IT’S NOT EASY BEING A GOP IN NYC
By Lillian Rizzo
Lining the walls of Frank Scala’s midtown barbershop are posters from his city council elections, autographed photos of past Republican presidents and portraits of him shaking hands with former Gov. George Pataki and Mayor Michael Bloomberg, two of the most prominent Republicans in recent New York history. This small, old fashioned location acts as a business and shrine for one of New York City’s oldest fighting Republicans.
Right out of the 1970s, nothing in Scala’s barbershop has changed except for the new Republican posters from each election season. The cash register, the same from the day the barbershop opened, is plastered with GOP propaganda against President Jimmy Carter and support for New York State Sen. Roy Goodman.
Frank Scala. (Photo by Lillian Rizzo)
Founder of the New Amsterdam Republicans of Battery Park City in the late 1970s, Scala is now the president of the Vince F. Albano Club for Republicans in Stuyvesant Town, president of the Community Council of the 13th Precinct and an active member of his community in Stuyvesant Town.
“Being a Republican in New York City, I feel like a fish out of water,”
said Scala, 69. He was politically involved in Sicily, Italy before coming to the United States in 1963. He joined the Republican clubs and campaigns when he moved to Bay Ridge a few weeks after immigrating.
Scala is one of the last of the city’s diehard Republicans. New York City has become increasingly known for its slant toward the Democratic Party and Scala is just one example of the people trying to keep the Republican Party alive. This year, New York voted overwhelmingly in support of Democrat Barack Obama in the presidential election. The last time New York gave its vote to Republicans was in the 1984 election for Reagan. At the time, the north east was filled with many Reagan-Democrats.
Overshadowed by the Democratic assemblymen and state leaders, with the exception of Bloomberg, many would be surprised to find the devoted members of district clubs and campaigns, such as Scala. Clubs range from zoned areas to categories.
Although the population is dwindling, faithfuls still show up at meetings, campaigns and street fairs to promote the party. According to the New York State Board of Elections, as of March 1, there were 2,673,189 Democrats and 472,181 Republicans registered in New York City.
Not only are these Republicans active in Manhattan communities, they tried to be apart of the presidential campaign this year. Acknowledging they were fighting a losing battle, they continued to make events and rallies for the nominee John McCain.
“It is hard being a Republican in this city, especially when campaigning and asking for signatures,” said Marlene Jupiter, district leader of the New Amsterdam Republican Club.
A middle-aged, retired derivative and hedge fund specialist on Wall Street, Jupiter is mainly focused on the Battery Park City club and attends conventions and rallies. She joined the club a short time after Scala and eventually became his campaign manager when he unsuccessfully ran for New York State Assembly in the special election of 2005.
VIDEO: STICKING WITH HIS PARTY
Scala, who is a part of many local Republican events and campaigns, is also on the board of the Metropolitan Republican Club. This is a broader group that welcomes anyone from the city to join and is affiliated with the other groups, such as the Young Republicans and the Women’s National Republicans.
The Metropolitan and Women’s Republicans each have headquarters, both filled with historical pictures and objects. In the Metropolitan Club on East 83rd Street off of Lexington Avenue, the elegant atmosphere breathes history and pride. Framed photos of Republican presidents line the walls and oriental rugs cover the floors.
During the fall, this headquarters was used for many election-centered activities and events for the McCain Manhattan grassroots force. One of the main events that took place was Minutes for McCain, a night of calling up people in Pennsylvania and encouraging them to vote for McCain. Not only did volunteers call up Pennsylvania residents, they took weekend trips throughout October to go door to door asking for the Republican vote in the battleground state.
“Early on our events were to build our group- to get people out to events,” said Phil Carracci, the volunteer coordinator of the McCain Manhattan campaign. “We had a real army and felt the effort should be applied to a place with a chance.”
Carracci took on the responsibility with others at first, but later on the lead effort was reduced to just him. He was behind the scenes coordinating all events and rarely made it to any of them because organizing was so time consuming. According to Carracci, the campaign recruited 1800 volunteers in 90 days. “We were encouraged by the number of people who stepped forward.”
On the night of Minutes for McCain, between the hours of 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. people strolled through the double white doors of the brownstone building of the Metropolitan Club, picked a list of phone numbers off of a table and pulled out their cell phones. Until a little after 8 p.m. they stood on the phones trying to convince Pennsylvania voters to join the McCain-Palin ticket.
“We have to get energized; we can’t just do this with 15 people,” said Juliana Oliveri, a volunteer at the Minutes for McCain event. “The psychology of the people is very important.”
After 20 years of voting Democrat, Oliveri became a Republican and began participating in the clubs in Manhattan. Her family is very politically active in their hometown Hollywood, Calif. and she could not lose that devotion when she relocated to New York to work in Public Relations.
On a rainy Tuesday night in October, the turnout was not disappointing to most club volunteers. At 7 p.m., the high point of the night, there were about 15 volunteers plus the organizers. According to Michael Brooks, a Metropolitan Club volunteer and organizer of this event, this turn out was typical, especially on a work night.
“We do realize how hard it is to be a Republican in the city,” said Brooks, who relocated to New York from out of state over the summer. He has been actively involved in the club, but not a member yet. For him it was also a way of meeting people and socializing with those with similar beliefs. “We go to a lot of street fairs and some people are happy to see Republicans.”
Many of the women on the phones donned pins saying “Hillary Voters for McCain” or “Democrats for McCain.” Between phone calls political debates could be heard over the overused phrase “I am calling to ask you to vote for Senator McCain on November 4th.”
Weeks before the election there was an increased number of phone bank events and the final one at the Women’s National Republican Club headquarters on West 51st made a total of 5,000 calls over the weekend before Nov. 4.
Carracci sent out e-mails religiously to members and volunteers keeping them updated about the election events. Many enforced volunteers to either go to the phone banks or trips to Pennsylvania.
After McCain lost the election and the Democratic Party took more control over the state government, the party lost even more hope. Their main concern now is to bounce back and to prepare for future elections.
“For us as a party, we lost all political influence across New York State and the city- we are completely out of power,” said Carracci. President-elect Obama received 4,363,386 or 62.2 percent of the votes in New York, while Senator McCain earned 2,576,360 or 36.7%. Republicans won only three of the 29 house seats in the state. “We do have beliefs we all agree on and I believe we will be back,” said Carracci. “I hope there will be a time when it is cool to be a Republican.”
Scala not only criticized McCain’s campaign manager, he blames the Republican Party for losing New York to the Democrats. “I personally called the club in Albany to get materials to put in the streets,” he said. “They said they have nothing because they have no money.”
Campaigning for many GOP candidates since he came to the United States, Scala said he never saw it like this, with no buttons, posters or fliers to hand out.
Still going strong after the disheartening news from the election, he held his monthly meeting on Nov. 11th and encouraged everyone- Republicans, Democrats and community members- to be present consistently.
“People ask me to run on the Democratic ticket all of the time and I will never do it,” said Scala. “ I will stick to my party and I want to win as a Republican.”