Jim Tedisco

Jim Tedisco
Member of the New York Senate
from the 49th district
Assumed office
January 4, 2017
Preceded by Hugh Farley
Member of the New York State Assembly
from the 112th district
In office
January 3, 2013 – January 4, 2017
Preceded by Tony Jordan
Succeeded by Mary Beth Walsh
Member of the New York State Assembly
from the 110th district
In office
January 3, 2003 – January 3, 2013
Preceded by Chris Ortloff
Succeeded by Phillip Steck
Member of the New York State Assembly
from the 103rd district
In office
January 3, 1993 – January 3, 2003
Preceded by Arnold Proskin
Succeeded by Pat Manning
Member of the New York State Assembly
from the 107th district
In office
January 3, 1983 – January 3, 1993
Preceded by Clark Wemple
Succeeded by Arnold Proskin
Minority Leader of the New York State Assembly
In office
November 29, 2005 – April 3, 2009[1]
Governor George Pataki
Eliot Spitzer
David Paterson
Preceded by Charles H. Nesbitt
Succeeded by Brian Kolb
Personal details
Born James Nicholas Tedisco
(1950-07-15) July 15, 1950[2]
Schenectady, New York, United States
Political party Republican
Spouse(s) Mary Song[3]
Residence Glenville, New York (primary)
Saratoga Springs, New York[4]
Alma mater Union College
Website Senate Website

James Nicholas Tedisco[5] (born July 15, 1950) is an American politician. He is the New York State Senator representing 49th District, which includes parts of Saratoga, Schenectady and Herkimer Counties and all of Fulton and Hamilton Counties.[6] He served in the Assembly since 1983 and was the Assembly's Minority Leader from November 2005 until his resignation in April 2009. He was the Republican nominee in a special election for the 20th US Congressional District to fill the seat vacated by Kirsten Gillibrand, following Gillibrand's appointment to the United States Senate. On January 4, 2017 he was officially sworn into office to serve as the new State Senator for New York's 49th State Senate District.

Early life, education, and academic career

Jim Tedisco graduated from Bishop Gibbons High School in 1968, and then received his B.A. in Psychology from Union College. While at Union, he played varsity basketball for three years where he set 15 scoring and assist records, and left as Union's all-time leading scorer with 1,632 points. Tedisco earned multiple athletic awards during his college career, and was inducted into the Union Athletics Hall of Fame in 2002.[7] In 1997, he was given the Silver Anniversary Award from the NCAA.[8]

He went on to get a graduate degree in Special Education from the College of Saint Rose. From 1973 to 1982, Tedisco was a guidance counselor at Notre Dame-Bishop Gibbons High School in Schenectady, and was also the varsity basketball coach and athletic director. Later, he was a special education teacher, resource room instructor and varsity basketball coach at Bethlehem Central High School in Delmar, a suburb of Albany.

Tedisco is a resident of Glenville where he lives with his wife and son.

Schenectady City Council

Tedisco entered public service in 1977 when, at the age of 27, he was elected the youngest Schenectady City Councilman at that time. He was re-elected by an overwhelming majority four years later.

New York Assembly

Elections

In 1982, Assemblyman Clark Wemple retired from the State Assembly, leaving an opening in the district. Tedisco won a four-way race in Republican primary, and then won the general election.[5] As a freshman legislator, Tedisco was named Ranking Minority Member of the Children and Families Committee.

Due to redistricting, Tedisco represented the 107th District from 1983 to 1993, the 103rd District from 1993 to 2003,[9] the 110th District from 2003 to 2012, and most recently represented the 112th District since from 2012 to 2017. The 112th District consists of portions of Schenectady County and Saratoga County, including the towns of Greenfield, Providence, Milton, Galway, Ballston, Charlton, Clifton Park, Halfmoon, and Glenville.[6]

Tedisco ran uncontested in the 2008 general election[10] and won the 2010 general election with 64 percent of the vote.[11][12]

In 2010, he won reelection against Bahram Keramati. In 2012, he won reelection against Michele E. Draves, and he won his 15th term in 2014 against Jared B. Hickey scoring his highest margin of victory by 77% of the votes.

