NY-23: Rep. Issa's PAC Suggests Dems Promised Scozzafava Favors

Meredith Jessup | November 02, 2009 3:18 PM

The Hill reports on suspicions surrounding Scozzafava's change of heart and party:

One Republican's political action committee on Sunday suggested Democrats enticed former Republican candidate Dede Scozzafava with "favors" in return for her endorsement of the race's remaining Democratic challenger.

In a fundraising pitch to supporters this afternoon, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) through IssaPAC railed on Scozzafava for choosing to support Bill Owens over Doug Hoffman, the Conservative Party candidate who effectively forced her out of the race on Saturday.
Issa also called on Republicans to donate promptly to Hoffman's war chest so that the party writ large could "send a message to Barack Obama that he can't buy this election."

"Just hours before [Scozzafava] endorsed the Democrat, she received calls from Barack Obama's chief of staff Rahm Emanuel. She also received calls from the Chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Senator Chuck Schumer," Issa wrote. "Was Scozzafava promised something in return for her endorsement of the Democrat? Time will tell."

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Democrats, however, questioned the merits of Issa's statement. A spokesperson at the DSCC this evening corrected the congressman's line -- Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) now heads the organization, not Schumer -- and noted that the DSCC was not playing a role in the House race.

Nevertheless, Issa's letter is significant, seeing as he switched his endorsement from Scozzafava to Hoffman last week. He also mailed Hoffman a check for $5,000 on Friday -- a day before Scozzafava announced she was exiting the race.

"Doug Hoffman is a Ronald Reagan conservative that has received endorsements from conservative leaders all over the country including conservative New York Republicans like former Governor George Pataki, but most important, he has the endorsement of conservative Republican voters in his own district," Issa said in his endorsement.
"Recent polls show that the race between Doug and the liberal Democrat are neck and neck, but Doug has been steadily gaining for weeks now. He is running the kind of campaign that our help can put over the top," he added.