Frank Scaturro’s “Natural Progression” to New York Congressional Candidate

Frank Scaturro is no ordinary candidate.  Born to an Italian immigrant who made the American Dream reality as an entrepreneur, his son Frank knows the value of hard work and high ethics.  

These principles drive Frank to restore freedom back to the citizens and businesses of Long Island and away from the federal government. Conserving liberty is why Frank is running for Congress.

“In New York, it’s still early in the campaign season, so I will typically make lots of phone calls to actual and potential supporters during business hours when I am not handling case work or attending an event,” Frank said.

Frank is active in his community, and one can often find him distributing clothing and supplies to veterans or talking to seniors about the Constitution or speaking at Kiwanis clubs, chambers of commerce, historical-preservation groups, or Republican women’s clubs.  When the weather warms, Frank is out knocking doors and greeting voters.
In August 2008 Frank attended LI training in St. Paul, Minnesota where he learned grassroots lobbying and campaign management tactics, such as: campaign plans, messaging, voter ID, and debating.

Frank’s campaign Communications Director Akeem Mellis is also an LI graduate, taking a Grassroots Communications Workshop and a Campus Action Workshop.

“The Leadership Institute provides the kind of training that is indispensable to winning a competitive election,” Frank said.  “There are so many impressive policy think tanks out there that deal with policy, but the Leadership Institute is unique in devoting itself to process—a dimension of education that is necessary for us to be in a position to build a better future through public policy.”

For Frank, Congress isn’t something new; this legislative body captivated him at age seven.

“My candidacy marks a natural progression from the moment I was captivated by American history at age 7 to my more recent opportunities for public service and scholarship,” Frank said.

Born in New York City in 1972, Frank, the Eagle Scout, worked hard at his high school summer jobs: restaurant busboy; store cashier; high school maintenance help.

Interestingly, in college (1993) Frank interned for Rep. David Levy, who represented NY’s 4th congressional district, the seat for which Frank is currently seeking.
 
“I had my first opportunity to encounter Congress from the outside while I was studying at Columbia University during the early 1990’s.  I volunteered with the National Park Service nearby at President Ulysses S. Grant’s Tomb and discovered a level of desecration and neglect that I considered a national disgrace,” Frank remembered.   

“In the face of the bureaucracy’s unwillingness to remedy the problem, I pursued the general public and the New York congressional delegation so that we could secure a restoration of the monument by its 1997 Centennial,” Frank said.

He founded a non-profit organization, the Grant Monument Association, which served as an outlet for citizen support for the monument and a source of education on the life and legacy of President Grant. By 1997, his many reports and memos were answered with a $1.8 million face-lift. Victory!

After law school, Frank worked as an attorney in private practice while continuing to pursue truth in the fields of history and law by taking every opportunity to publish.  What emerged was one study on the civil rights amendments to the Constitution and a volume he co-authored on how to be a responsible public company in the wake of the corporate scandals of the early part of the last decade.

Following private practice, Frank served more than four years as counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee, where he handled constitutional law matters and judicial nominations, including the confirmation of Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justice Samuel Alito.

Frank also served as a visiting professor at Hofstra Law School, where he taught courses on the legislative process and constitutional law.  This year he joined the law firm FSB FisherBroyles, which puts “the traditional law firm structure in a clean room and dismantles it. This new law firm 2.0 model discards costly inefficiencies such as expensive overhead, inexperienced attorneys, and the multi-layered approach to delivery of services,” according to their website.

But now it’s time for Frank’s next stage of public policy: running a New York congressional campaign.

“The Leadership Institute training I attended was certainly helpful in refining strategies for walking neighborhoods and targeting voters,” Frank said.  “I had been involved in dozens of campaigns since high school, and my district is conducive to traditional forms of campaigning like walk-through canvassing, phone banks, and signs.”

Frank continues, “LI keeps up to date on the best of the new technology and combines it with the best advice on perfecting traditional methods of voter outreach.  It has left me that much more aware of the inexpensive methods that are available to connect with voters and even to register new ones.”

“My only regret is that my schedule did not permit me to attend LI’s week-long candidate school,” Frank said.

If you are considering a bid for office or ready to run a conservative’s campaign, considering coming to LI’s next campaign training Monday, Jan. 30 through Thursday, Feb. 2. For more information, go here.

Please welcome Frank Scaturro as LI’s Graduate of the Week.

To nominate a Leadership Institute graduate to be featured as LI's graduate of the week, please contact LI's External Affairs Officer Lauren Hart at LaurenHart@LeadershipInstitute.org.