October 30, 2009

UPDATED at 9:30 AM EDT

Yesterday at 6:30 pm EDT, Newt Gingrich updated his website. The false assertion he made Monday evening on Greta Van Susteren's Fox TV program On the Record that “There were four Republican meetings. In all four meetings, State Representative Dede Scozzafava came in first.” has been removed from his site.

The language of the website now reads:

"There were four local GOP meetings in the 23rd district to get feedback on who the party would nominate and ultimately a vote by the eleven county chairs. Dede Scozzafava is an elected state representative from the largest county in the district who understands local issues. Doug Hoffman, who does not live in the district, did not receive a single vote. Scozzafava was ultimately the unanimous choice of the party chairs.*

Considering it was a unanimous decision, the threshold for the national conservative establishment to try and override their decision ought to be very high.

* A previous version of this statement contained a description of the nomination process that was incorrect. We regret the error."

You can read the full corrected story on Newt's web site here:

Bob Dugan, the Fulton County New York Republican County Committeeman who publicly called the former Speaker out yesterday remains unimpressed.

In an exclusive interview with The TCOT Report last night, Dugan called out the Speaker again:

"My message to Newt Gingrich is this: You still have it wrong. I was there [at the Speculator, New York regional forum to interview Congressional candidates for the Republican nomination in NY 23]. I am extraordinarily disappointed that a Reagan Revolutionary would take this tack of endorsing Dede Scozzafava to further split the Republican Party. We're not splitting it. You are.

When we walked out, we walked out supporting Paul Maroun unanimously in Fulton County. I don't know about Hamilton County, but Fulton County was unanimously for Paul Maroun, not Dede Scozzafava."

Dugan continued his message to Gingrich, leaving this comment on the Speaker's web site yesterday:

" I implore you, a former Reagan Revolutionary, to reconsider, and come back to your roots. Its the RIGHT thing to do. I encourage you to contact me if you would like to have a frank discussion on the issue. I'd be happy to show ya around! "

The former Speaker has not responded to Dugan's invitation, nor has he responded to numerous requests for a direct response to the TCOT REPORT to the story yesterday posted here, "Who Lied to Newt Gingrich?"

To read our original investigative report from October 19, 2009 that demonstrated the nomination of Scozzafava as Republican was tainted from the beginning, and in fact represented a "top down cram down" of a liberal RINO by Washington and Albany onto a conservative rank and file, go here.

A careful examination of what his website now says reveals the inaccurate use of the word "unanimous" by the Speaker:

"Scozzafava was ultimately the unanimous choice of the party chairs… Considering it was a unanimous decision, the threshold for the national conservative establishment to try and override their decision ought to be very high."

This too, however, is a false assertion.

Seven of the eleven Republican County Chairmen in NY 23 opposed Scozzafava's nomination in the first round of balloting that took place on July 22,2009, and to this day two of the eleven county chairmen have not publicly endorsed her.

On July 22, 2009 the eleven county chairmen in the district met in Potsdam, New York to select the nominee of the Republican Party. Nine chairmen were present in person, one was in contact by phone with her designated representative, and one was not present, but had given his proxy vote to another county chairman.

In the first ballot, only four of the eleven county chairmen selected Dede Scozzafava. Seven of the eleven county chairmen selected a conservative candidate other than Scozzafava.

On the second ballot, Janet Duprey, the Clinton County Chairman who also serves in the Assembly where she votes in liberal lock step with her good friend and Assembly colleague Dede Scozzafava, switched her vote from conservative Paul Maroun, who was the clear majority choice of Republicans who participated in the “feedback” generating Plattsburgh, New York candidate forum, to Scozzafava. Duprey has PUBLICLY ACKNOWLEDGED that the majority of the votes from Clinton County Republican Committeemen who attended the Plattsburgh regional forum were cast for Paul Maroun. Due to the weighted vote nature of the nomination process, this clear breach of voter trust by Duprey threw the nomination to Scozzafava.

Gingrich’s statement that Scozzafava was “the unanimous choice of the party chairs” is disengenous to the extreme.

One of the eleven county chairmen, Susan McNeil of Fulton County, to this day refuses to publicly endorse Scozzafava. McNeil has publicly acknowledged that there is absolutely no support for Scozzafava among Fulton County Republicans.

Oneida County Chairman George Joseph has publicly acknowledged that he was not happy with the Scozzafava nomination, and has written the election off. Joseph voted for a conservative candidate, Matt Doheny, in the first ballot.

Oswego County Chairman George Williams voted for a conservative candidate, Matt Doheny, in the first ballot.

Essex County Chairman Ron Jackson voted for a conservative candidate, Paul Maroun, in the first round.

Hamilton County Chairman William Farber voted for a conservative candidate, Paul Maroun, in the first round.

Franklin County Chairman Jim Ellis voted for a conservative candidate, Paul Maroun, in the first round.

In an exclusive interview with the TCOT Report today, Ellis stated:

"I disagree with her strenuously on her social stances, but I will support the party's choice made by my colleagues."

This statement by Ellis does not represent an endorsement of Scozzafava, but instead represents a carefully crafted public position set forward by an experienced local political leader who knows that after the election he will have to be able to get along with three different groups: the winner of the Congressional election and his or her new staff, his fellow county chairmen, and newly minted GOP State Chairman Ed Cox and his staff.

As an historian, Newt Gingrich should understand that Scozzafava’s “unanimous” selection to which he refers fails to meet the definition of “unanimous” that most recorders of history have in mind. Indeed, it seems to have more in common with the kind of “unanimous” support the Bolshevik platform received during the Communist Russian Revolution than the “unanimous” support we know in the United States of America.



Author's Note

I was born in Oswego County, attended elementary school in Clinton County, and attended junior high school in Madison County. All three counties are in NY 23.



Michael Patrick Leahy is the author of Rules for Conservative Radicals and the publisher of The TCOT Report.

page 1

Return to The TCOT Report