Lesson from NY: Let the Reformers Compete

At National Review Online, for instance, former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum argues that “Daggett should follow the Scozzafava lead.”

“Like Scozzafava [in New York], Daggett is not going to win [New Jersey’s Gubernatorial] election on Tuesday,” Santorum writes. “Scozzafava withdrew because she put what is best for her district and her country above her personal aspirations.  Let’s see if Daggett can exhibit the same selflessness.”

Newt Gingrich and Hugh Hewitt, likewise, are angry with Daggett because, they say, he is a spoiler with no chance of winning. Daggett, these conservatives whine, is simply siphoning off votes from the Republican Party candidate, Chris Christie; and, as a result, the dreaded leftist Democrat, Jon Corzine, may win yet again.

But of course, if Christie were such a great candidate, then Daggett wouldn’t be registering double-digit polling numbers.

Christie’s problem has been that he’s run, as the Wall Street Journal points out, a “content-free” campaign. Indeed, he’s offered few ideas for substantive change in a state (New Jersey) that is rife with corruption.

“To the extent that Mr. Christie has deigned to discuss taxes at all,” laments the Journal, “it's usually been to criticize the reform proposals of others.”

Adds Karl Rove: “Neither major party candidate in New Jersey has offered a compelling or comprehensive agenda. [And] at times,” Rove notes, “the independent candidate, Chris Daggett, has appeared the only contender with an agenda to rein in property taxes.”

Daggett, in fact, appears to be a far more compelling candidate, with a pledge to cut property taxes by 25% for all homeowners, according to the Journal. Christie, the party apparatchik, has denounced Daggett’s tax-cutting proposal as a tax increase; but as David Frum reports, this really isn’t fair or true:

[Daggett’s] proposals for balancing the state’s books are detailed and workable. He’d extend the state’s 7% sales [tax] to cover services as well as goods.

He’d end the hodge-podge of property tax rebates.  He’d then use the money gained to finance an across-the-board property tax cut and also reductions in corporate income taxes.

The lesson in this election cycle is that campaigns and issues matter. Substantive ideas matter. Being responsive to voters’ concerns matters. And sometimes, pace Gingrich, Hewitt and Santorum, party loyalty demands too much.

Scozzafava withdrew from the congressional race precisely because she was, like Christie, a weak candidate. She was a poor fit for her district and yet, the New York GOP party bosses made her their anointed pet candidate. Thus, they denied Hoffman the right to participate in a primary against Scozzafava.

But Hoffman has ideas, passion, and popular support. He also is on the ballot as New York State’s Conservative Party nominee. And so he drove Scozzafava from the race. Consequently, Hoffman may well be the next congressman from New York state’s 23rd congressional district.

New Jersey’s Christie did win a primary battle; however, he has run a lackluster general election campaign that should serve as a cautionary warning to the GOP.

Indeed, as the Journal reports, “Daggett’s appeal has grown because he’s offering voters precisely what Mr. Christie isn’t: a specific plan for controlling runaway taxes and spending.” As for Christie, his “idea of a brilliant campaign idea is to tell the press that he’s attended 120 concerts of [Bruce] Springsteen, who may end up endorsing Mr. Corzine.”

For these reasons, the New Jersey Republican Party may well deserve to lose: because it hasn’t offered voters real change. Chastened by defeat, perhaps next time the Jersey GOP will run an issue-oriented reform campaign aimed at improving the quality of life for Garden State residents.

Seen in this context, Chris Daggett is performing a useful public service, which ultimately will help the Republican Party.

Doug Hoffman performed this same public service in New York state’s 23rd congressional district and realized success much sooner than anyone ever expected. He knocked out of the race a weak and non-substantive candidate, who had been selected by the party bosses, and not the people or voters.

Successful reform of the New Jersey GOP surely will take longer than one election cycle, but is still worth pursuing.

That’s why conservatives and Republicans should embrace Hoffman and Daggett: because both men are helping to rectify and clean up a brain-dead and all too often corrupt Republican Party.

Moreover, free-market conservatives should welcome competition, especially substantive political competition: because it makes everyone better and stronger.

Of course, the GOP party bosses don’t like competition. That’s why they conspired against Hoffman; and that’s why they’re angry at Daggett.

It’s also why they have conspired against Marco Rubio in Florida: by siding with Rubio's primary opponent, Charlie Crist, in the race for Florida's 2010 Senate seat.

Again, the party bosses fear substantive competition; but we voters should demand it, for competition is the surest route to real and sustainable political success and true reform.