Scozzafava's husband called cops on pressing reporter

LOWVILLE — The husband of the Republican candidate in the 23rd Congressional District race on Monday night called police to a Lewis County Republican dinner after feeling uncomfortable with a reporter there.

Ronald P. McDougall, shortly before 9 p.m., called county dispatchers from the Lowville Elks Lodge on Shady Avenue to request patrol for a nuisance report and hung up, according to a dispatch report of the incident. Upon a call back from dispatchers, Mr. McDougall identified himself and suggested the media was too close to his wife — state Assemblywoman Dierdre K. Scozzafava, R-Gouverneur — and that he was uncomfortable with a reporter.

“I think he was just pressing,” village Police Chief Eric F. Fredenburg said of John McCormack, deputy online editor of the Weekly Standard, a conservative magazine.

In a blog entry on the Weekly Standard's Web site, Mr. McCormack wrote that he, after dinner, asked Ms. Scozzafava if she supports card-check legislation that eliminates the secret ballot requirement for organizing unions. A member of her campaign then stood between the reporter and Ms. Scozzafava and told him to direct all inquiries to the campaign's spokesman, he wrote.

After asking Ms. Scozzafava if her signing of the Americans for Tax Reform pledge means she would oppose any health-care bill that would raise taxes, Mr. McCormack reported that a couple men stood in his way while the candidate exited the building. The reporter wrote that he also saw Ms. Scozzafava in the parking lot and asked her whether the health-care bill should exclude coverage for abortion, but she didn't reply.

Officer Brandi Groman soon afterward arrived, took Mr. McCormack's personal information and informed him that he had “scared the candidate a little bit” but wasn't in trouble, the blog entry states.

Lewis County Republican Party Chairman Samuel F. Villanti said he didn't know about the incident until a reporter called about it Tuesday morning.

Mr. Villanti said a police officer did come into the Elks Lodge after the event looking for a Mr. McDonald, but “it never connected” that she was seeking Mr. McDougall.

“I thought someone had played some sort of dumb joke,” he said.

Ms. Scozzafava was the guest speaker at the dinner, but no questions were asked of her during the formal festivities, Mr. Villanti said.

The GOP chairman said his wife, Johanna, sat next to Mr. McCormack at dinner and was surprised that he was at the center of the incident, since he appeared to be a quiet person.