In a year that began with Andrew Cuomo announcing that those who oppose abortion expansion should leave the Empire State, he won reelection and announced that his Women’s Equality Act remains a priority. The Women’s Equality Act as it has been pushed by Cuomo would expand abortion access in the state, removing basic health and safety standards protecting women. Such is the Democratic party of Wendy Davis and Mark Udall; given the losses of those who openly campaigned on such radical platforms, will New York take a moment to pause next time the governor insists? New numbers in the statehouse — with a Republican majority in the senate as of Tuesday night — may just ensure what has been dubbed the abortion capital of the United States moves ahead cautiously in the face of euphemistic radicalism.
The Chiaroscuro PAC was among those educating voters about the need for new leadership in Albany. Its treasurer, Greg Pfundstein, talks with National Review Online about what happened and what it means for New York. Also president of the Chiaroscuro Foundation, he talks about the other 49 states as well.
KJL: Why was it important that Terri Gipson, Cecilia Tkaczyk, and Ted O’Brien specifically all be defeated Tuesday night?
Pfundstein: The calculus was very simple: If the Democrats were to control the New York State senate, they would pass Governor Cuomo’s Women’s Equality Act, which includes a radical abortion-industry bailout. If the Republicans were to gain control, the abortion provision would be out of the picture. These three upstate Democrats needed to go to get that Republican majority. And they were in some ways sitting ducks: Gipson won his seat because a Conservative Party challenger helped him unseat long-time Republican Steve Saland who was targeted for his vote to legalize gay marriage; Tkaczyk beat George Amedore by only 18 votes in the high-turnout 2012 race.
Our objective was more nuanced: we didn’t just want these three Democrats out; we wanted them out after we challenged them head-on for their support of Gov. Cuomo’s radical abortion expansion agenda. We took the “war on women” trope on directly. Some thought we would hurt the Republican candidates and we should keep quiet on the issue, as, to some extent, the candidates themselves did. But we knew from polling over the last several years that even in a deep blue state like New York, late-term abortion is a bridge too far. We set out to prove it.
KJL: What was the best news in New York Tuesday night?
PFUNDSTEIN: The recovery of the state senate by the Republicans was obviously our goal, and their success was certainly great news, but Rob Astorino’s extraordinary showing against Governor Cuomo was extremely encouraging. Now, to be clear, Astorino lost 54 percent to 41 percent. But keep in mind that ever since Rob threw his hat in the ring this spring, all the talk in New York was about whether he was going to lose by 25 or 30 points. As it turned out, Cuomo won with the fewest number of votes since FDR was elected governor of New York in 1930. That’s incredible. Astorino won 42 upstate counties to Cuomo’s eight (compare that with Cuomo’s 37 to Paladino’s 13 in 2010). Astorino lost in a winning kind of a way; he’s going to be a big deal in New York for years to come, and may well be governor before too long. Most New Yorkers are really just meeting him now. They’re going to like him more as they get to know him. Cuomo’s petty and acrid politics is New York’s past, even if he is governor for another four years. Rob Astorino is the future, and it is bright.
KJL: How important is the senate shift to the GOP?
Pfundstein: New York is a crazy place. It’s a big state in which most of the people are hiding in the corner near New York City. Many NYC senate districts go 90 percent plus for the Democrat. That’s how Cuomo can win a statewide vote while losing the Senate. And that’s also why it is important: The upstate senators contribute to the Republican majority, which is really the only emergency break against runaway progressive liberal utopia in New York. The Senate has been in a somewhat precarious situation since 2012 with a power-sharing arrangement between the Republicans and the Independent Democratic Caucus. The new straight Republican majority is a cleaner, clearer, safer check on Cuomo’s, Bill DeBlasio’s, and Shelly Silver’s extraterrestrial-grade liberal agenda.
KJL: The governor Tuesday night insisted that the Women’s Equality Act continues to be a priority for him. Does the Empire State still need to be on guard, even with the numbers having changed?
