Tom Scozzafava reminds us that this is how public servants are supposed to act
Rep. Stefanik tweets she has known for a year there was no violence on Jan. 6
By Ken Tingley
Perhaps, Tom Scozzafava was feeling philosophic.
Or maybe he was feeling the weight of his 66 years.
“It’s a different world today,” the long-time Moriah supervisor told me. “I’m glad I lived when I did. Society and the world as a whole was different. It was a time where partisan politics wasn’t what they are today; where you compromised, negotiated.”
Those are you words you don’t hear anymore.
Compromise.
Negotiate.
In some political circles, they are bad words. They mean losing, giving in, but Scozzafava insists it is the best way to get things done.
Maybe that is at the heart of his decision to walk away as the longest-serving supervisor in Essex County. Maybe, it’s gotten too hard to negotiate, to compromise in today’s political world. Because anyone who knows Tom Scozzafava knows he has plenty left to give, even after 34 years as the supervisor in Moriah.
Still on his desk is the 1987 self-help book “Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hun” where it says “Leadership at the core is based on the foundation of common-sense solutions to complex situations.”
That sounds like required reading for every politician because “common sense” is in short supply almost everywhere.
Scozzafava takes you back to 13 years ago when the powers in Albany decided to close the Shock Incareration Facility in Moriah to save money. Since he previously worked there, Scozzafava knew the value of the work.
“It was a great program that was very successful with the rates of recidivism,” Scozzafava said.
Closing it would also be a big hit on the community economically. The 200-bed camp employed 102 and was the second largest employer in Moriah at the time.
“I knew of two dozen homes that were built by corrections officers alone,” Scozzafava said.
Local officials rallied. There were four trips to Albany to meet with state officials, including Gov. David Paterson.
Sen. Betty Little convinced Sen. Ruth Hassell-Thompson, a Democrat from Westchester County who was chairwoman of the Senate Crime Victims, Crime & Corrections Commitee, to come to Moriah and visit the facility and talk with the inmates.
It turned the tide.
Hassell-Thompson told Paterson they should not close the facility and it was saved.
“I have the utmost respect for Betty,” Scozzafava said. “She knew the art of negotiations.”
Of compromise.
Who is doing that today?
“Seventy-five percent of this job is negotiations,” Scozzafava said, with a nod the Attila the Hun book has an entire chapter on the subject. “You are not always going to to get what you want. You can’t get up and walk away from the table. You have to respect the other side and try to reach a middle ground. That’s something I’ve been dong since the first day I took office.”
Respect?
Middle ground?
Who is the guy from the Middle Ages?
Scozzafava was first elected supervisor in 1985 when he was just 28. After 13 years, he left to work at Moriah Shock Incarceration Faciity before coming back as supervisor in 2004.
He remembers learning from Sen. Ron Stafford and Rep. Gerry Solomon in those early days.
But he always tried to be his own man and work with both sides. Along the way he endorsed Democrats Andrew Cuomo for governor and Bill Owens for Congress. He may be the last of that species.
“I’ve fallen out of grace,” Scozzafava said. “I’m the bad boy of the Republican Party, but I don’t think my constituency holds it against me.”
And the job has changed.
“Back in the 1980s, there was an active Republican committee and an active Democratic committe,” Scozzafava said. “We haven’t seen that in years.”
He says fewer people are voting now.
Government regulations have made the job more and more difficult.
The small community he represents is having a harder time finding volunteers for the fire companies and rescue squads because of all the new regulations.
“It gets overwhelming, discouraging,” Scozzafava says. “My personality is that I always look as the glass as half full.”
He’s proud of the transparency he brought to the town as one of the first towns to record its meetings for the general public and only three executive sessions over the years.
But he sees the political fissures.
“I wouldn’t say we are divided,” Scozzafava continues. “There are definitely different viewpoints and social media has absolutley played a big role in that. I’ve been beat to a pulp on Facebook a few times. We get a huge snowstorm, blame Scozzafava.”
There is also less newspaper coverage.
“There is a lot of misrepresentation on both sides of the aisle and media included,” Scozzafava said. “That’s why the loss of small-town newspapers and reporters has changed the whole concept of government from the local level right up to the federal level. My Dad passed away in 2008 and I remember him sitting in my office as I was typing on the computer and he said, `That thing is the tool of the devil.’ He was like 88 at the time.”
When he is asked about Rep. Elise Stefanik, Scozzafava is less forthcoming. He become careful with his words.
“I knew you would ask about her,” he says. “I personally like Elise.”
He says he respects her, that Moriah had done well by her and that her constituency services “they do a great job.”
I ask him: “Have any of the previous congressional representative done a bad job with constituency services?
“No, not really,” Scozzafava says. “Do I necessarily agree with all her policies? No. But if that works for her, then I respect that. Would I do it differently?
He lets the question hang in the air for a second before answering.
“I’ve got a blue-collar background. We are not a rich community,” Scozzafava said. “I live in the same house my father was born in. Everybody has different perspectives. Lots of people disagree with the way I do things. You used to be able to agree to disagree, but not anymore.”
It’s understandable for someone still looking for the middle ground.
Still looking to do what’s best for everyone.
“I always tried to remember it was a privilege that I was here because the constituents put me there,” Scozzafava said. “I had to do what was in the best interest of everyone. Over the years, that has changed.”
And not for the better.
Tom Scozzafava is the last of his kind. He will be missed.
Greenwich turns out
On Thursday night, more than 50 people turned out at the Greenwich Free Library to see a panel discussion between former Schenectady Gazette Editor Judy Patrick, Albany Times Union reporter Wendy Liberatore and myself.
The program went for more than 90 minutes with lots of great questions and discussion about the future of community news.
Greenwich Librarian Sarah Murphy did a great job moderating the panel and promoting the event. This was my second event at the Greenwich Library and it has been the standard.
Last night, @TuckerCarlson confirmed what I’ve been saying for well over a year. Nancy Pelosi’s sham, unconstitutional Jan 6th Committee was nothing more than a political witch-hunt designed to punish the radical Far Left's political opponents.Virtually no one in Washington, Republican or Democrat, wanted to see this tape released tonight. https://t.co/YfpvaIZTbnTucker Carlson @TuckerCarlson
Thank you Ken for a well deserved tribute to Supervisor Scozzafava. I worked with Tom over years, from my early days at the APA to more recent times as head of the NYS DEC. He was always respectful, straightforward and goal oriented. He style is the polar opposite of Congresswoman Stefanik, who acts like politics is a game of thrones. He will be missed but I'm sure he will continue to be a positive force in the North Country
Politicians and legislators who compromise and negotiate should be missed but I think he should have criticized Elise for denying that the election was valid. She spreads a lie, a big one.