| Revision as of 08:07, 30 July 2010 editWoohookitty (talk | contribs)Administrators611,229 editsm WikiCleaner 0.99 - Repairing link to disambiguation page - You can help!← Previous edit | Revision as of 20:07, 6 August 2010 edit undoBS24 (talk | contribs)1,886 edits →Life and career: It sounded like opposing gun control made you a liberal Republican.Next edit → | ||
| Line 32: | Line 32: | ||
| First elected to the New York State Assembly in 1998, Scozzafava is the current ranking Republican on the Codes Committee, as well as a member of the Education and Local Government committees. For the 2001-2002 session she served on the Standing Committees on Economic Development, Education, and Social Services. She was also the first-ever female Minority Leader Pro Tempore in the history of the State Assembly. Prior to her election to the Assembly, she served as a member of the Gouverneur Board of Trustees from 1989 to 1993 and was Mayor of Gouverneur from 1993 to 1998.<ref name=Bio/> | First elected to the New York State Assembly in 1998, Scozzafava is the current ranking Republican on the Codes Committee, as well as a member of the Education and Local Government committees. For the 2001-2002 session she served on the Standing Committees on Economic Development, Education, and Social Services. She was also the first-ever female Minority Leader Pro Tempore in the history of the State Assembly. Prior to her election to the Assembly, she served as a member of the Gouverneur Board of Trustees from 1989 to 1993 and was Mayor of Gouverneur from 1993 to 1998.<ref name=Bio/> | ||
| A liberal Republican, Scozzafava supports ] and ]<ref name="PostStandard"/> |
A liberal Republican, Scozzafava supports ] and ]<ref name="PostStandard"/>. However, she opposes gun control and has a lifetime "A" rating from the ].<ref> Seiler, Casey. . ], 2009-10-07.</ref> She also has strong ties to organized labor, something which is not common for most Republicans.<ref> from ]</ref> In agreement with most Republicans, she is against cap-and-trade<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2009/10/newt_gingrich_endorses_dede_sc.html|title= Newt Gingrich endorses Dede Scozzafava in NY-23 House race|last=Weiner|first=Mark|date=October 15, 2009|publisher=]|accessdate=2009-11-05}}</ref> and is in favor of maintaining the Bush tax cuts. <ref>Jude Seymour , ''Watertown Daily Times'', 2009-10-19 </ref> | ||
| Scozzafava considered running in a special election for the 48th ] district, which includes most of the northwestern portion of her assembly district, in 2008. However, area Republicans chose Assemblyman ], in part because they thought Scozzafava would be seen as too socially liberal. Barclay lost to Democratic Assemblyman ], and some Republican operatives said that in hindsight they should have picked Scozzafava.<ref name="NYD">Benjamin, Elizabeth. . New York Daily News. 22 July 2009.</ref> | Scozzafava considered running in a special election for the 48th ] district, which includes most of the northwestern portion of her assembly district, in 2008. However, area Republicans chose Assemblyman ], in part because they thought Scozzafava would be seen as too socially liberal. Barclay lost to Democratic Assemblyman ], and some Republican operatives said that in hindsight they should have picked Scozzafava.<ref name="NYD">Benjamin, Elizabeth. . New York Daily News. 22 July 2009.</ref> | ||
Revision as of 20:07, 6 August 2010
| Dede Scozzafava | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Member of the New York State Assembly from the 122nd district | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 1999 | |
| Personal details | |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse | Ron McDougall |
| Residence(s) | Gouverneur, New York |
| Alma mater | Boston University (B.Sc), Clarkson University (MBA) |
| Profession | politician, investment adviser |
| Website | Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava |
Dierdre R. "Dede" Scozzafava (Template:Pron-en, DEE-dee SKOE-zə-FAH-və,born April 28, 1960) is an American Republican politician in New York. She has represented District 122 in the New York State Assembly, which includes most of St. Lawrence and Lewis Counties in the North Country and a small portion of Oswego County since 1999.
