NY-23 Conservative Candidate

From Michelle Malkin.

"A message from NY-23 conservative candidate Doug Hoffman
By Doug Hoffman • October 17, 2009 09:54 AM

(Note from Michelle: This is a special guest post from NY-23 conservative congressional candidate Doug Hoffman. Please spread the word about the Nov. 3 special election and show your support. All hands on deck!)

It’s time for conservatives to show the Republican establishment who’s in charge
By Doug Hoffman" Michelle Malkin » A message from NY-23 conservative candidate Doug Hoffman

There’s nothing like a drop in the polls to bring out a candidate’s principles.

With her numbers plummeting – and mine rising – and only three weeks left until the election in NY-23, Dede Scozzafava has decided she needs to change her stripes to get conservative votes.

Specifically, she’s changed her position on income taxes. One would have expected more hostility to taxes earlier in the campaign, since she had a leadership role in her brother’s company as it racked up almost $200,000 in unpaid tax liens. But alas.

On August 18 Scozzafava’s campaign called my signing of the Taxpayer Protection Pledge a “stunt”:

Matthew A. Burns, campaign spokesman for Republican candidate Dierdre K. Scozzafava, said Mr. Hoffman’s pledge was a “stunt,” and did not indicate if his candidate would sign.

On October 1 Scozzafava herself publicly promised not to sign the pledge:

Scozzafava said she won’t sign the pledge because the income tax is just one form of tax, and that more people could be impacted if, for example, you refuse to increase income taxes under any circumstances but raise other taxes or fees instead.

But after two weeks of conservatives and independents abandoning her in droves to support my campaign, she has had a foxhole conversion:

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Dede Scozzafava, a Republican running in New York’s 23rd Congressional district, recently signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge sponsored by Americans for Tax Reform (ATR).

I wouldn’t want to interrupt this show of steely principled resolve, but isn’t it slightly problematic to break a promise in the act of making another promise? Is there any lesson here except that Dede Scozzafava will say or sign whatever she thinks is mostly likely to get her elected?

I don’t think conservatives will be fooled. The more they learn about Dede Scozzafava, the worse she does in the polls. And the more they learn about my campaign, the better we do.

We can win this thing, but we’re up against limited time and an awful RNC and NRCC decision to support a liberal candidate.

Well, if the Republican Party wants to declare war against conservatives, I’m going to fight on the side of conservatives.

If you want to join my fight, I need you. We need money and we need volunteers – boots on the ground. If you can help, go to my website and sign up. Then show up.

It’s time for conservatives to show the Republican establishment who’s in charge.

Link to Doug Hoffman's web site in case you want to contribute.