PFUNDSTEIN: Look, we all have our hopes and dreams. But Cuomo doesn’t have the votes anymore. He needs to convince Shelly Silver to pass the bills protecting victims of human trafficking and domestic violence before this crass political ploy turns into a pure monstrosity. It is wrong to do what Cuomo did here. NARAL and Planned Parenthood could not pull through politically to pull off their long-hoped-for denouement. They lost; they are irrelevant. New York’s women deserve the end of this charade. Everyone on all sides should be able to see that clearly.
KJL: Why is the Women’s Equality Act so pernicious?
PFUNDSTEIN: The Women’s Equality Act is nothing more than a sordid political shenanigan. It is nine eminently passable provisions and a poison-pill abortion-expansion provision. It makes sense if you remember that not long ago people assumed that NARAL and Planned Parenthood had actual political power in New York in the form of the ability to inflict electoral pain on their enemies. It turns out they don’t (incidentally, Chiaroscuro PAC does; see Gipson, Tkaczyk, and O’Brien, above). It was a grand con; there’s nothing behind the curtain.
But to be specific, the law would codify Roe v. Wade, whatever that means. Well, we think it means that since Roe v. Wade merely allows certain very limited restrictions on abortion but does not in fact require any restriction on abortion at all, to codify Roe v. Wade is to undermine any actual or potential restriction on abortion in New York, including requirements that abortions be performed by licensed physicians in medical offices and prohibitions after, say, 39 weeks, or nine months.
It has nothing to do with any actual or even conceivable need of women in New York, who have had access to legal abortion since 1970, two years before Roe. It has to do with a quasi-religious devotion to abortion on demand. Thank God it is dead.
KJL: The governor all but wrote pro-lifers out of the state earlier this year. Do pro-lifers need to be more motivated politically? Did this cycle demonstrate something afoot?
PFUNDSTEIN: Most New Yorkers are pro-life in the sense that they think abortion should be legal, but a last resort. We’re not going anywhere, and we will keep working to empower the commonsense majority of New Yorkers who want to see New York shed its “Abortion Capital of America” moniker.
KJL: Will the Chiaroscuro PAC keep at work? Why is it an important addition to the work the Chiaroscuro Foundation sets out to do?
PFUNDSTEIN: Chiaroscuro PAC is here to stay. At the Chiaroscuro Foundation, we will continue to work to build consensus that New York needs sensible restrictions on abortion, and Chiaroscuro PAC will continue to work to build the political coalition to make that possible. It might take us ten years or more, but we think a civilized state in a civilized nation should be able to have a sane abortion regime. We think most New Yorkers agree.
KJL: What’s your big-picture post–Election Day takeaway nationally? What’s new? What’s changed? What’s to be on guard against? What does the future look like?
PFUNDSTEIN: Iowa and West Virginia sent women to the Senate for the first time. The youngest woman ever elected to the House was elected in upstate New York. The first black man elected to the Senate in the South since Reconstruction was elected in South Carolina. The first black Republican woman elected to the House was elected in Utah. These are all Republicans! Heck, even in my own local township council elections, the Democrats were both rich former Fortune 100 executives, and the Republicans were a retired cop and a guy who works at a local non-profit serving people with disabilities. The Democrats have done a lot of talking about being the party of minorities, women, and the poor, but it is in the Republican party that women and minorities are breaking barriers and expanding opportunity. Maybe six years under Obama’s rule have made people start wondering who is really on their side after all.
Rob Astorino’s running mate, Sheriff Chris Moss, is a black man. On Monday, a rich, white, liberal attorney from Westchester suggested that after the campaign Moss would be considering becoming a model for Cream of Wheat or Uncle Ben’s Rice. That’s unconscionable. As easy money gets easier and the rich get richer under Obama, the poor, minorities, and women should ask themselves who is really on their side. It’s Republicans like Rob Astorino and Chris Moss, like Senator Tim Scott, like Mia Love, Joni Ernst, Shelley Moore Capito, like Elise Stefanik. That’s the future.