She was the Republican nominee to run for the U.S. House of Representatives in the 2009 special election in New York's 23rd congressional district, but suspended her campaign shortly before the election and threw her support to the eventual Democratic winner, Bill Owens.
She is retiring from the State Assembly after the 2010 elections.
Life and career
Scozzafava was born in Buffalo, but has resided for most of her life in Gouverneur, a small village located halfway between Canton and Watertown. She holds a B.S. degree from the Boston University School of Management, as well as an M.B.A. from the Clarkson University Graduate School of Management.
First elected to the New York State Assembly in 1998, Scozzafava is the current ranking Republican on the Codes Committee, as well as a member of the Education and Local Government committees. For the 2001-2002 session she served on the Standing Committees on Economic Development, Education, and Social Services. She was also the first-ever female Minority Leader Pro Tempore in the history of the State Assembly. Prior to her election to the Assembly, she served as a member of the Gouverneur Board of Trustees from 1989 to 1993 and was Mayor of Gouverneur from 1993 to 1998.
A liberal Republican, Scozzafava supports abortion and same-sex marriage. However, she opposes gun control and has a lifetime "A" rating from the National Rifle Association. She also has strong ties to organized labor, something which is not common for most Republicans. In agreement with most Republicans, she is against cap-and-trade and is in favor of maintaining the Bush tax cuts.
Scozzafava considered running in a special election for the 48th state senate district, which includes most of the northwestern portion of her assembly district, in 2008. However, area Republicans chose Assemblyman William Barclay, in part because they thought Scozzafava would be seen as too socially liberal. Barclay lost to Democratic Assemblyman Darrel Aubertine, and some Republican operatives said that in hindsight they should have picked Scozzafava.
According to her filed campaign reports, her husband and other family members are the largest donors to her campaigns. Scozzafava's ties to Seaway Capital Partners (a firm which owes nearly $200,000 in back taxes and which is run by her brother) were questioned in connection with her 2009 run for Congress. She responded that she had had no direct ties to the company since 2007.
2009 special election
Main article: New York's 23rd congressional district special election, 2009On July 22, 2009, Scozzafava was chosen by the eleven Republican Party county chairs located in the 23rd Congressional district to be the Republican nominee for the special election to fill the seat in the United States Congress vacated by John M. McHugh, who resigned September 21, 2009, upon taking office as the Secretary of the Army.
Conservatives had criticized Scozzafava for accepting the endorsement of the Working Families Party in her earlier assembly campaigns, noting the close ties between that party and liberal activist group ACORN. Many notable Republicans, including former Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin, Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota and former U.S. Senator Fred Thompson, endorsed Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman rather than the Republican candidate because they deemed Scozzafava insufficiently conservative and ideologically indistinguishable from the Democrat. To illustrate this point, the Hoffman campaign ran television advertisements depicting Scozzafava and Owens as "two peas in a liberal pod."
Scozzafava's record in the New York State Assembly included votes in favor of same-sex marriage, and she had also received an award from a Planned Parenthood affiliate in 2008. Scozzafava's political positions included support for "card check" legislation, support for federal funding for abortion, support for President Obama's 2009 stimulus package, and a refusal to rule out support for health care reform that includes a "public option."
In the campaign for the U.S. House seat, Scozzafava received endorsements from Newt Gingrich, Congressman Peter T King,the National Rifle Association (NRA), the Log Cabin Republicans,and the New York State United Teachers (NYSUT), the largest labor union in New York State. Liberal Democratic blogger Markos Moulitsas, of the Daily Kos blog wrote a column in which he said he was rooting for Scozzafava.
During the campaign, Scozzafava received negative attention after her husband made a nuisance complaint to police against a member of the media that some alleged to be false. Scozzafava also held a press conference outside one of Doug Hoffman's campaign offices in which Hoffman's campaign staff and volunteers created "a sea of red 'Hoffman Congress' signs for the television cameras as Ms. Scozzafava spoke."
On October 31, 2009, with poll numbers indicating that she was likely to lose in the three-way race with Conservative Party of New York candidate Doug Hoffman and Democratic candidate Bill Owens and insufficient funds and other campaign support to overcome the gap, Scozzafava ended her campaign and released her supporters to "transfer their support as they fit.” Scozzafava also expressed frustration at how the race had become nationalized.
