This is my obligatory “Dede Scozzafava endorses Bill Owens” post. With a twist.
Not sure what this all means two days before the election, except that it is clear that Dede belongs to the John Murtha party of pork-barrel politics.
Scozafava’s endorsement of Democrat Owens certainly was based on hurt feelings, but she justified it by focusing on who could bring home the federal pork to the district:
It’s not in the cards for me to be your representative, but I strongly believe Bill is the only candidate who can build upon John McHugh’s lasting legacy in the U.S. Congress. John and I worked together on the expansion of Fort Drum and I know how important that base is to the economy of this region. I am confident that Bill will be able to provide the leadership and continuity of support to Drum Country just as John did during his tenure in Congress.
So too, the Watertown Times switched its endorsement to Owens based on pork-barrel politics:
This rural district depends on the federal government for an investment in Fort Drum and its soldiers, environmental protection of our international waterway and the Adirondack Park, and the livelihood of all our dairy farmers across the district, among other support. Our representative cannot be locked into rigid promises and policies that would jeopardize these critical sectors of our economy.
It’s Doug Hoffman and the philosophy of fiscal responsibility, versus Bill Owens and the John Murtha philosophy of pork-barrel politics. And with Joe Biden riding into town on Monday, Obama’s big government, let someone else pay for me, policies will be put to a test.
The party lines have been blurred but not the issue. Country before pork, or pork before country? I hope the people of NY-23 choose country. We’ll see.
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Comments
Need to stop looking to government for jobs. It is a very good play on the Dems' part to emphasize Fort Drum, "jobs"…upstate NY has been in a recession of its own for years. Half the jobs are government jobs, and most of the other half desperatey depend on those government workers (struggling small businesses) with few exceptions. Being from upstate NY, it's painful to watch every congressional district turned into a swing district…it was not this way a mere 10 years ago (most were solid R districts except the large urban centers…independent agriculture and industry have all but disappeared). But the people have become entirely reliant upon government for their jobs and livelihoods.
Actually, Professor, I think there is a clear distinction between, on the one hand, representing the interests of your constituents, as well as those of the nation, and on the other, pure "pork."
In New York's North Country, that list in the Watertown Times — Fort Drum, the St. Lawrence waterway, dairy farming and Adirondeck vacationing — pretty much describes the whole economy of the region. A wide range of federal laws and policies — as well as budgetary outlays — will either help or harm the foundations of that regional economy. I suppose the presence of Fort Drum as the home base of the Army's 10th Mountain Division could be regarded simply as "pork," but it's hardly the sort of pork dispensed through member items, or earmarks. After all, the 10th Mountain has to be someplace, and if it's not in NY-23, it's going to be in east Tennessee or northern Alabama — like as not in the district of some reliably conservative Republican who would fight to keep it there.
I think you'll find that once elected, Rep. Hoffman will become as staunch a supporter of all those "pork" items as McHugh ever was.
It would be very foolish of conservatives to begin to think that even conservative voters don't much care about their own parochial needs. Of course, they do!
Dede isn't out of it because she backs Fort Drum, remember. She's just using that as a superficially plausible excuse for endorsing the Democrat over Hoffman (who she has sought to characterize as some sort of interloper foisted on the poor folk of the North Country by Washington pundits and pols).
It is refreshing that she managed to get her tits in a wringer!
The problem that Mr. Sanzone is referencing up there is certainly troubling, yes. If so much of the state is dependent on government spending for survival, there is really no easy way to resolve the issue. Once established, government agencies are pervasive–few people want to let a cash cow go, ya know? And in many cases, there simply don't appear any alternatives. It's a messy situation.
From all I have read Dede is "out of it" for being a Republican liberal. From what's also being spoken of look for her to have "gained" positionally through having placed her support onto the market. I certainly hope in the country that IS/WAS the paradigm of free market enterprise, she managed to get top dollar for it.