The Placid Conservative
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RIGHT
REPUBLICANISM
Look for
national conservatives to begin amping up pressure on New York
State Republicans who placed Dede
Scozzafava, a moderate, on the ballot to fill the
seat of Rep. John McHugh, the Obama
Administration’s pick for Secretary of the Army. Democrats have
put Bill Owens on the ballot, and
both candidates are awaiting Governor David
Paterson’s decision on a special election
date.
The wild card, however is Doug Hoffman,
who was spurned by the Republican establishment and is now
running for the McHugh seat on the Conservative Party line. “He’s
the rock star of this race if things break right,” says a
longtime political activist in New York. “The state Republican
Party and the NRCC [National Republican Congressional Committee]
need to learn that conservatives aren’t just going to let them
screw up a good opportunity. We have to save them from
themselves.”
Hoffman is expecting at least two major endorsements early this
week, perhaps as early as Monday, from well-known, national
conservative leaders. “McHugh’s district is not a slam dunk for
Democrats and Republicans shouldn’t be afraid of running
conservatives who have some clear principles,” says a pollster
who is familiar with the NY-23 district. “If the GOP had run a
conservative here, it would have been an interesting bellwether.”
Scozzafava is a ten-year state legislator and served as the whip
for the minority Republican assembly; she is viewed inside the
party as a moderate who is pro-choice and supports same-sex
marriage. She was selected to run by Republican Party county
chairs located in the 23rd Congressional district. In previous
elections, her name appeared on multiple ballot lines including
the progressive Working Families Party, which has extensive ties
to the national ACORN operation, among other radical groups.
Hoffman is a CPA from Lake Placid, who has been active in the
community going back to his time working on the 1980 Lake Placid
Olympics. Some state political observers believe that if Hoffman
can press ahead, particularly in fundraising, there is enough
time for party officials to dump Scozzafava so that the ballot
isn’t split between the GOP and the Conservative Party.
Scozzafava has begun surrounding herself with long time GOP and
RNC establishment types, many with ties to the failed McCain
campaign, including spokesman Matt Burns,
who assisted in running the press operation for the RNC and for
McCain in 2008.
DISCOVERY CHANNELS
Several lawyers
currently working for the Department of Justice in political
appointee positions have been offering advice to ACORN in the
organization’s attempts to regain its footing after the media
storm surrounding its employees’ unethical behavior caught on
film.
According to Department of Justice sources, these attorneys did
work for ACORN in pro bono capacities prior to accepting jobs in
the Civil and the Civil Rights Divisions of the department after
the Obama election in 2008.
“It’s not against department rules to be helping friends, but it
presents a conflict of interest, particularly since several state
and local governments are opening investigations into ACORN state
organizations,” says one DOJ source.
But ACORN apparently wasn’t listening to all of the advice it was
getting. Last week, the ACORN office in Baltimore filed suit
against the young filmmakers who went undercover into ACORN
offices posing as a pimp and a prostitute. The only problem:
Baltimore’s ACORN office is not an independent entity. Instead,
it is operated by the national ACORN organization, and some legal
observers now believe the lawsuit opens up the entire national
organization to discovery by the legal team for the young
defendants, something even Congressional investigators haven’t
been able to do for the past 10 years.