The following day, Scozzafava threw her support to Democrat Owens, calling him "an independent voice who will put New York first." This action put Scozzafava at odds with the National Republican Committee, which had backed Scozzafava prior to her withdrawal (but had subsequently declared support for Hoffman). One Hoffman advisor said that Scozzafava had "betrayed the GOP." Republican commentators expressed anger at Scozzafava including National Review's Jim Geraghty. A Republican Congressman, Darrell Issa of California, suggested that Scozzafava had received some promise from the Democrats in exchange for her endorsement.
An article in The Politico stated that the White House had made a concerted effort to persuade Scozzafava to endorse Bill Owens, dispatching Long Island Congressman Steve Israel, New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, and New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo to lobby her to endorse Owens. At the meeting, Scozzafava reportedly told Cuomo that he would be "the next governor of New York." According to the Watertown Daily Times, New York's senior U.S. Senator, Democrat Chuck Schumer, was also among those who lobbied Scozzafava for an endorsement of Owens.
Some observers speculated that Scozzafava might become an independent caucusing with the Democratic super-majority in the state Assembly, or that she might leave the Republican Party altogether and become a Democrat. During Scozzafava's November 1, 2009 meeting with Sheldon Silver, Silver reportedly pledged that the Democrats would fully support Scozzafava should she decide to leave the GOP. Scozzafava had reportedly also been approached by the Democrats about switching parties in February 2008 after being snubbed for the Republican nomination in the 2008 New York state senate special election. Her husband had also put out feelers to the Democrats in case Aubertine passed on the special congressional election. The Independence Party, the top minor party in the New York, also actively courted Scozzafava. However, Scozzafava told WWNY-TV in Watertown on the day after the election that she intends to remain a Republican for the time being. However, Scozzafava also let it be known that she felt betrayed by the national GOP for its quick endorsement of Hoffman following her exit from the race.
After Scozzafava's unsuccessful 2009 congressional campaign, Scozzafava acknowledged that her name had begun being used as a verb: "scozzafavaed." Conservative commentators, including Maggie Gallagher of the National Organization for Marriage, have used the phrase "the Dede effect" to describe Republican lawmakers' fear of alienating their constituents by voting for same-sex marriage legislation.
A week after the 2009 election, Scozzafava was stripped of her Republican leadership position in the State Assembly.
References
- ^ Jonathan Marti; Charles Mathiesan (2009-11-01). "Winning Dede Scozzafava: How Democrats got her nod". The Politico.
- Peters, Jeremy W. (2009-10-26). "Right Battles G.O.P. in a Pivotal Race in New York". New York Times. Retrieved 2009-10-27.
- ^ Bio page at Assembly site
- ^ Weiner, Mark (23 July 2009). "GOP picks candidate for congressional seat, attacks likely Democratic hopeful". The Post-Standard. Retrieved 29 July 2009.
- Seiler, Casey. NRA endorses Scozzafava. The Times-Union, 2009-10-07.
- Profile of NY-23 from Congressional Quarterly
- Weiner, Mark (October 15, 2009). "Newt Gingrich endorses Dede Scozzafava in NY-23 House race". The Post-Standard. Retrieved 2009-11-05.
- Jude Seymour "Scozzafava signs pledge not to raise income taxes", Watertown Daily Times, 2009-10-19
- ^ Benjamin, Elizabeth. Democrats Fan The Flames Of Scozzafava's Tax Troubles. New York Daily News. 22 July 2009.
- Brown, Nathan (August 11, 2009). "Owens wins Dems support". Adirondack Daily Enterprise. Retrieved August 12, 2009.
- "John McHugh assumes duties as 21st Secretary of the Army". September 21 2009. Retrieved 24 September 2009.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - "New York Republicans Put Up ACORN Backed Candidate in NY-23 - Erick's blog". RedState. Retrieved 2009-10-16.
