3 Political Aides Quit in the Cornfields
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

As Governor Pataki seeks to bolster his presidential credentials with a surprise visit to Iraq and a harsh assessment of the nation’s security condition, his political machine back in America is showing signs of trouble.
In the last nine days, three of Mr. Pataki’s top political aides in Iowa have said they are parting ways with the governor and will not be working for his campaign if he chooses to run for president. All three are well-known Republican activists in Iowa and added credibility to Mr. Pataki’s political operation in a state that plays an influential role in the party nominating process.
Last week, two conservative Republican activists, Ed Failor Jr. and Loras Schulte, said they would no longer be serving as advisers to the Iowa operation of Mr. Pataki’s political action committee, 21st Century Freedom. On Monday, the executive director of Mr. Pataki’s Iowa office, Craig Schoenfeld, said he was stepping down, leaving the PAC in Iowa with only two remaining advisers.
The loss of the aides has prompted speculation among Iowa Republicans about the future of Mr. Pataki’s Iowa effort, which has been a crucial component of his early strategy in laying the groundwork of a campaign. Republicans close to Mr. Pataki have said the governor’s goal is to come away from Iowa with a surprisingly strong second- or third-place showing that vaults him to the top tier of Republican candidates. Mr. Pataki is believed to have been the first presidential hopeful to establish a base office in Iowa. Republicans in the state say they were impressed by the amount of effort he devoted toward assisting the 2006 campaigns of local Iowan Republicans, who nevertheless lost control of both houses of the state legislature in Des Moines.
“Anytime you lose people that are considered to be important catches, that’s some cause for concern and certainly if one were a Pataki supporter, one would want to know what happens next,” a Des Moines lawyer who has served as Republican state chairman of Iowa, Stephen Roberts, said. “If you lose a couple of your key players, people wonder what kind of team you’re going to field.
The chairman of Mr. Pataki’s Iowa operation, Stewart Iverson, said he was confident that Mr. Pataki would be able to rebuild his Hawkeye machine.
“A lot of teams start out and for one reason or another, people leave and you replace them,” he said. “Am I little disappointed? Yeah.” Mr. Iverson said he’s sticking with Mr. Pataki “for the whole duration,” and said the PAC’s two other key remaining advisers, Republican activist Diane Crookham-Johnson and a former Iowan gubernatorial candidate, Steve Sukup, have no exit plans of their own.
Calling the timing of his departure “less than desirable,” Mr. Schoenfeld, a well-known lobbyist in the state, said staying on as executive director of the PAC “would have required more time than I could give to manage both my law firm responsibility and the committee.”
As director of the PAC, Mr. Schoenfeld ran the field operation, phone banks, and local fund-raising efforts, deploying Pataki volunteers who flew from New York to neighborhoods to knock on doors and urge voters to support Republican candidates.
Iowa Republicans interviewed said Messrs. Schulte, who is on the board of directors of the state party, and Failor, who is the executive vice president of Iowans for Tax Relief, left the operation over ideological differences with Mr. Pataki, who has been campaigning under a fiscally conservative and socially moderate banner. Mr. Pataki has said he supports a woman’s right to have an abortion but states should be able to set their own policies.
In an interview with The New York Sun, Mr. Failor refused to talk about the circumstances behind his departure, saying he made a decision to move in a different “direction” from the governor.
He praised Mr. Pataki as a “fiscally conservative hero,” saying he has “always been an icon of great Republican change.” He said Mr. Pataki’s fund-raising and get-out-the-vote operation in Iowa was better organized than the Iowa teams fielded by the governor’s political rivals, Senator McCain and Governor Romney. Mr. Failor said he is not ruling out teaming up with another presidential hopeful.
The departures from Mr. Pataki’s Iowa base came as the governor seeks to enter the national debate on the crucial foreign policy question of what should be done in Iraq. Traveling with three other governors, Mr. Pataki flew to Kuwait on Monday and traveled to Iraq on Tuesday, stopping in Baghdad and Tikrit and meeting with General Casey, the top American commander in Iraq,
Speaking to reporters yesterday via satellite from Kuwait, Mr. Pataki said security in Iraq had significantly deteriorated since he last visited the nation two and half years ago. He had harsh words for the prime minister of Iraq, Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, saying the leader “is not delivering either the security or the services that the people of Iraq need. That has got to change.”
He said the prospects for “success in Iraq” will be “extremely difficult” unless the central government cracks down on the Shiite militia led by the anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
Mr. Pataki is scheduled to return to America this weekend. A spokesman for the governor, David Catalfamo, refused to comment on reports that Mr. Pataki is also traveling to Afghanistan.