Scaturro Disses GOP, Stays in House Race

By Danielle Puma

Frank Scaturro

Frank Scaturro can’t stop running. He announced he’s staying in the race to unseat incumbent Rep. Carolyn McCarthy as the Conservative Party candidate, making this a three-way race along with GOP candidate Francis Becker.

“All the while, the veneer of democracy in machine politics has masked an autocracy run for the enrichment of a tiny few at the top. To sustain the system, the nomination process has been compromised by a wall of deception and intimidation that party bosses have tried to build. When it is not only policy, but also tactics, that draw a resemblance to the Democratic Party, voters are truly denied a meaningful choice. Our troops did not make the supreme sacrifice so that party bosses could use government largesse to undermine the integrity of elections,” Scaturro said when announcing Wednesday that he’s staying in the race.

In 2010, Becker outpolled Scaturro 10,361 to 7,733 and then lost to McCarthy in the general election by 7.2 percent. During that same year, Scaturro endorsed Becker after losing the primary election. On June 26^th 2012, Scaturro lost to Becker again in the GOP primary, 6,357 to 7,773. At the concurrent Conservative Party Primary, Scaturro, as a write-in candidate, had about 46 more votes than Becker did to secure the nomination of the Nassau Conservative Party by a vote of 253 to 194.

Scaturro feels his past support to Becker resulted in “an election booted in Rep. McCarthy’s favor” and continued misrepresentation and corruption by Becker.

“To support a candidate in our system, we should demand that the candidate meet a minimal standard of ethics, integrity, and respect for the law. Sadly, Mr. Becker fails this test. He lied to the people he seeks to represent and brought disgrace upon himself and the Republican party […] The very essence of his campaign was a fraud. For the good of the party, as a just apology to the voters, and for the cause of unseating Carolyn McCarthy, Mr. Becker should withdraw from this race,” Scaturro asserted.

Scaturro discussed the biggest issues surrounding the 4^th Congressional District and stated Becker has contributed to Nassau County’s financial crisis.

“In Nassau County, residents are hit twice by the failures of government. They’re hit on the federal level by a tax code that is particularly punishing of people who here are trying to sustain a middle-class existence. But they’re treated by federal policy as wealthy people. It’s not going to be fixed by someone who has contributed to the repeated fiscal crises that we have faced on the local level for the last 17 years,” Scaturro said.

On the other end of the line, Becker explained to The Standard in June that it is important to him to cut government spending in Washington and to work to create jobs. After learning of Scaturro’s announcement to stay in the race, Becker feels his chances to unseat McCarthy this fall will not be impacted.

“It’s sad and it’s unfortunate that Mr. Scaturro is continuing to feed his own ego while still running for Congress. [His announcement] was obviously not about electing Republicans or speaking by Conservative principles. Voters are smart enough to know that a vote for Scaturro is a vote for McCarthy,” Becker said.

Nassau County Legislator Howard Kopel stated that Scaturro’s decision to run against both Becker and McCarthy would prove to be detrimental to Scaturro’s campaign.

“It’s a Kamikaze move, really. He has no possibility of winning and [Scaturro] knows it. It’s very, very foolish. If it’s a close race, he will be responsible for the re-election of McCarthy. I don’t understand it,” Kopel said.

Becker also stated that Scaturro did not have a reasonable chance to win the race.

“It’s all about ego for this young man. He’s very self-centered, He knows there’s no chance of winning,” Becker said. “I have no clue as to why he’s not joining with me in trying to unseat Carolyn McCarthy.”

Although Scaturro once endorsed his Republican primary opponent, he stated that Becker’s electability is tarnished by past and current conduct. He also stated that Becker was “reluctantly picked” as a makeshift candidate by Nassau County Republican Committee Chairman Joseph Mondello.

“His lack of interest in actually winning this congressional seat is demonstrated by the fact that it has been 20 years since [Mondello] endorsed a candidate who won. He reluctantly picked Mr. Becker at the last minute after failing to persuade another elected official to run,” Scaturro said.

Scaturro also claimed that the Republican Party he stands behind would remain productive on reform to bring the residents of Nassau County relief from an escalating status quo.  He does not believe the Democratic Party of Carolyn McCarthy is capable of putting the people before the government.

“Nassau County, however, is defenseless against the dependency agenda as long as its residents have to spend more and more of their lives working to support the government rather than their families,” Scaturro said. “More and more of them feel forced to move out of the county altogether! Yet for the 17 years [Becker] served in the County Legislature, Fran Becker did not offer us a principled alternative to the Democratic Party.”

Scaturro also charged that Becker was no better an alternative to McCarthy, who has been in Congress for 16 years. McCarthy understands how different her views are from Scaturro.

“I welcome Mr. Scaturro to the race and am sure that voters will see clear distinctions between each of our records and visions for how to make sure that Long Island enjoys the prosperity and equality that we as a nation strive for,” McCarthy said.

On Monday, Scaturro went to Republican headquarters to have a meeting and instead of meeting with the Chairman, he met with Town of Hempstead Senior Councilman Anthony J. Santino.

“[Santino’s] comments just reflected the continuing arrogance, the remorseless bluster that we so often hear from him. And not a shred of any sense that he wanted someone like me to have the future that we all know people have in political organizations in other parts of the country that do not operate under this corrupt machine dynamic,” Scaturro said.

A spokesperson for Councilman Santino, in his response to Scaturro’s announcement, stated that it is unfortunate that he is choosing to remain in the race but believes Becker is the man to vote for.

“Fran Becker is going to continue to stick to his own principles and own message that he’s been doing since the primaries,” the spokesperson said.

The primary reason behind Scaturro’s decision to run and not endorse Becker for Congress is his desire to change the future for Nassau County residents.

“We saw how 2010 played out,” Scaturro said. “2012 can’t play out that way.”