- Palin: "there is no real difference between the Democrat and the Republican in this race." "Palin: Ready to shake things up in New York". Reuters. 2009-10-22. Retrieved 2009-10-28.
- Hook, Janet (2009-11-03). "Conservatives emboldened by moves in New York". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2009-11-03.
- Down the Stretch: Three-Way Race Heats Up in New York Special Election - Politics Daily
- Siena College poll shows tight three-way race to fill seat of Rep. John McHugh in N.Y. 23 | News from The Post-Standard
- Michelle Malkin » Calling them out: NRCC, RNC & Gingrich back Margaret Sanger Award winner
- Dede Scozzafava Is No GOP Moderate - HUMAN EVENTS
- New York Republican Dede Scozzafava's Campaign Funded by Pro-Abortion Groups
- Watertown Daily Times | Candidates for 23rd District split on labor issues
- The Press Republican - Congressional candidates address health-care issues at forum
- Daily Kos: NY-23: Bill Owens On (Some Of) The Issues
- Watertown Daily Times | Public option skirted in race
- ^ Marc Heller (2009-10-19). "23rd Congressional District: Scozzafava, Owens try to avoid being boxed into special interest corners". Watertown Daily Times. Retrieved 2009-10-19.
- "ICYMI: NYSUT endorses Scozzafava in 23rd District race". Dede Scozzafava for Congress. 2009-10-13. Retrieved 2009-10-19.
- "NY-23: The most liberal candidate leads (and it's not the Dem)". DailyKos. 2009-10-01. Retrieved 2009-10-19.
- Watertown Daily Times | Scozzafava's husband called cops on pressing reporter
- Conservatives Call On Scozzafava To Withdraw For Filing False Police Report – Common American Journal
- Watertown Daily Times | Scozzafava's statement may inadvertently send a different message to voters
- Seymour, Jude. Scozzafava suspends 23rd campaign. Watertown Daily Times, 2009-10-31.
- ^ Nagourney, Adam; Peters, Jeremy W. (October 31, 2009). "G.O.P. Moderate, Pressed by Right, Abandons Race". New York Times. Retrieved November 1, 2009.
- Reagen, Jim. Scozzafava: race became 'referendum on issues far from here'. Watertown Daily Times, 2009-11-01.
- ^ "Scozzafava backs Owens, stuns GOP". Watertown Daily Times. November 1, 2009. Retrieved November 1, 2009.
- Jim Geraghty Campaign spot, National Review Online
- Romm, Tony. "Rep. Issa's PAC suggest Dems promised Scozzafava favors - The Hill's Blog Briefing Room". Thehill.com. Retrieved 2009-11-02.
- NY Independence Party courts Scozzafava. Retrieved 2009-11-04.
- Feedback: Scozzafava speaks out about lies and betrayals. WWNY-TV, 2009-11-04.
- Scozzafava: 'My Name's A Verb Now' | TPM LiveWire
- Watertown Daily Times | 'My name's a verb now': Dede Scozzafava sadder, wiser after bruising political race
- Vick, Karl (2009-12-03). "N.Y. State Senate votes down gay marriage bill by wide margin". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2010-05-01.
- Baptist Press - N.Y., N.J., groups race to pass 'gay marriage' by year's end - News with a Christian Perspective
- Horowitz, Jason (November 10, 2009), "'Scozzafava' turns into epithet", The Washington Post, retrieved 2009-11-11
{{citation}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
External links
- Profile at Vote Smart
- New York State Assembly website
- Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava's official website
- Scozzafava's congressional campaign site
- Follow the Money - Dierdre K. Scozzafava: 2008 2006 2004 2002 2000 1998 campaign contributions
| New York State Assembly | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded byChloe O'Neil | New York State Assembly, 112th District 1999–2002 |
Succeeded byRoy McDonald |
- American women mayors
- Boston University alumni
- Clarkson University alumni
- Living people
- New York city councillors
- Mayors of places in New York
- Members of the New York Assembly
- New York Republicans
- People from St. Lawrence County, New York
- Republican Party (United States) politicians
- Women state legislators in New York