Congressman Murphy tries the tight rope on the gas issue

No matter what you think of politicians, you have to admire their endurance. The sheer number of handshakes, the smiles that weather even the most impolite questions from constituents, the meals not eaten at public events! Think, especially, of the congressional representatives, up for reelection every two years, and woe to those in competitive districts!

Such is the lot of Scott Murphy, who is not quite a year into his tenure down in Washington, having won a special election to claim the seat vacated by Kirsten Gillibrand, who had been tapped for the U.S. Senate when a certain woman named Clinton became Secretary of State. Murphy won a tight race against his Republican opponent, Jim Tedisco, which certainly did not endear him to the political apparatus of the far western portion of his district in Delaware County. Here it's not a sin to be a Democrat but certainly it ain't Easy Street.

Murphy hit nine towns in Delaware County yesterday (January 7) in about seven hours. That's a lot of driving, folks--in square mileage we're almost on par with Rhode Island--and while we weren't on hand for all of the Congressman's flag dedications, tours and impromptu discussions, we can bet that he endured more than his share of tough questions.

We can attest that his lunch, taken at Woody's Country Kitchen in Andes, was a gastronomically frustrating affair for him. Murphy picked at a bowl of soup, and while Supervisor Martin Donnelly called for five minutes, during which the Congressman might actually clean his plate, Murphy talked for most of the hour allotted for the stop. An aide wrote down the names of constituents and details of their questions, and an email sign-up sheet moved through the dining room. Eventually Murphy handled questions on health care, the banking industry and job growth. But he addressed natural gas drilling before he even sat down at his designated table.

Overall, we'd rate Murphy's handling of the gas drilling as mediocre. It was a classic, if half-hearted, attempt to walk down a crowded corridor without jostling anyone on either side. "I'm looking for a solution to guarantee the safety of the drinking water. At the same time, I'm hopeful we can reap some of the benefits of economic development." Yep, we all hope for that, too, whether we happen to be concerned first for the environment or our mineral rights. But not many of us believe everyone's is going to satisfied; in fact, most everyone believes there will be big winners and big losers; this type of rhetoric is nothing but boilerplate, and thin at that.

Murphy went on to take an easy shot at the city (smart move in these parts, yet more boilerplating): he has 'limited sympathy' for the city when it comes to the projected price tag of filtration (generally estimated at $10 billion) when residents of his community, and others upstate, have already paid for mandated filtration. He also made a pitch for natural gas in terms of local resources: right now, "we send $500 billion a year to places I don't like" to purchase energy. The message: do it here if you can. While he did make mention of natural gas being a cleaner fuel alternative than oil, this wasn't an important part of his pitch.

Overall, our assessment is that Murphy hasn't devoted a lot of resources to this issue which, considering that for much of his constituency it's a non-issue (the 20th is mostly located on the western edge of the Hudson), isn't terribly surprising. Also, it's unlikely he's going to be able to influence the debate or the legislation, since this is mostly a state issue.

Murphy is much better informed, eloquent and persuasive concerning bank regulation and the intracacy of the health insurance industry; we guess that he may well, in the end, be earning his salary down in the swamps of Washington.