OpEd Contributor
Chris Choccola: Politics and principle in upstate New York
By: Chris Choccola
OpEd Contributor
October 6, 2009
Rep. John McHugh, R-NY, recently left Congress to become Secretary of the Army, thereby setting up a special election to replace him in Upstate New York’s 23rd District. Recently, the Club for Growth’s Political Action Committee (PAC) made an endorsement in the special election, and for the first time in our organization’s history, we endorsed a third-party candidate.
When we did not endorse the Republican candidate, we caused some hand-wringing among Washington and New York’s Republican political establishments.
I’m proud to defend our endorsed candidate, Conservative Party nominee Doug Hoffman, and I can do so without having to make any excuses for his positions on key economic growth issues. I would ask the Republican congressional leadership if they can say the same about their preferred candidate, Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava.
This race comes against a backdrop of an impressive record by House Republicans this year. They unanimously opposed President Obama’s reckless trillion dollar so-called “stimulus” spending plan. They have been loud and clear in their opposition to Obama’s budget that contained massive tax hikes.
Almost to a member, they oppose Big Labor’s outrageous Card Check power grab. Increasingly, they even oppose extension of the bailouts that many of them voted for last year. That’s a record taxpayers appreciate, and one Republicans in Congress will succeed with in 2010’s elections.
That’s why their embrace of Scozzafava is so hard to swallow, and ultimately hard to square with their professed renewed embrace of limited-government principles.
Let’s be clear about Scozzafava’s record. She has not just left the Republican fold a time or two, or even a handful of times. She is the most liberal Republican in the New York Legislature, and undoubtedly would be the most liberal Republican in Congress.
Scozzafava proudly supports the Obama stimulus bill, the very one that 100 percent of House Republicans opposed. She supports bailouts. She voted for Democratic Gov. David Paterson’s huge tax-and-spend budget last year.
She supports the odious Card Check bill. She supports the earmark process that gave us the Bridge to Nowhere, and she refuses to rule out future tax hikes. She has even previously been endorsed by ACORN’s Working Families Party.
It’s no wonder prominent liberal commentators have gone out of their way to note that Scozzafava is the most left-wing candidate in the race, even more liberal than the Democrats’ nominee.
Republican primary voters did not nominate Scozzafava. Nor was she selected by a convention nominating process such as exists in several states. Instead, local party bosses chose her and the national party leaders gleefully jumped on board, pledging their full support, and calling her an “ideal candidate.”
I understand that the Republican Party apparatus is going to support the Republican candidate every time, no matter what that candidate is like, even if it has to contort its positions beyond all recognition to accomplish the task. But, as a group dedicated to promoting policies that encourage economic growth and limited government, the Club for Growth is not paralyzed by such unprincipled logic.
Thankfully, Lake Placid businessman Doug Hoffman emerged as a viable third-party candidate who believes in economic freedom and less government. The Conservative Party’s Hoffman calls himself the “real Republican” in the race, and in pretty much every policy sense that’s what he is. For fiscally conservative voters, choosing between a committed liberal and a pro-growth businessman is an easy decision.
Our PAC enthusiastically endorsed Hoffman because we believe the quickest way for fiscal conservatives to retake the majority in the House is to help fiscal conservatives win elections. We’re not interested in helping elect people who support the big-government ideas pushed by Obama and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, regardless of which party’s banner they run under.
This all goes to a larger point. If Scozzafava wins, what kind of “victory” would that be for the GOP?
Yes, she would cast a vote for a Republican Speaker of the House. But she would also be one more vote for Card Check, one more vote for stimulus spending, one more vote for bailouts. It would further tarnish the Republican brand at a time when the vast majority of House Republicans are working hard to rebuild it. In so doing, it would further delay, not speed up, the moment when the GOP wins back the majority in Congress.
Alternatively, this race could represent a golden opportunity for Republicans. The American public doesn’t want more stimulus spending, more bailouts, and higher taxes. They don’t want nationalized health care or an economy-killing cap and trade scheme. If Hoffman wins, it sends a signal to Obama and the Democrats that enough is enough. Now that’s something both the Club for Growth and most House Republicans could celebrate.
Former Rep. Chris Choccola, R-IN, is president of the Club for Growth.
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