It’s appropriate to quote President Ronald Reagan on the latest Bruce Blakeman/Nassau GOP campaign piece: “There you go again.”

Once again, taking his cue from party bosses desperate to destroy a Nassau Republican they don’t control, Blakeman has recycled the same lies from past primary campaigns.  Not only are these latest campaign pieces despicable and outright lies, but they also insult the voters of the 4^th Congressional District.

Here are the facts.  

I served as Counsel for the Constitution on the Senate Judiciary Committee from 2005 to 2009, where I served on the Republican side and helped secure the appointments of conservative judges to the federal bench.  Because Arlen Specter, then a Republican, was chairman (later ranking member), meaning that he led committee Republicans, the coordinating Republican committee staff of which I was a part answered to him.  We also served all other Republican senators, from Orrin Hatch to Tom Coburn.  The moment Specter bolted the party and became a Democrat (I had before then decided to return home and take a teaching position), our conservative staff ceased to work under him in any sense of the term.  I have been a lifelong conservative Republican, a Republican Committeeperson, and President of the New Hyde Park Republican Club.  My Senate work added to my service to conservatism and the GOP, and the New Hyde Park Republican Club honored me at an annual dinner with a plaque that noted my “service as counsel to the Republican members of the United States Senate.”

It was when I ran for Congress that the bosses, finding no skeletons in my closet, fabricated the fraud that I am a liberal and a Democrat, complete with a picture of a wolf in sheep’s clothing.  Don’t take my word for it.  In 2012, a National Review Online column blasted these “vile lies” as “besmirch[ing] the name of the Grand Old Party.”  A Newsmax piece by John LeBoutillier called it “the most dishonest piece of political propaganda I have ever seen.”  Perhaps the most knowledgeable observer of American congressional elections, Michael Barone, called the attack “ridiculous.”  And Sen. Tom Coburn, arguably the most conservative senator I served on the Judiciary Committee, wrote a letter asserting that I “consistently displayed a sincere commitment to conservative principles” in my work on the committee and “consistently demonstrated fidelity to the Constitution and a philosophy of government consistent with the vision of the Founders.”

So what does Bruce Blakeman do in 2014?  Produce a near carbon copy of the same lie—complete with the same wolf in sheep’s clothing picture.  Blakeman and the bosses behind his candidacy do not want voters to know the real issues because they have none, other than power for power’s sake. They don’t want you to know that Blakeman contributed $3,400.00 to Arlen Specter.  They don’t want you to know that Blakeman, through his shadowy company, has supported such Democrats as Eliot Spitzer, Anthony Weiner, and even our district’s Democratic candidate, Kathleen Rice! They don’t want you to know that Blakeman was a full-time resident of New York City only months ago. They don’t want you to know that Blakeman was at the helm of the Nassau County Legislature when the fiscal ship started to sink and that he was voted out of office for his role in making Nassau County the most mismanaged county in the nation.  They don’t want you to know that Blakeman repeatedly raised taxes, increased our debt, and approved the Nassau County BPA health insurance fiasco, a corrupt scheme that cost our residents $70 million dollars and led to the criminal conviction of numerous county officials. They don’t want you to know that Blakeman lost his last four election bids, including a pathetic attempt for New York City Mayor.

I have challenged my opponent to a debate on the issues. So far, he has artfully avoided me and the residents of the 4^th Congressional District, already opting not to attend the Long Beach candidate forum and declining to attend the upcoming League of Women Voters debate.

Soon before he announced he was entering the race, I called Blakeman, described the fraud that had occurred in 2012, and asked him whether he was truly ready to stoop to such dishonorable conduct in order to try to win the nomination.  I guess I now have my answer.  Let me add this for him and for anyone looking to be a standard-bearer for the Nassau County Republican Party: The GOP is supposed to be the party of values.  It’s time to start acting like it.

Frank Scaturro

Republican and Conservative Candidate for the 4^th Congressional District

New Hyde Park, New York

Email: [email protected]

See Also:  

Top-ranked House Conservative Calls Blakeman Attacks on Scaturro "so big a lie as to make Bill Clinton blush."