Dede Scozzafava Makes the GOP Squirm

Dede Scozzafava, an Assemblywoman from District 122 of New York, has the Republican Party worried.

Scozzafava, a moderate Republican, was chosen by the New York State GOP Party as their candidate for the special election congressional race of the 23rd district. But Many Republicans from the far-right, including 2008 vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin and conservative political commentator Rush Limbaugh, didn’t support her nomination as the GOP party candidate because they believed her moderate views did not represent the Republican Party. Doug Hoffman, another Republican from the far-right, decided to represent those conservative views by challenging Scozzafava in the congressional race by running as the candidate for the New York Conservative Party.

On October 31, Dede Scozzafava withdrew from the congressional race when it was apparent she was not going to garner enough votes to win—leaving the race between the Democratic candidate Bill Owens and the Conservative Party’s Doug Hoffman. On November 1, just two days before the election, Scozzafava announced her support for Democratic candidate Bill Owens. It was suspected that her decision to support Owens was because of her anger towards her challengers in the Republican Party and pressure from the Democratic Party, in particular, the White House.

Owens won with 49% of the vote, with Hoffman receiving 45% of the vote and Scozzafava receiving 6%. The Democrats considered this an important victory, since the 23rd Congressional district had been held by the GOP since 1872.

Now, the Republican Party is unsure whether to allow her to remain in the party. Many Republicans feel she is to blame for the lost Republican seat in Congress and should be "stripped" of her party status. Scozzafava is currently the Minority Leader Pro Tempore and has expressed concern in losing that position. The Democratic Party has agreed to support her if she decides to switch parties.

This outlines a fundamental problem for the Republican Party. A party that has been characterized by its organization and structure is now being split. Time Magazine is calling it an “Identity Crisis.” Dozens of GOP candidates in gubernatorial and House elections are beginning to face far-right, conservative challengers from their own party. These challengers will split the Republican Party in the subsequent elections and provide difficulties for GOP victory. If the GOP cannot focus their support, this may be a window of opportunity for the Democrats to get more seats.

The recent controversy regarding the Assemblywoman also brings up the issue of the importance of party politics. Scozzafava was not afraid to part with her party’s values on many issues during her political career. Some of her more liberal opinions were supporting same-sex marriage, being pro-choice, and supporting Obama’s Stimulus Package—opinions that many of the Republican Party did not support.

Should an elected representative make decisions based on the views of her party or her constituents, or should she use her own judgment and political expertise to guide her decisions? English Statesman Edmund Burke in his speech to the constituents of Bristol makes an argument in favor of the trusteeship, or representative government view. He argues that he was elected because his constituents trusted him to make his own decisions.

But many countries value the opinions of the party rather over individual opinions. In Israel, for example, constituents only need to make one vote: the party which they support. Political figures are then decided by a multi-member proportional election where the representatives are elected proportional to the percentage of votes the party received in the election. The representatives are then expected to follow the opinions of the party.

Will representation based on constituents’ views or the elected representative’s judgments become more valued because of Scozzafava’s example? And will the Republican Party be able to focus their support in one candidate in the following elections? It will be interesting to see what happens in the elections to come.