Letters to the Editor 10/8

Issue of October 8, 2010/ 30 Tishrei 5771

To the Editor: Thank you for your fair and balanced report on the candidacy of Frank Scaturro, who sought the Republican nomination to unseat Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy this November (“Was Frank Scaturro the Greatest Hope for the 4th District?”; September 22, 2010). As someone who ran unsuccessfully in 2002 for the same seat and has been politically active for over 30 years, it was painful to see what can happen to a candidate who runs afoul of the party leadership. Regardless of the Nassau County GOP leadership’s denial and rather cheap shots at Scaturro, the fact is the party seemed to take their eye off the prize, defeating McCarthy, and rather focused on defeating Scaturro at all costs. In your report, Scaturro claimed that his troubles began during a candidate screening when he refused to commit to not run a primary should the party select someone else. On the surface, this almost sounds absurd. However, as a former candidate and very loyal party activist, I had access to party leaders and elected officials who told me point blank that while Frank Scaturro "was a good guy.... he didn't help himself with his non-committal." One elected official went so far as to tell me that, "I don't know why Frank didn't just lie to them." So while Councilman Anthony Santino, number two at GOP headquarters, dismisses Scaturro's charges as the ranting of  "a sore loser," the evidence shows that Scaturro was indeed railroaded by the party he served for over 20 years as a committeeman. When Scaturro first called me for support over a year ago I told him I would have to see how much money he could raise, knowing full well that a candidate’s ability to win is not always in their resume as much as how much is in their campaign chest. I also told Scaturro that I would not commit to him until I knew what the Party was going to do. Until this point, I valued my relationship with headquarters and was not interested in supporting an opposing candidate. As the months went on and Scaturro was the only candidate with a campaign structure in place, and as he raised over $300,000, four times more than any other Republican had ever raised to challenge McCarthy, and County leaders as well as Independence and Conservative party leaders readied themselves to endorse him, I agreed to support his candidacy. As you accurately reported, everybody was waiting for the official word to come down from headquarters that Scaturro would indeed receive the nomination. But word never came. Instead, Lynbrook legislator Francis Becker, who told Newsday that he hadn't even thought about running for the seat, got the call and nomination. All of this happened in late June. Never in history has any serious candidate for Congress ever launched a campaign in June for a race the following November. I know for a fact that district leaders were threatened with loss of their leadership positions if they did not fully endorse Fran Becker and disavow any and all support for Scaturro. After Scaturro was defeated on primary night, he displayed class and grace and asked all of his supporters to rally behind Fran Becker this November. Unfortunately, the Party leadership did not show the same grace in congratulating Scaturro on his well-run campaign. While I do believe in due deference to the Party's leaders, it should never be at the expense of an open and free process. Alan Skorski West Hempstead

 

The writer made a bid for congress in 2002, served as a consultant to Frank Scaturro, and is the published author of “Pants on Fire: How Al Franken Lies, Smears, and Deceives” (WND Books). He has appeared on MSNBC, The O'Reilly Factor, C-Span, and has done many radio interviews. He can be contacted on Facebook.