott. He’s a small businessman.
You’re a small businessman.” Scott’s not
a small businessman, I reply. He’s a fi-
nancier. He’s not spending his life build-
ing a business day by day, employing a
dozen or 20 or more employees, meeting
a payroll every week. Do any of us really
know what Scott’s small business is?
Then there’s Chris Gibson. Born and
raised in the district. Worked his way
up the academic ladder, the U.S. Army
ladder, and now the political ladder. As
Murphy’s people love to point out, they
raised much more money than Gibson
did. He made up for it the way we do it
in northern New York — with dogged
groundwork, meeting people, winning
them over one by one. He won me.