Gibson Picks Up Business Group’s Endorsement

Republican congressional candidate Chris Gibson has picked up the backing of the National Federation of Independent Businesses.

“We have made the decision to endorse Chris Gibson,” Mike Elmendorf, the NFIB state director, said Wednesday. “And we are going to be announcing that publicly, I believe, next week. We’re working on the details there.”

Elmendorf said the decision was “a tough call,” but the NFIB’s national political action committee concluded that Gibson would be “a more consistent vote on our issues” than U.S. Rep. Scott Murphy, D-Glens Falls.

“Scott Murphy has only a 42 percent voting record with us over his time in Congress. That’s not a passing grade,” Elmendorf said.

Murphy’s votes that were contrary to the organization’s position included energy and health care reform legislation, according to an NFIB scorecard.

Murphy’s campaign issued a press release on Tuesday with quotations from NFIB officials praising Murphy for his sponsorship of legislation to allow banks to offer interest-bearing small business checking accounts, and for Murphy’s vote to repeal a section of the health care reform bill that required businesses to report purchases of more than $600 to the Internal Revenue Service.

“Obviously, there’s a difference between supporting the work that a particular member of Congress is doing on a particular piece of legislation and endorsing that person,” Elmendorf said in a telephone interview on Wednesday.

“We think he’s (Gibson) going to be a much stronger, more consistent advocate on our issues and will be a consistent vote on our issues.”

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