Tenure

James Nicholas Tedisco (R,C,I-Glenville) was first elected to the Assembly in 1982 and served as Minority Leader from 2005 to 2009. Throughout his tenure, Tedisco advocated for state government and budget reforms. He has authored numerous bills designed to make government more accountable to the people and bring about an on-time, fiscally responsible budget, though none passed the Assembly.

In 2014, Tedisco was widely praised for sponsoring constitutional amendment, Proposition 2, to save millions of tax dollars, make the legislature more efficient and stop the wasteful printing of paper that's placed on legislators' desk by enabling digital copies of bills to suffice.

Realizing that animal cruelty is a bridge crime and those who abuse animals often go on to hurt people, Tedisco was the driving force behind passage of the landmark Buster's Law to protect our pets by making animal cruelty a felony. In 2011, Tedisco advocated for the first-ever NYS Animal Advocacy Day.

As the author of the proposed Common Core Parental Refusal Act, Tedisco has been a leader in the opt-out movement to stop the developmentally inappropriate over-testing of children that's some feel rob them of their love of learning and teachers of their creativity.

Tedisco introduced "Charlotte's Law" to permanently terminate driver's license privileges for serial drunk and dangerous drivers. While Tedisco's bill was not passed, the DMV enacted regulations similar to what was proposed in the bill.

In 2009, Tedisco opposed former Governor Paterson's plan to force drivers to get new DMV license plates.

On January 4, 2017 Jim Tedisco was officially sworn as the new State Senator for New York's 49th State Senate District(However being unofficially sworn in 6 years prior, he was only officially sworn into office as of January 4, 2017). The 49th Senate District includes parts of Saratoga, Schenectady and Herkimer Counties and all of Fulton and Hamilton counties.

Committee assignments

Tedisco was chosen as the Ranking Minority Member on the Committee on Children and Families and Chairman of the Assembly Minority Task Force on Missing Children. As Chairman of the Assembly Minority Task Force on Missing Children, Tedisco helped pass non-custodial release legislation to protect children from being abducted. Tedisco led the charge to enact the civil confinement law to keep dangerous sex offenders off the streets. Following years of research, legislation and statewide public hearings on the subject, he authored a book in 1996 entitled, "Missing Children: A psychological approach to understanding the causes and consequences of stranger and non-stranger abduction of children."

He also served on the Assembly Committee on Economic Development, Assembly Committee on Racing and Wagering, Assembly Committee on Banks, and Assembly Committee on Rules.[13]

In the New York State Senate, Tedisco serves as Chairman of the Social Services Committee. He also serves as a member of the following Senate Committees: Banks; Codes; Crime Victims, Crime and Correction; Elections; Environmental Conservation: Health; and Libraries. Tedisco also is a member of the Task Force on Heroin Addictionand the Workforce Development Task Force.

2009 special congressional election

On January 23, 2009, after Governor David Paterson announced that he had selected Representative Kirsten Gillibrand to fill the United States Senate seat vacated by Hillary Clinton, Tedisco stated his intention to run for Congress to replace Gillibrand in New York's 20th Congressional District.[14] Though not a resident of the district,[15][16] Tedisco became its Republican nominee on January 27, 2009, and ran against Democrat Scott Murphy.[17] The initial count from the election had Murphy leading by 59 votes, out of over 155,000 cast on March 31, 2009. This tally reportedly did not include any of the 10,000 requested absentee ballots, which needed only to have been postmarked by that date and could have been returned as late as April 7 (domestically) or April 13 (internationally).[18] Eventually, about 7,000 absentee ballots were received; the vote count as of April 24 had Murphy ahead by 399 votes.[19] On April 24, Tedisco conceded the election to Murphy.[20]

Tedisco subsequently resigned as Assembly minority leader, reportedly at the behest of fellow Assembly Republicans who felt he was distracted by his House candidacy.

