Nine Truths About Dede Scozzafava

Dede Scozzafava has become a metaphor the last 72 hours for everything that’s wrong with the Republican Party.

Some people say she’s a red-flag politician because she was ever allowed to join the GOP in the first place.

Others say her importance lies in the fact that she’s no longer welcome.

In the mix, there’s been a lot of inaccurate reporting and commentary. So let me lay out what I see as some truths about Assemblywoman Scozzafava.

1. In this election, Dede Scozzafava was never endorsed by Acorn. Didn’t happen. The Working Families Party (which has some ties to Acorn) endorsed Democrat Bill Owens.

2. Before this election, Scozzafava wasn’t just a Republican, she was a Republican leader, serving as GOP whip in the state Assembly. Pretending she was never part of the in-crowd just doesn’t fly. Toss her under the bus, fine. But don’t pretend that she didn’t use to be one of the drivers.

3. Scozzafava’s views on same-sex marriage (she thinks it’s a civil right) are in line with the stated views of many other New York Republicans elected in the 23rd district — including two of the most powerful: state Assemblywomen Janet Duprey and Teresa Sayward. Plattsburgh, on the eastern side of the district, was the first city in New York to elect an openly gay mayor…and he was a Republican.

4. Scozzafava’s relationships with labor groups are certainly more intimate than former Rep. John McHugh’s. (She’s married to a regional union organizer). Her embrace of ‘card check’ is a significant and controversial outlier for the GOP. But the North Country the Republican Party has always had close ties to unions.

5. Scozzafava wasn’t chosen by “Republican elites.” She was chosen by eleven county GOP chairmen from some of the most rural corners of New York state. A less than transparent process? Yes. A fix engineered by faceless party elites out of touch with their communities? No.

6. Scozzafava’s implosion wasn’t all Doug Hoffman’s (or Rush Limbaugh’s) fault. Put bluntly, she ran an awful, no-good, very bad campaign. She never managed to raise much money. Her campaign ads were flat and her messages were muddled at best. The financial troubles plaguing her family business didn’t help.

7. Republicans screwed this up in more ways than one. The national- and state-level GOPs backing Scozzafava ran one of the most tone-deaf campaigns in recent memory. And recent memory includes the fiascos that resulted in Democrats winning a state Senate seat and a House seat (NY-20) in the North Country.

8. Scozzafava is, for lack of a better word, a maverick. Until this fall, she clearly believed that the Republican Party had room for someone like her, with distinctly different views on key issues. She seemed to feel comfortable within the GOP. But she also knew she was pushing her luck at times (on her support for gay marriage, in particular) and kept going. This is why some people view her endorsement of Democrat Bill Owens as more than just sour grapes.

9. Most political observers here in the North Country thought Dede Scozzafava was a solid Republican choice — and probably unstoppable. If Doug Hoffman hadn’t entered this race, she would have been the next congresswoman from NY-23. What’s more, I’m guessing she would have been a fairly non-controversial one, about as well-liked locally and loyal to her national party leadership as, say, John McHugh. The political climate changed completely with Hoffman’s emergence, but it’s important to remember where we began.