NY23: Dan Riehl on GOP bungling -- did NRCC staff put the fix in for Dede? UPDATE: Mike Long's Reaction

UPDATE 1:50 p.m.: Mike Long, chairman of the New York Conservative Party, said he had not seen Dan Riehl's report, but in a brief telephone interview said he would not be surprised by Tom Reynold's involvement in the Scozzafava pick.

Long said he had been told that at least one NRCC staffer was present at the meeting where Scozzafava was picked by NYGOP. As for the general bungling by which the ACORN-endorsed liberal was selected as the nominee, Chairman Long said of New York Republicans: "It they stood up for principles, [the Conservative Party] would have been out of business a long time ago."

PREVIOUSLY: Dan says he's got the lowdown on who screwed the pooch in this key New York congressional election. He quotes Michael Patrick Leahey's excellent account of the role played by New York Republicans, including Assemblywoman Janet Duprey. However, Dan kept digging and says it goes further up the ladder:

Duprey certainly deserves plenty of blame according to my sources, [but] the more important claim is not that the NRCC delegated the decision to local Republicans like Duprey, as Newt [Gingrich] would insist, instead they deferred to an old line power broker, former NRCC Chair and former NY Representative Tom Reynolds. They insist NRCC Executive Director, Guy Harrison, or his aides, were on the ground to sheppard [Dede] Scozzafava through the allegedly open process from selection to finish, regardless of polls, or how local Republicans felt. The NRCC in the person of Reynolds thought they knew better than that and them. . . .

Read the whole thing. It took three ballots for Scozzafava to secure the nomination, and I'd heard rumors of favor-swapping and arm-twisting. The suggestion that NRCC staff -- the hired help, as it were -- were involved in putting the fix in for Dede will enrage people, although it shouldn't really be surprising.

UPDATE: Dan Riehl has received a denial from the NRCC, Daniel Patrick Leahey is following up at TCOT, and I've linked it over at the American Spectator. Meanwhile, RNC Chairman Michael Steele is still backing Scozzafava.

UPDATE II: Not directly related, but Dana Loesch at Dump Dede gives a link to my American Spectator column, "Do You Believe in Miracles?"

Transparency is the secret of Rule 2 -- bloggers openly and shamelessly linking each other, unlike the opaque behind-the-scene wheeling and dealing of GOP Establishment operatives.

UPDATE III: And speaking of shamelessness, I'm once again soliciting contributions to the Shoe Leather Fund for my next trip up to cover NY23. Thanks to Bill Quick, Nathan in Missouri, Jeff in Walla Walla, Wash., Bryce in Oregon, Richard in Lancaster, Michael in Santa Clarita, Mr. and Mrs. Belvedere (?) and Brett in New South Wales, Australia (!) who've already kicked in today.

Every contribution -- $2, $5, $10, $20, $50 -- to help fund my on-the-road reporting is deeply appreciated. Jimmie Bise has said I rattle the tip jar until my teeth hurt, but there's no shame in my game. It's not charity, it's fee-for service. This is Old School in the New Media. We're eliminating the middleman, you see, creating a direct nexus with the readers. You foot the bill, I hit the road.

Isn't capitalism a beautiful thing?

UPDATE 3 p.m. ET: Political Byline dubs it "NY23Gate."