New York State Senate

Elections

In 2016 Senator Hugh Farley retired, leaving an opening in the 49th State Senate District. After Tedisco handily won the Republican primary he went on to defeat General Election opponent Chad Putman. Tedisco won the election with 69% of the vote on November 8, 2016.

References

  1. ↑ "Assembly Republicans pick Canandaigua's Kolb to replace Tedisco". The Business Review. April 6, 2009. Archived from the original on April 9, 2009. Retrieved April 6, 2009.
  2. ↑ "Asm. James Tedisco (R-NY 112th District)". The Coalition of Behavioral Health Agencies, Inc. Retrieved April 6, 2009.
  3. ↑ David M. Halbfinger (March 30, 2009). "On Election Day, He'll Be Everywhere but the Voting Booth". cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com. The New York Times. Archived from the original on April 2, 2009. Retrieved April 6, 2009.
  4. ↑ Mulholland, Mark (March 18, 2005). "Tedisco can't vote for himself in Congressional race". WNYT. Archived from the original on April 19, 2006. Retrieved April 6, 2009.
  5. 1 2 "Assemblyman James Tedisco: 49th Senate District". New York Senate. Retrieved January 5, 2017.
  6. 1 2 "NYS 49th Senate District Map". New York State Senate.
  7. ↑ "Hall of Fame, Jim Tedisco Class of 1972". Union College Athletics. Archived from the original on July 17, 2011. Retrieved April 6, 2009.
  8. ↑ "Silver Anniversary Awards". National Collegiate Athletic Association. January 13, 1997. Retrieved April 6, 2009.
  9. ↑ "Our Campaigns – Candidate – James N. Tedisco". ourcampaigns.com. Our Campaigns. Retrieved April 7, 2009.
  10. ↑ "Election Results 2008: New York State Legislature". The New York Times. 2008. Archived from the original on May 11, 2012.
  11. ↑ "Election Results 2010: New York State Legislature". The New York Times. 2010. Archived from the original on June 15, 2012.
  12. ↑ "Assembly Election Returns: November 2, 2010" (PDF). New York State Board of Elections. 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 18, 2013.
  13. ↑ Committee Membership
  14. ↑ "Now who will replace Gillibrand?". WRGB CBS 6 Albany. January 23, 2009. Archived from the original on January 30, 2009. Retrieved April 6, 2009.
  15. ↑ "Election day in wild NY House race" by Associated Press, Boston Herald, November 3, 2009 Archived April 2, 2012, at the Wayback Machine.
  16. ↑ "NY special election seen as Obama's 1st test" by Bill Meyer, Cleveland Plain Dealer, March 29, 2009
  17. ↑ Curtis Schick (January 28, 2009). "GOP picks Tedisco to run on Republican ticket". Capital News 9. Archived from the original on February 28, 2009. Retrieved April 6, 2009.
  18. ↑ Richburg, Keith B.; Kane, Paul (April 1, 2009). "Absentee Ballots to Decide N.Y. House Race". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 6, 2009.
  19. ↑ "Unofficial Combined Machine and Paper Results for NY 20th Congressional District" (PDF). New York State Board of Elections. April 23, 2009. Retrieved April 26, 2009.
  20. ↑ "Tedisco concedes; Murphy headed to Congress". Times Union (Albany). February 24, 2009. Archived from the original on May 2, 2009. Retrieved February 24, 2009.
New York Assembly
Preceded by
Clark C. Wemple		 New York State Assembly
107th District
1983–1992		 Succeeded by
Arnold W. Proskin
Preceded by
Arnold W. Proskin		 New York State Assembly
103rd District
1993–2002		 Succeeded by
Patrick R. Manning
Preceded by
Chris Ortloff		 New York State Assembly
110th District
2003–2012		 Succeeded by
Phillip Steck
Preceded by
Tony Jordan		 New York State Assembly
112th District
2013–2016		 Succeeded by
Mary Beth Walsh
Preceded by
Charles H. Nesbitt		 Minority Leader in the New York State Assembly
2005–2009		 Succeeded by
Brian Kolb
New York State Senate
Preceded by
Hugh T. Farley		 New York State Senate
49th District
2017-present		 Incumbent
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