CHATHAM—The outcome of the special election for Congress in the 20th District is too close to call even after all polls in the 10-county district reported, according to Albany area TV stations.
Preliminary results showed Democrat Scott Murphy leading Republican James Tedisco by 59 votes, 77,344 to 77, 285, but there are reportedly more than 9,000 absentee ballots that must still be counted, and the deadline for receiving those ballots has not yet expired. Ballots from military personnel serving overseas do not have to arrive at local boards of elections for two weeks.
The 20th District includes all of Columbia County, and preliminary results without the absentee ballots showed Mr. Murphy, a Glens Falls businessman, led Mr. Tedisco, the minority leader of the state Assembly, by a margin of 56% to 44% in this county.
Mr. Murphy’s margin in Dutchess County was smaller, 52% to 48%, and Mr. Tedisco carried Greene County, 55% to 45%, and Rensselaer County, 51% to 49%.
Attention on the race is unlikely to abate until the final results determine a winner sometime after the mid-April deadline for absentee ballots, and it is possible that the loser will mount a legal challenge to the tally. The absentee ballots that have arrived have reportedly been impounded, and a districtwide recount will undoubtedly be conducted before a winner is declared.
The special election was called after Kirsten Gillibrand was appointed to the U.S. Senate to fill the seat vacated by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.
The center of population in the district is Saratoga County, part of which lies within Mr. Tedisco’s Assembly district. He won there by a margin of 54% to 46%. But overall the vote was far closer than registration figures would predict, because Republicans outnumber Democrats in the district by about 70,000. That lopsided difference did not stop Ms. Gillibrand, a Democrat, from winning in 2006 and again in 2008.
Senator Gillibrand, a Greenport resident, stood with Mr. Murphy Tuesday evening, March 31, as he addressed his supporters in Saratoga Springs. Both national parties spent heavily in support of their candidates, seeing the race as a test of the public’s support for the policies of President Obama. Mr. Murphy had not run for public office before this race. Mr. Tedisco has been in the Assembly for more than two decades, and he had high name recognition because of his post as leader of the Republicans in the lower house of the legislature.
In their public remarks after the vote counts were announced Tuesday night, both Mr. Murphy and Mr. Tedisco sounded optimistic. Neither candidate conceded the race nor claimed victory, though both talked about what they plan to do in Washington.
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GOOD NEWS!: Feed Your Mind, Feed a Family brightens Thanksgiving
By Melanie Lekocevic
Capital Region Independent Media
GREENVILLE — No one wants to sit down at an empty table on Thanksgiving, but for some families, that is a very real possibility.
That’s why Capital Region Independent Media, which publishes the Greenville Pioneer, started the Feed Your Mind, Feed a Family program three years ago, to provide free turkey meals, with all the trimmings, to local families.
The company partnered with local sponsors and Tops supermarket on Route 32 to provide free meals to 25 families this holiday season, and handed them out to food pantries and other organizations. The program provided another 75 meals to food assistance programs in the Ravena area.
Feed Your Mind, Feed a Family is the brainchild of Warren Dews Jr., publisher of the Greenville Pioneer, who started it years ago in other communities and then brought the program to Greenville three years ago.
“I have been doing this program for 15 or 20 years,” Dews said. “I started it in Elmira, NY. As a marketing guy, my job was to market the paper but also try to make revenue and get new customers. I wanted to do that while also touching the community.”
With each of the 25 turkey meals enough to feed between six and 10 people, Dews estimates the giveaway will feed more than 200 people.
In addition to sponsors that financially support the program, a portion of new subscriptions to the Greenville Pioneer also helps pay for the meals.
“This is covered by new subscriptions and sponsorships from our big advertisers,” Dews said. “Over the years, doing this program, I think I have probably fed, easily, 6,000 or 7,000 people. Each meal feeds between six and 10 people, and if you give it to a food pantry, they can probably stretch it even further.”
Sponsors say they are happy to support the program.
“We do business in the community and we are really happy to give back in any way that we can,” said Dave MacLauchlin, plant manager at Holcim. “This is a great event and a good cause, and we are happy to participate. We look forward to doing it again next year.”
Carver Companies has been a sponsor of the program for the past three years, since it first launched locally.
“We get involved because this is a great way to give back to the community,” said Josh Kowalski, vice president of Sales and Business Development at Carver Companies. “It’s that time of year when giving becomes more important. It’s important all year long, but during the holidays there are people who are suffering. We have been fortunate to do good business and we want to give back.”
The meals, which include a turkey, box of stuffing, potatoes and vegetables, were provided by Tops.
“It’s outstanding to give back to the community,” said Manager Wyatt Anderson from Tops. “The community is the lifeblood of Tops. We exist solely to take care of the community and the community takes care of us at the same time, so it’s great to give back anytime we can.”
TCI has been a program sponsor since the beginning.
“We think it is really important to be a good corporate citizen, so we get involved with a lot of different events,” said Mark Westcott from TCI. “One of the most fundamental things is making sure people have enough to eat; that is especially true around the holidays but it’s year-round, too, so we support this event. We also work with other different groups in the community, particularly those that support kids.”
For Ron Teator at Crossroads Ford, the program gives sponsors a way to give back to those who could use a helping hand.
“It’s great to help out needy families and I am so glad that our dear friend Mr. Dews put this together so we can help our community,” Teator said.
Debra Danner, from Coldwell Banker Prime Properties, helped hand out the meals the week before Thanksgiving.
“Anything that is good for the community, I want to be a part of,” Danner said. “There are a lot of people that could use the help and if we can help someone, that is awesome. We should all help each other where we can.”
