Dede Scozzafava: No Regrets and a Mission to Promote Independent Thinking Within GOP

New York Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava was chosen by upstate party leaders to run for an open House seat in a special election last week. National Republican leaders decided she was too liberal and generated so much money and support for third party conservative Doug Hoffman that Scozzafava dropped out the Saturday before the election and endorsed the Democrat. She talked to Politics Daily's Jill Lawrence Wednesday about her future and the future of the GOP.

Q. Why are you a Republican?
A. My dad was a Republican. He held local office. My whole family has pretty much been Republican. My brothers. My mother and father. I don't think I'm in the wrong party. I just think the party has really changed.

Q. Is your husband a Republican?
A. He's an independent.

Q. It's unusual to find a Republican married to a labor organizer.

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A. I was his investment adviser. Politics don't play a role in that.

Q. Are you going to stay a Republican?
A. I have no intention of switching. The two issues on the cultural side (abortion rights and gay rights), I don't see those as issues that are inconsistent with Republican principles. The Republican Party is for less government interference in the lives of others. I'm pro-choice. I think women should have the right to make those decisions and not have the government imposing its will on individual women. The gay rights issue is not a Republican or Democratic issue. That's a civil rights issue ... I try to live my personal life according to my faith. But I govern according to the Constitution.

Q. Are you going to run for re-election in 2010?
A. Potentially. I haven't decided, not yet.

Q. Why did you endorse Bill Owens?
A. My decision in choosing a candidate to endorse in this past race came down to the person that I thought would have the best grasp of any sort of local issue and who would best represent the people that I also represent in the Assembly. One individual was solely an ideologue with no understanding of local issues who signed onto pledges that were really detrimental to the district. The other had a better understanding of the district. That's what it came down to.

Q. How is it going with your Republican colleagues in Albany?
A. I'm fine. I don't shy away from controversy. I knew this decision wasn't going to be comfortable for me in any way ... I addressed my conference and I got a standing ovation from my conference. I resigned my leadership position. The jury's out whether I think that's 100 percent fair or not. But I understood there might be ramifications ... They know at the end of the day that I'm still the same person I ever was. I try to stand on principle. I try to stand on honesty and being direct. I don't duck my punishment. I don't duck any sort of the fallout that might occur.

Q. What happens now?
A. I plan on doing some town hall meetings so people will have an opportunity to ask questions, confront any problems or issues ... We'll keep moving forward and we'll see where this whole thing ends. I have no regrets. My being unsure whether I'm going to run or not ... Life can change. Different opportunities can present themselves. I might decide I want to do something different. My husband is currently not employed. He lost his job at GM mid-election.

Q. But he's a labor organizer.
A. He doesn't get paid for that. Our lives are in flux in relation to the way things were. We're both trying to figure out what we want to do the next 10 years of our lives. For now I'm going to work hard at my Assembly job. And to the degree that I can be a mouthpiece for independent thinking within the party ... I'm going to try to do that as well.